Item: Shakyamuni Buddha - Avadana (teaching stories)

Avadana Painting #12 containing stories 49-54. From a set of 22 tangkas and 108 stories.

(49) Hastaka's Good Fortune, a story about cause and effect. At the upper center, beneath a tree, the Buddha Shakyamuni explains why the youth Hastaka possesses a golden elephant.
(50) Performing the Ten Actions, a story about cause and effect. Sitting in a city park, with the Vulture Peak mountain behind and above, the Buddha relates ten stories about actions and results.
(51) The Lady Rukmavati in a story about generosity gives away her two breasts and a Brahmin youth feeds his body to a mother tigress.
(52) Adinapunya Offers His Life, a story about generosity involving kingdoms, battles and greed.
(53) Subhashitagaveshin, seeker of Wisdom, searches his kingdom for a teacher rich in wisdom.
(54) Sattvaushadha's Power of Healing, a story about the perfection of meditation, a healing pond and the relief of suffering.

The Avadana paintings were conceived and sponsored by Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne (1700-1774). From the first set of paintings numerous copies were later made.

[Story names from Leaves of the Heaven Tree, the Great Compassion of the Buddha by Padma Chopel, 19th century. (Based on the Bodhisattvavadanakalpata of Kshemendra, 11th century). Translated by Deborah Black. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1997.]

Jeff Watt 4-2000

Thematic Sets
Painting Set: Avadana Composition (Situ Panchen Design) Main Page
Painting Set: Avadana, Palpung Style (Rubin Set 1)
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Gallery 2
Painting Style: Kham Region (Kham-ri)