A SACRED PLAN FOR PEACE WITHIN

Colossal Maitreya relief, Kartse, circa 7th century.The earliest colossal Buddhas were seen in the Kanheri and Ajanta caves, in the 5th-6th centuries. This is a tradition that became very popular in the Himalayan regions and in Central Asiaand China.-

The ecstasy of aesthetic experience lies at the heart of the Buddhism that came to Tibet and the Indian trans-Himalayas. In these vast and bleak desert lands, the Buddhist temples are like an oasis of colour.

Vajrayana Buddhism was born out of centuries of dynamic intellectual search at the great universities of eastern India and Kashmir. It is believed to have the clarity and indestructible nature of a diamond as well as the striking nature of a thunderbolt. Its purpose is to free us and to dispel the veils of ignorance with the force of a clap of thunder.

By the 4th century, in the Buddhist centres of Kashmir the Yogachara school of thought had developed. It believed that the most effective method to attain the Truth was meditation or Yoga. The different aspects of the wisdom of the Buddha were personified as the five Dhyani (meditation) Buddhas: Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi and Vairocana. Mandalas were also conceived in Buddhist practice and are seen from the 5th century. The path to enlightenment was visualised as a movement through various levels of spiritual growthfrom the outer spheres towards the illumined centre and the moment of the realisation of the Truth or Buddhahood.

In the 10th century, Abhinavagupta in Kashmir took the Indian philosophy of aesthetics to rare heights of development. This was in a climate deeply imbued with the thoughts of Kashmir Shaivism, which saw the beauty of the world as a reflection of the glory of the divine. The experience of beauty, the ecstasy of the aesthetic experience, was considered to be akin to the final bliss of salvation itself.

This experience of aesthetics and of joy lies at the heart of the Buddhism that came to Tibet and the Indian trans-Himalayas. In these vast and bleak desert lands, the Buddhist temples are like an oasis of colour. The architecture, the sculpture and the paintings are all a part of a unified, sacred plan. Their purpose is to move us and to transport us, far from the cares and confusions of the material world: to the peace to be found within.

The Cham dance of the Lamas signifies the victory of knowledge over ignorance. In Buddhist thought the greatest evil is the ego. It is that sense of the self that is the greatest illusion that we must lose in order to gain true knowledge.

The masks are very important. For, on the sacred ground it is not the individual Lamas who are supposed to dance. They have to forget themselves; they have to obliterate their own personalities to become the deity, who will then dance. The masks present qualities of the deities within them. There are peaceful masks and those with wrathful expressions. Finally, both symbolise the emptiness of the ultimate nature of all appearances.

Benoy K. Behl is a film-maker, art historian and photographer who is known for his prolific output of work over the past 34 years. He has taken over 35,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage and made over a hundred documentaries on art history. This series carries photographs from his photographic exhibition on Buddhist Heritage of the World, which is currently on display in Nara in Japan and in the French Reunion Island. It was also displayed earlier this year in London, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Leh, New Delhi and at the International Buddhist Conclave in Varanasi. The series has photographs taken in 19 countries/regions across Asia and in one part of Europe which has a 300-year-old Buddhist heritage.