#tsakali

Tsakali cards were used by a practitioner, usually a monk or nun, under the guidance of a teacher to evoke a Buddhist deity. As these teachers traveled from one monastery to the next, using sets of portable tsakali cards was an efficient way of presenting the vast pantheon of Buddhist gods. The cards were presented in a set — arranged as a mandala — so as to create a portable temple to be venerated in order to purify the mind prior to undertaking advanced tantric techniques.

Tsakali painting of Begtse, the protector deity of Mongolia. c19th century.

Tempera and oil on canvas, 200 x 159 cm

Oil on canvas

--  Evoking the Divine: Mental Purification Using a Tibetan Tsakali Mandala   Kurt Behrendt, Associate Curator, Department of Asian Art

Vinyl and oil on canvas, 200 x 180 cm