The Exhibition

The Meaning of Tibetan Sculptures and Ritual Artefacts

Arrangement of the Exhibition

The exhibition follows the theme of the so-called "refuge tree", which encompasses all enlightened images embodying path and aim of Tibetan Buddhism. Six different groups are to be distinguished here:

1. The Buddhas (Tib. sangye). The historical Buddha Shakyamuni belongs to this group in particular: He was born in Northern India around 560 BC.

2. The Teachings (Skt. Dharma). The teachings are represented by texts and by a female Buddha form (Prajnaparamita).

3. The Bodhisattvas (Skt. Sangha). Among these masters that became enlightened for the benefit of all beings are direct students of Buddha, such as Loving Eyes (Avalokiteshvara), Wisdom Buddha (Manjushri) and Diamond in Hand (Vajrapani).

4. The Teachers (Tib.: Lamas). Apart from the Buddhas, the Teachings, and the Bodhisattvas, the refuge tree in Diamondway Buddhism also contains the Teachers, which are represented by great masters of Buddhist India from the 8th up to the 12th century, by Padmasambhava (Tib. Guru Rinpoche) as the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, and by the teachers of the four Tibetan-Buddhist schools. Since these are responsible for the transmission of the meditation experience, they are seated in the center of the tree.

5. The Yidams. They make up the whole group of the Buddha-aspects (Tib. Yidam), referred to above.

6. The Protectors (Tib. Gonpo). The protectors remove outer and inner obstacles on the way to enlightenment. Their powerful and protective appearance expresses active compassion for the benefit of all beings.

The Meaning of Tibetan Sculptures and Ritual Artefacts

For more than 2000 years, statues have belonged to Buddhism. In Diamondway-Buddhism (Skt. Vajrayana), they are also used for meditation. Although Diamondway-teachings were given by the Buddha himself, they were later only fully kept alive in Tibet. The 80 statues exhibited show either the historical Buddha and other enlightened meditation masters or so-called Buddha-aspects: These are forms emanated by Buddha, because his students possessed various qualities of the experience of enlightenment. All sculptures have been blessed by Buddhist masters. The 50 ritual artefacts have also symbolic meaning.

History and Use

The roots of the Tibetan manufacturing of statues goes back to Indian models, which are based on descriptions of Buddha's outer appearance in Buddhist meditation instructions (Skt. Sadhanas). The two best-known Sadhana-collections were compiled by the Indian Abhayakaragupta in the 11th century.

The Buddha-statues show both the historical Buddha and Buddha-aspects with their attributes of perfection: For instance, Buddha was said to have had a golden-coloured skin, which is reflected by the gold of many statues.

Origin

This unique exhibition of Tibetan art basically consists of two parts. One part of the collection was contributed by the family of the diplomat Johann-Jürgen Blomeyer, who was a practising Buddhist, and who died in 2000. The other part is from many Buddhists and Buddhist centers of the Karma Kagyu-lineage from all over Europe.

Johann-Jürgen Blomeyer was born in Japan in 1912. His father had already possessed Buddha-statues, which fascinated little Johann. After having studied law at the university of Jena and after WWII Johann-Jürgen Blomeyer studied Hindi and Sanskrit in the city of Bonn. In 1951, he became a diplomat and spent time in London, New Zealand, Washington DC, and Egypt. From 1960 onwards, he systematically collected statues and ritual artefacts, and after retirement he compiled many important statues of all Buddhist traditions. He was 88 years old, when he died in December 2000. His sun Gerald R. Blomeyer and his daughter Dr. Karin Stolley inherited the collection and have now presented it to the public for the first time.

The exhibits are from various cultures and stylistic epochs. The oldest statue, an Indian Buddha, is from the Gandhara epoch (1st- 3rd c. AD). A Hevajra-statue is from the Kambodian Angkor-period (12.-13th c.), a Medicine-Buddha is from the Indian Pala-Dynasty of the Early Middle Ages (14th c.), and there are several ca. 300 years old sculptures from Nepal and Tibet, mainly in the Beri-style, which was influenced by India and Nepal. A large part of the exhibition was manufactured in Tibet between the end of the 19th c. and the middle of the 20th c. Similarly, the ritual objects are often more than 200 years old, and they are made from precious materials. Among them are a diamond-scepter (Skt. Vajra, Tib. Dorje), bells, chopping knives, skull bowls and ritual daggers (Skt. Kila, Tib. Phurba), partly made of crystal or gold, ornamented with jewels and painted in many ways.

Manufacturing Techniques

Tibetan sculptors casted their statues alloying various metals. It was widely common to cast wax and beat metal, i.e. to hammer and shape the forms. Most of the smaller statues were cast by means of the technique of melting wax, or according to the method of the "lost form". Here a wax model is formed over a heartclay and is then covered with a cast cope of clay. Then molten bronze or copper is cast between the heart and the moulded hollow form, which drives out the melting wax that flows away through drainage openings. Eventually, the outer cope of clay is knocked off, and the raw form is refined until it has its final shape. The artistic general impression is mainly dependent on the final precision work and the polishing, engraving, painting and inlaying with precious materials or stones. Many statues are gilded.

Literature

Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, by Ulrich von Schroeder
Visual Dharma Publ. Hong Kong 2001
Deities of Tibetan Buddhism, by Martin Willson and Martin Brauen
Wisdom Publ. Boston 2000