Artistic Activity in Nepal as World Peace - Artist Profile

  All Text Otherwise not Credited is Contributed by Archana Verma

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   Lung-ta (also rlung-ta or klung-ta) is the prayer flag arranged in the horizontal fashion in Tibetan Buddhist areas. The word means "wind-horse," implying the wind that will carry the prayer around and spread it to all space. The notion of the wind carrying the prayers to the gods is as old as the Vedas. The Vedic sacrifices evolved around the fire altar and the smoke of the fire was believed to carry the offerings to the gods along with the wind. Even today, this is the concept behind the Hindu worship rituals that take place around the sacred fire. Tibetan Buddhism has evolved this concept to a ritual art form.  Since sacrifice is not used in Buddhism, this concept has been modified in Tibetan Buddhism.
   India has had a very ancient technology of producing block-printed cloth. In today's Tibetan areas, the religion that existed before Buddhism was called Bon, from which Tibetan Buddhism has borrowed many elements. Bon had a tradition of using five-coloured plain flags in their healing rituals. It appears that this tradition was combined with the Indian technology of producing block-printed designs on cloth to produce the prayer-flags of Tibetan Buddhism. (see more on this here). The other flag-style, viz, the vertical one, is called Darchor (See more on this here). Dar signifies increasing life, fortune, health and wealth and Cho refers to all sentient beings.

Lung-Ta Style Flags (See Link Here)

Darchor-Style Flags (See Link Here)

Often, these two styles are combined, in which the horizontal flag-lines are tied to the vertical flag-pole.

   In essence, a Lung-ta prayer flag is a rectangular or circular piece of cloth (ideally silk, but cotton or synthetic cloth may also be used), with block-print of a horse in the centre, four symbolic animal figures in four corners and selections from the 400 hymns from the compositions about three Bodhisattvas - Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri. These figures are worshipped in Tibetan Buddhism as divinities. Ta signifies a swift horse, symbolising the spreading of prayers in all pervading spaces when wind comes in contact with them. The symbolic animals in four corners represent Garuda or Eagle (upper left corner), which signifies wisdom and defeat of diseases and malevalent forces, Dragon (upper right), who symbolises overcoming of ignorance and acquiring gentle power, snow lion (lower left) symbolising fearless joy and tiger (lower right) symbolising confidence arising from the path of Dharma that Buddha taught. Very often, on top the three Buddhist deities- Avalokiteshvara (compassion), Majushri (wisdom) and Vajrapani (power) are also represented. At the bottom, joining of rival forces and thus producing universal friendship is represented by combining the features of snow lion and Garuda together, fish and otter together and sea-alligator and sea-snail together. The horse in the centre carries three jewels of Buddhism - Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (See more here). The five colours of the flags are - blue (space) presided by Akshobhya overcoming ignorance, white (water) presided by Ratnasambhava overcoming pride and miserliness, red (fire) presided by Amitabha overcoming delusion of attachment, green (air) presided by Amoghasiddhi overcoming jealousy and yellow (earth) presided by Vairochana overcoming anger. These flags have to be hung only in this colour-sequence.

A Lung-ta style flag with four symbolic animals (See Original Image Here)

Lung-ta style flag with four corner animals, three deities at the top, friendship symbols at the bottom and Swastika signs for eternal well-being (See Original Image Here)

Lung-ta style Prayer-Flag with the Corner Animals Represented Only by Inscriptions of their Names -  Kyung (Garuda), Druk (Dragon), Senge (Snow-Lion) and Tag (Tiger) (Photo - Maureen Drdak, Inscription read by Archana Verma)

Rival Forces Join to Symbolise Universal Friendship (See Original Image Here)

Five-Coloured flags Placed on a Peak near Mount Everest on the Tibetan Side (See Original Image Here)

   However, it should be remembered that horse-design flags are only one of their kind in the wide array of prayer-flags evolved by Tibetan Buddhism. There can be prayer-flags designed around many concepts and figures such as Goddess Tara with hymns dedicated to her printed around her image and Medicine Buddha or Bhaishajyaguru flags. This Buddha is the one who teaches medical knowledge and hence, grants longevity, good health and well-being to all sentient beings.

