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Art & Iconography of the Tibetan 'Bardo' - Between Death & Rebirth - the Tibetan Book of the Dead....along with some loose ends

The Forty-two Peaceful and Fifty-eight Wrathful Deities of the Guhyagarbha Mandala are the basis for the iconography and the creation of paintings depicting the subject of the 'Bardo' - Tibetan Book of the Dead. In the Nyingma Tradition the Guhyagarbha Tantra (8th to 10th century) is considered the most important of all Tantras. The 'Terton' Karma Lingpa, in the 14th century, is credited with the discovery of the 'treasure text' known as the Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo (aka Tibetan Book of the Dead), a text intended to be read to the deceased and to influence positively the subsequent rebirth. (There is evidence to suggest that the famous 'Treasure Finder' of the Bon Religion - Shenchen Luga - had discovered similar texts in the 11th century).


When looking at Nyingma paintings of the peaceful and wrathful deities grouped in clusters of forty-two and fifty-eight it is very difficult to know what the intended specific subject is meant to be. It raises the questions - are all peaceful & wrathful deity paintings intended to be representations of the Guhyagarbha Mandalas based on the Guhyagarbha Tantra - the original source of the iconography? Are some of the paintings intended to depict the system of Karma Lingpa and the Bardo Todal - well known in the West? If so, and if the deities are the same, then how can one tell the difference? To complicate the matter further, do some of the peaceful and wrathful paintings also represent the half dozen or more of the other versions of the Bardo Todal manuscripts, and described peaceful and wrathful deities, based on the later revelations of Nyingma teachers such as Choggyur Lingpa in the 19th century?


To come to some temporary solution to this identification problem on the HAR site, any painting depicting the 'Peaceful & Wrathful Deities' that appears in concentric circles, also representing the entire group of deities, have been placed under the subject heading of 'Bardo.' All other paintings of peaceful and wrathful deities are included under the broad classification of Guhyagarbha Tantra (Peaceful & Wrathful Deities) and the more specific subjects of Samantabhadra, Heruka and Chemchog - the central subjects of those paintings and central subjects of the Guhyagarbha Mandalas.


Objects in the HAR database that are without doubt related to the Karma Lingpa system of Bardo:

- Manuscript 1 (complete)

- Manuscript 2 (complete)

- Manuscript 3 (complete)

- Initiation Cards (Karling Shitro)

- Initiation Cards (Karling Shitro)

- Initiation Cards (Karling Shitro Misc.)