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Offering Scene

This offering scene, painted below a large, central golden Maitreya on the Northern wall just west of the portal into the back room of the temple, is richly depicted. On the offering table, a number of traditional Tibetan offerings (originally from Indian symbolism) adorn the scene: the glowing jewels,  the lotus, the incense, the golden earrings, the yogurt, the medicine, the elephant tusks, etc. Each symbol carries one or more esoteric meanings, combating ignorance and helping to lead to the path of enlightenment. The man below holds a wheel and the woman with the child bears a jewel. A host of monks attends them, including the tall figure standing on the far right, Ksitigarbha. Perhaps this scene is a reference to the coming of Maitreya, a scene of celebration. Ksitigarbha is a bodhisattva who promised to delay his own enlightenment until the advent of Maitreya. The two figures holding the emblems could be his parents with the young child his incarnation on earth. This is only one possible interpretation.

 

© Copyright 1998 Jonathan S. Bell


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