Tara-style Prayer-Flag (See Original Image Here)

Bhaishajyaguru (Medicine Buddha)-Style Prayer-Flag (See Original Image Here)

A  Hymn to Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (in Sanskrit) Very Beautifully Sung in Tibetan Buddhist Style (Link for Video)

Tibetan Rendition of the Sanskrit Avalokiteshvara Hymn from the Video Above (Link for Video)

Sanskrit Lyrics of this Hymn

Namo Ratna Tryaye,
Namo Arya Jnana
Sagara, Vairochana,
  Vyuharajaya Tathagataya,
Arahate, Samyaksam Buddhaya,
Namo Sarva Tathagatebhyah,
Arhatebhyah,
Samyaksam Buddhebhyah,
Namo Arya Avalokite
shvaraya Bodhisattvaya,
Maha Sattvaya,
Maha Karunikaya,
Tadyathah, Om Dhara Dhara,
Dhiri Dhiri, Dhuru Dhuru
Itiye vitiye Chale Chale,
Prachale Prachale,
Kusume Kusumavaraye,
Ili Mili, Chetam Jvalam, Apnaye Svaha...

A Free English  Translation

(Translated by Archana Verma)

"Salutations to the Three Jewels,

Salutations to the Noble Vairochana Tathagata Arhata Buddha, who looks at everyone equinamously and who presides over the vyuha and who is an abode of the ocean of Knowledge,
Salutations to the Noble Arahata Tathagata Buddhas who look at all beings equinamously,

Salutations to the Noble Avalokiteshvara,

Who is a Great Being and is Greatly compassionate towards all sentient beings,

Hence, let's hold fast, hold fast on to the vow, 
Come, let's get together here
And envelope the lotus of our hearts and consciousness
With Enlightenment 
(so that we lead others towards liberation from misery)..."
(Mid-Length Hymn of Avalokiteshvara, also called Hymn of 1000-armed Avalokiteshvara)

 
For the concept of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, see here.

       
   There is a Western artists' collective, which is titled after this concept as Lung-ta Collaborative. Maureen Drdak the painter, Andrea Clearfield the musician and Manfred Fischbeck the choreographer are members of this collective. They have worked with Tenzing Bista, a gifted Tibetan Buddhist monk who has served as the royal physician at Lho Mangthang in Nepal and who composes poetic Buddhist prayers.

Andrea Clearfield and Maureen Drdak (See Original Image Here)

The following prayer written by Tenzing Bista is very significant as it was composed on 11th of September, 2008 i.e., on the anniversary of the terrorist attack of 9/11 and it prays for the planetary peace - thus countering the ideology of hatred and violence propagated in the name of religion.This prayer extends itself to all people of the world, regardless of the religious beliefs they follow - again a marked contrast from the religious sects that attempt to protect only their own followers and hate and destroy the others.
    Apart from the symbolic significance of this prayer for world-peace, it is also important for the students of Tibetan Buddhism, as it shows the elaborate iconography of divinities utilised in prayers and flags and also the symbolic associations of these deities with various aspects.

Prayer written by Tenzing S. Bista
(Translated by Dr. Sienna Craig of Dartmouth College and Transcribed by Kunga Nyima Delotsang, a Friend of Dr. Craig in the Tibetan Community of Ithaca)

Path of Aspiration: A Prayer for Planetary Peace
Amchi Tenzing Sangbo Bista

Oh, assembly of the guru and the Three Jewels [of person, words and actions], and tutelary deities who are at the root of all accomplishments, and as expansive as the sea,

Oh, dakini sky dancers, dharma protectors, guardians of the doctrine, and the gods of wealth and those with power and strength,

Oh, local gods and all the elemental spirits, protectors of this place, local spirits, owners of this ground, along with the eight classes of demons and the lords of the earth who pervade this soil

May it be that peace and well being is extended and enlivened throughout this earthly world of sentient beings!

Oh, five deities of the household and of lineage, and the assemblage of nine protector deities,

The warrior deities and those of your navel, your mother, may they help you possess power and strength,

May those that grant longevity and merit, power and influence, and the vital energy of wind become your ally, increasing your renown,

And, may it be that peace and well being is extended and enlivened throughout this earthly world of sentient beings!

May the religion of the Buddha increase everywhere, in all ways and all directions

May benefactors of the Buddha's teachings flow forth from the dispeller of all obstacles

And may it be that peace and well being is extended and enlivened throughout this earthly world of sentient beings!

This prayer of aspiration was prepared by Tenzing of Lo Monthang, in the 9th month on the 11th day, in the Western year of 2008. (Sept. 11, 2008)

Prayer by Tenzing Bista in his Handwriting and in Sharpened Form (Text and Photo provided by - Maureen Drdak)

Tenzing Bista's contacts -
Amchi Tenzing S. Bista
(Physician at Lho Mangthang, Masthang Province, Nepal)

C/O, Amchi Gyatso Bista 

Chairman

Himalayan Amchi Association

G.P.O.Box # 14202
Boudha, Kathmandu
Nepal

Tel: 977-1-4490269
Fax : 977-1-4472529
Email: hiam98@yahoo.com

Email - Lkps_mustang@yahoo.com

Website - http://www.lokunphen.org.np/ 

 

   Lho Mangthang in Masthang region is home to Tenzing Bista. It is a Tibetan Buddhists' province within Nepal and is closely allied to Tibet culturally, geographically and climatically. Lho Mangthang  (at the height of 3,700 metres) is the walled capital of this about 3000 sq kms Tibetan province in Nepal.  A. H. Francke in his Antiquities of  Indian Tibet, published first in 1914, described Lho-Monsdan (Lo-Mantang on the maps) as the capital of a Tibetan Province called Blo-bo north of Muktinath (1). Michael Peissel in his Mustang, the Forbidden Kingdom, published in 1967, described in great detail the city of Lho-Mangthang, its rituals, the lives of the monks and the royals etc. (2).  He updated that description in 2002 with his Tibet-the Secret Kingdom (3). The Himalayan Journal says that Lo-Mantang translates as the "Plain of Prayer in the Land of Lo" (4). Till recently, this area was closed to foreigners. It was opened to them in 1991 and now there are guided trekking tours going to Lho Mangthang and beyond (two of such trekking groups going there are - Nepal Hiking Team and Dragon Trek).

Following are the map of this trek and some images from Lho Mangthang - 

 

Trekking Map to Lho Mangthang (See Original Image Here)

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Day 9: Lo Manthang

Stupas at Lho Mangthang (Photo - Simon and Jessica)

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Day 9: Lo Manthang

Namgyal Monastery (Photo - Simon and Jessica)

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Day 9: Lo Manthang

Ancient Fortresses Looking over Lho Mangthang (Photo - Simon and Jessica)

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Day 9: Lo Manthang

Ancient Ruins in the Masthang Valley (Photo - Simon and Jessica)

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Day 9: Lo Manthang

Lho Mangthang in the Evening Light (Photo - Simon and Jessica)

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Day 9: Lo Manthang

Group of Women Praying (Photo - Simon and Jessica)

THE LUNGTA COLLABORATIVE
The Living Blessings of Lo

Andrea Clearfield on Lung-Ta 

Lung-Ta (The Windhorse)

Prelude
Calling of the Dieties, Part I (Wrathful)
I.  Manjusri (Wisdom)
Calling of the Dieties, Part II (Peaceful)
II.  Avolokiteshvara (Compassion)
Calling of the Dieties, Part III (Tibetan Orchestra)
III. Vajrapani (Action)
Epilogue (A Prayer for World Peace by Tenzin Sangbo Bista)

The music for Lung-Ta (The Windhorse) is inspired by the breath-taking expanse of ancient, windy, raw high bone and coral shades of mountain landscape in the shadow of the Himalayas - Lo Monthang in northern Nepal, the powerful and resonant sounds of Tibetan Buddhist ritual music, and the deeply rich and spiritual life of the people there in this remote kingdom, one of the last remaining enclaves of pure Tibetan culture. The work is scored for nine musicians, each playing their own instrument plus Tibetan Buddhist instruments brought back from the trek; it also uses field recordings that I made on horseback, the chanting of the monks in both Tibetan Buddhist and Bon Po ceremonies in Upper Mustang, and the folk music of Tashi Tsering, the royal court singer of Lo Monthang.

The trek with painter Maureen Drdak, anthropologist Dr. Sienna Craig and her young daughter, Aida, into the restricted area of Upper Mustang became the window into this vast sound world. The piece takes its form from Maureen's 3 dynamic paintings, each representing one of the 3 protector deities of the Rigsum Gompo, structures found near the entrances of the villages in the high mountains. The 3 movements are informed by: Manjusri, Avolokiteshvara and Vajrapani, representing Wisdom, Compassion and Action, respectively. The music incorporates fragments of the melodies that were sung to me by Tashi Tsering, and composed with elements of heterophony (I), monophony (II) and polyphony (III).  Interspersed sections of “calling” the dieties employ ornaments, rhythms and pitched fragments from traditional Tibetan Buddhist chant and instrumental ritual music. Lung-Ta is also influenced by the prana threads in Maureen’s paintings: meridians that energetically run through the body to create universal connection. The musical representation of the prana threads can be heard as a C#/Db tone that continually dances through all of the instruments, even voices; it is ever present in Lung-ta, but is always shifting and morphing, like the clouds. The prana threads can be heard by single instruments or as a moving wave of sound with ornamental figures and microtonal undulations.

A Prayer for World Peace was written for us by Tenzin Sangbo Bista, senior Buddhist monk of Lo Monthang’s Choede Monastery and founder of the Lo Kunphen (Tibetan Medicine) School. The prayer is not sung, but rather unfolds through the trajectory of Lung-Ta, working its way from the gathering of wisdom to the all- encompassing connection of compassion into the manifestation of global action for positive change. At the conclusion of the work, there will be a recording of Tenzin Bista reciting his prayer in Tibetan.  It is very special to us that Tenzin has traveled from Nepal to be with us for both the benefit event held recently for his school, and for the premiere of “Lung-Ta”.


See Andrea Clearfield's Profile here

Contact - 

Andrea Clearfield

400 South Sydenham St.

Phila., PA 19146

215 893-0127

484 431 8376

aclearfield@gmail.com

PH: 215 893-0127

http://www.andreaclearfield.com/

More resources on this project (provided by Andrea Clearfield), with musical soundtracks of the composition of Andrea Clearfield can be found on her website here.

Lung-ta Collaborative on Youtube (Provided by Andrea Clearfield)

THE LUNGTA COLLABORATIVE
The Living Blessings of Lo

Manfred Fischbeck on Lung-Ta 

It was an honor for me and the Group Motion Dance Company to be invited into the creation of Lung-Ta (The Windhorse) and to provide the dimension of dance to this amazing collaboration.

The choreography for the piece was developed in closely following the structure of the musical and visual compositions.  Although using essentially an abstract movement language, the dance took inspiration from the imagery and the sounds of the Tibetan Buddhist music, art, and symbolism such as the prayer flags, the windhorse, the iconography of the clouds, sword, and flower, mudras of Tibetan Buddhist prayers, the ideas of the ‘peaceful and wrathful,’ and the deities of wisdom, compassion, and action.  Along the prana threads that pervade Andrea’s music and Maureen’s prayer flag paintings, the creation of the dance unfolded organically with the breath of the music.  Incorporating at one point the use of Tibetan drums and at the end the movement with authentic Nepalese scarves into the formation of an embodied prayer flag – the dance understands itself and the entire work as a prayer for global peace.

We are grateful to Andrea and Maureen and the Network for New Music and the spirit energy of Lo Monthang to be a part of this work.


See Manfred Fischbeck's profile here

Contact -

Manfred Fischbeck

Mfischbeck@groupmotion.org

215 662 5064

www.groupmotion.org

Maureen Drdak 

Profile-Text provided by Maureen Drdak
Please see here the article by Maureen Drdak, in which she discusses her paintings based on the concept of Lung-ta and on the poetic prayer of Tenzing Bista given above.

Maureen Drdak is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Philadelphia College of Art (University of the Arts) in Philadelphia; additional studies include Temple University, the Barnes Foundation, and research travel in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Nepal and the Himalayas. Her work concerns relate to universal paradigms of mythic archetypes, their capacity for cultural bridging, and their relevance in contemporary space. She is the recipient of numerous academic and private awards, most recently from H. F. Gerry Lenfest and Eugene V. Thaw for Lung-Ta, an interdisciplinary collaborative with American composer Andrea Clearfield, which premiered at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in March of 2009. Her work is found in numerous public, private, and university collections within the US and abroad, including the Berman Museum, Yad VaShem in Jerusalem, Berthe and John Ford, Lynda and Stuart Resnick, and King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan. Solo exhibitions, museum and academic lecture venues by invitation include, but are not limited to; Indigo Gallery (Nepal), the Patan Museum and Kathmandu Contemporary Art Center (Nepal), the University of the Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Penn College of Technology/Penn State University, West Chester University, Temple University Center for the Humanities, Massachusetts College of Art, the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Lehigh University, the Lawrence Gallery at Rosemont College in Philadelphia, the Iraqimemorial.org Exhibition and Symposium at the University of Nevada at Reno, and Charles More & Associates, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Forthcoming Exhibits include the Twelve Gates Gallery, Philadelphia, Visting Artist at Singinawa Foundation, Kanha, India, Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, and Serindia Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

Email: maureen@maureendrdak.com  

Website: www.Mdrdak.com /www.myartspace.com.

Endnotes

1. A. H. Francke, Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta, 1914, p. 84.

2. Michael Piessel, Mustang, the Forbidden Kingdom, Dutton (Penguin Group), New York, 1967, pp. 160-224.

3. Michael Piessel, Tibet - The Secret Kingdom, Thomas Dunne Books, New York, 2002.

4. Himalayan Journal, Vol. 56, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 64-66.

Read more...

The Lungta Collaborative - The Living Blessings of Lo

Maureen Drdak

Maureen Drdak is a Philadelphia-based artist 

Get this article in PDF by clicking on the subscription link on the right menu. Send title of article to me at  archana@southasianarts.org, so that your PDF can be sent.

This article first appeared in the website Asian Art on 3rd of June, 2009. We are grateful to Ian Alsop for allowing to republish it here, on Maureen's request.

[In this article, Maureen discusses her paintings based on Tibetan Buddhist monk Tenzing Bista's poetic prayer on world peace and on the concept of Lung-ta or the horizontal flag lines which are supposed to take prayers to the heaven like a wind-horse. Click here to see the poetic prayer by Tenzing Bista and related material.] 

A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.  ~Albert Camus

Any great work of art... revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world - the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air.  ~Leonard Bernstein, What Makes Opera Grand?

There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art.  ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Note - Please click on all images to see them in large size. All photographs by Maureen Drdak.

LUNGTA Triptych, (l to r) Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, and Vajrapani  LUNGTA [1] -The Windhorse, is a collaboration of art, music, and dance, [2] premiered to standing room only at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia on March 6th, 2009. The impetus for the collaborative and the imagery for its visual component-the LUNGTA Triptych - springs forth form from that sublime altar of the earth that is the Himalaya—the Abode of the Gods, and from an artistic response to the global impact of accelerating change on its remarkable cultures.  It was for purposes of gathering research for this project, that eminent Philadelphia composer, Andrea Clearfield, and I traveled to the remote mountain kingdom of Lo near the Tibetan border in late summer 2008. What follows is a discussion of the visual imagery; but first, a brief history of the background is in order… LUNGTA installation  The collaborative’s origins lay in a commission from Linda Reichert, artistic director and founder of Network for New Music, a premiere national group dedicated to the commission and performance of new music.  Reichert clearly had a specific synergy in mind; Andrea and I, along with choreographer Manfred Fischbeck, were invited for lunch and presented with her vision for the upcoming  NNM 2008-09 season, which would devoted to collaborative explorations between music and the visual arts - appropriately entitled MIX.  As the thematic subject of our particular effort was open, my thoughts turned immediately to my recent trek in 2006 to the Himalayan Kingdom of Lo. The catalyst for that journey had been my determination to rediscover and identify a particular landscape first glimpsed many decades ago in my high school library. The location portrayed in that earlier sighting was unidentified, yet as an image of terrible beauty, I had never forgotten it. Prolonged bouts of web-surfing finally yielded results; a photo depicting a virtually identical image was identified as the Kali Gandacki river gorge in Upper Mustang, Nepal.  My mystery location finally revealed, I planned a journey about which I’d fantasized for decades. With my husband, Peter Horodowich, I traveled up that gorge beyond the massifs of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna to the kingdom of Lo Monthang in northwest Nepal in the fall of 2006.      Top to Bottom - Kali Gandak, Fortresses of the Raja and Rani and Meditation Caves

Recalling now those memories of that spectacular land and its tenacious people, I was moved to celebrate them. Among many images, one immediately and repeatedly asserted itself – wind lashed Lung-ta atop desolate passes, furiously imploring the heavens. Defiant in their finitude, they were an affirmation of the perseverance of both pilgrims and gods in their eternal engagement with universal forces. Their urgent supplications alternating with joyous salutations, they assumed for me a particular poignancy when contemplating the increasingly grave challenges to our planet; in those mountains climactic change was everywhere in evidence. So moved, I initiated proto drawings and a proposal outlining my interpretive vision and presented it to my colleagues, who immediately felt an affinity for its philosophical message and expressive potential. Indeed, Linda Reichert’s inspiration was such that her vision now foresaw a physical journey to Lo; artistic integrity required the effort!  And so Andrea Clearfield and I traveled to Lo in Upper Mustang in the late summer of 2008; for Andrea the allure of vast and unknown vistas, [3] for myself, a return to a wild and beloved place; for both of us, the challenge of physical and mental borderlands and the liminal spaces between.

 Top to Bottom - Lung-ta in Lo and Upper Mustang 

Nepalese Himalayas and Border Checkpoint

Within Nepal, the kingdom [4] -or region-of Lo is a “restricted area”. The origin of this status lies both in political strife and economic agendas, past and present. As the Nepalese government forbids solitary travel within the region, this proscription brought us the companionship of Dr. Sienna Craig, a cultural anthropologist from Dartmouth College. Recent friends, we had serendipitously learned of each others plans to enter the kingdom, and determining that our agendas were harmonious, welcomed the opportunity to travel together.  Sienna’s companionship was an unexpected gift and delight; fluent in Nepali and Tibetan, with deep personal and cultural knowledge of the region [5], her skills were a tremendous asset. We were joined by two additional companions; our guide and liaison Gyaltso Bista, close friend of Sienna and amchi practitioner in the service of the Loba King, Jigme Palbar Bista, and as Sienna would be traveling with her not-quite four year old daughter Aida, she would be aided by Norzing-La, daughter of the Loba Queen’s lady-in-waiting, Dawa. With these advantages we would be able to travel with efficiency and speed. Traveling with the intrepid Aida added a unique dimension to the physical and psychological challenges, heightening both our sense of protective vigilance and connection, both with each other and with the humanity of the Lobas.  And so in the late summer of 2008, our group crossed into the restricted area of Upper Mustang, headed for the capital of Monthang, and on the trail of the Windhorse.

  Clockwise from Top - Drdak, Craig and Clearfield; Clearfield and Drdak; LUNGTA Party with Raja of Mustang 

 The LUNGTA Triptych’s visual imagery draws upon two living concepts from the Tibetan cultures of this remote Himalayan region; that of Lung-Ta, and that of the Rigsum Gompo—the Three Protectors. These concepts physically and metaphysically permeate the Kingdom of Lo, which is believed to be the last remaining enclave of pure Tibetan culture. Though the origins of these concepts lie deep within the ancient Central Asian, Himalayan, and Vedic cultures, their underlying sensibilities are familiar to the West.; many of our myths reflecting similar concepts and structures. But the relevance of this iconography, indeed that of any imagery, lies in its ongoing capacity to connect with the present; in this essential respect Lung-Ta lives!

Lung-Ta is multivalent in depth, flexibility, and relevance; it exists conceptually on dual planes of both the metaphysical and the vernacular - the universal and the personal – the eternal and the temporal.  The Lung-Ta, or Windhorse, lends its name to the Tibetan or Buddhist Prayer Flag. This common vernacular form can be seen strung at shrines, monasteries, and sites of spiritual significance, both public and private. Though images, specific text, and motivational intent of Lung-Ta may vary greatly, the predominant form is a square of cloth upon which is printed an image (from which its name is derived) of the Celestial Horse bearing upon its back the Flaming Jewels of the Dharma, surrounded by the text of Buddhist prayers and accompanied by the Four Animal Guardians. (Photo)  As it flies, it sanctifies the animating and permeating wind, carrying the blessings of the Dharma heavenward. Snapping in the wind, it recalls the sound of horse’s hooves. An evocative and recurring sight, Lung-ta signify places of power - high mountain passes, venerated gompas - and confer blessing and protection upon points of vulnerability - both human and inanimate.

Lung-ta with Windhorse 

  Lung-Ta also refers to a more subtle concept; that of the Mind riding upon the Spirit, as a Horseman rides upon a Horse.  Indeed, early Vedic peoples visualized the structure of the World-Cosmos as analogous to the horse’s body. In Tibetan, ta is horse and lung signifies not only breath or wind, but atmospheric energy, and further, the prana, or vital energy, surging through the subtle or vajra (diamond) body which all individuals are believed to posses.  The energy of the horse represents the Heavenly Wind; the great Pranic Breath of the Cosmos – upon which rides the Mind, that of the innate consciousness of the universe that is the inheritance of Man. In some traditions and interpretations this association becomes so close that the two are conflated; this merging of identification being common in early totemic cultures.  When properly aligned, through the purging of destructive negativity and ignorance, the Mind (Rider) soars into the Heavens upon the eternal energy of his Soul (Steed) and unimpeded attains Liberation, or moksha; the reconciliation of Spirit and Matter, Prusha and Prakriti, Atman and Brahman. 

The horse is pivotal to the cultural and physical life of Lo; it is the seminal symbol of both wealth and virtue. Indeed, in the writings of Dr. Sienna Craig, the intimacies of this cultural relationship extend to burial and medicine; the Loba and Mustangi regard for their horses often being evidenced in similarity of ritual practices for both humans and horses. The horse’s body provides a metaphor for innumerable emotional, physical and spiritual states. It offers an ever present reminder of the internal aspiration for the spiritual skill of the Cosmic Rider who is One with the Cosmic Horse; the great Buddhist poet Milarepa's "Song of the Galloping Horse of a Yogi" gives eloquent voice to this affinity:  

In the mountain hermitage which is my body,

In the temple of my breast

At the summit of the triangle of my heart,

The horse which is my mind flies like the wind.

He gallops on the plains of great bliss.

If he persists, he will attain the rank of a victorious Buddha.

Going backward, he cuts the root of samsara;

Going forward he reaches the high land of buddhahood.

Astride such a horse, one attains the highest illumination [6] 

As is here evident, the concept of Lung-ta is highly accommodating of creative synthesis. Its imagery is highly plastic, expressing both physical and metaphysical energies. In approaching my work for the collaborative, it was important for me to envision formal structures that could clearly translate into their expressive counterparts in music, so that this lovely duality would be effectively realized through the complimentary forms of music and image. Approach and treatment were selected with consideration of their translation into musical structure. Thus, forms evocative of wind and movement permeate the Triptych.  In my paintings, Lung-Ta is expressed through dynamic gesture incorporating elements of the equine form, as well as formal references to the cloud formations racing across the vast Tibetan plateau. The speed of the horse associates it with the wind, and through natural extension, the clouds. Indeed, among the Tibetans, one particular form of cloud with a twisting, trailing form is known as a “Mares Tail” [7]. Clouds, and all natural forms, are highly codified in Tibetan visual iconography, as are their symbolical associations. In determining Lung-Ta’s visual vocabulary, I have respectfully referenced these forms, interpreting and integrating them within the biomorphic structure. “Cloud Streets” (long continuous bands of clouds) and “Mares Tails” merge with muscular fragments, suggesting the shifting energies and moods of the Windhorse as it flies through the heavens, and convey this alliance between horse and wind. Their shifting states of existence are conveyed through biomorphic expression- the perpetuity of material flux - the endless “becoming” of the physical; the manifest within the immanent. 

LUNGTA Triptych, (l to r) Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, and Vajrapani

I have used the expressive potential inherent in the equine form to allude to both the Windhorse itself, and additionally the qualities associated with each of the bodhisattvas of the Rigsum Gompo, described below. The tripartite further translates into musical movements; thus, in Manjushri, rolling clouds unfurl and stream outward, referencing the Bodhisattva who “dispels the Clouds of Ignorance.”

Their gentled streams merge into the following image—Avalokiteshvara. Here the cloud streets are calm, and the great biomorphic form is gently closed within itself, or “collected”; an equine term that signifies balance, harmony and benevolence.

The cloud streets continue onwards, and in Vajrapani, the bodhisattva emblematic of skillful method or action (vajra=lightening), they explode in a lightening stroke outward and off the picture plane; the resulting energy resonates and reverberates throughout the jagged biomorphic structure.

The horizontal rush of the cloud streets manifest the universal winds and complement the surging tsa lung, which conceptually ground the work. Passing through all three images, they are here depicted as three pure gold threads—the Prana channels - carrying the breath of life. Crowning the anterior plane of all three images, the deep blue of space recedes upward according to Tibetan sensibility. Movement, light, and speed are the essence of LUNGTA.

 Rigsum Gompo and Offering Wall 

 Tsarang Monastery 

My art has long been grounded in both external and internal locations of extremis; the deserts, seas and heights of the earth, and from the great philosophical visions which continually spring forth from them. As such, the Himalaya is a sanctified place where both body and mind are driven inexorably towards the reconciliation of opposites. One is relentlessly aware of physical limitations, and yet, paradoxically, experiences a limitless sense of euphoric connection. The grace of transcendence seems momentarily within reach. Through this requisite submission of the ego to the abrasion of vast and impersonal forces, our apprehension of the eternal is ever refined, our sense of connection ever deepened, our creativity continually enhanced.

As mentioned in the first lines of this essay, a heightened sense of cultural change and fragility informed our work. Societies are rapidly changing, increasingly stretching the limits of communal connection. Art can be a powerful force for easing this dislocation; it can offer a momentary sense of communal transcendence-tenuous, yet essential; West meeting East; thesis and antithesis birthing synthesis, yet one more variation of evolution of Self through Other.  Art can maintain meaningful cultural identity and be a positive force for self definition-a grounding matrix enabling individuals to locate themselves within their societies, and their world. Lung-Ta is an allegory for the human soul and its’ relationship with the eternal/universe; though aesthetically autonomous, LUNGTA exists, ultimately, for communal benefit. It is my hope that in this respect, it accords with the Tibetan spiritual aesthetic, and honors the spirit of the mountains from which this work is drawn.

The documentation of the Lungta Collaborative will be presented to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by Dr. Amy Heller through the auspices of the Office of Tibet, (Geneva, Switzerland) during his 2009 visit to Switzerland.*

I wish to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to both Dr. Sienna Craig and Dr. Amy Heller. Their generous and invaluable advice, support and guidance during all stages of this project was broad and deep, and always gracefully given.

* Documentation of the Lungta Collaborative was delivered to His Holiness in 2009.

Endnotes:

1. LUNGTA refers to the collaborative work and its components of image, music, and dance.
Lung-Ta refers both to the concept, and its vernacular form of the prayer flag.

2. To our effort would later be joined the choreography of Manfred Fischbeck and Group Motion Dance. Notes on both Clearfield’s music and Manfred Fischbeck’s choreography can be found at the conclusion of this essay. (Clearfield and Fischbeck)

3. David Patrick Stearns (Classical Music Critic), “From Nepal back to Philadelphia, premiering a changed music”, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, 2009, March 5^th.

4. As of October 2008 the current King of Lo, Jigme Palbar Bista, 25th in the line of Loba kings, was stripped of his crown by the  Maoist government of Nepal.

5. Sienna Craig, “Horses Like Lightening; A Story of Passage through the Himalayas”, Wisdom Publications, 2008.

6. The 100,000 Songs of Milarepa, translation by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa.

7. Robert Beer, “The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs”, Shambala, Boston 1999, pg 24.

8. Interestingly, Avalokiteshvara (Tibetan-Chenrezig), is manifested in wrathful form as the horse-headed Hayagriva, the Wisdom Lord, and has Vedic antecedents; the neighing of the horse shatters ignorance and evil, etc.; the list of  associative  relationships are abundant.

9. See the Prayer written by Tenzin S. Bista and the cursive transcription. (Link)

10. It is important for me to state that I am not literate in Tibetan (in any form). The prayer was transcribed from  the original block script, to kyug yig, by Kunga Nyima Delotsang, a friend of Dr. Craig's in the Tibetan community of Ithaca; I then transcribed the cursive to the paintings, endeavoring  to accurately transcribe as possible, consulting with both Drs. Craig and Heller in the process. It was also translated by Dr. Craig, who is an anthropologist at Dartmouth College.

Maureen Drdak can be contacted at maureen@maureendrdak.com 

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