The selection of Thangka Painting is very Personal as we know that the customer will be using the thangka either for Prayer, Spiritual Practice, Meditation or just at home for everyday good energy. That is why we encourage people to understand the details and symbolism in thangka firstly and choose just the right piece that resonates to their heart.

Choosing a Thangka

Let us look in detail for some of the main points that might be very helpful for anyone while selecting a Thangka Painting. 

1. Thangka Symbolism

The reasons behind the choice of a Buddhist thangka are many and are mostly related to our state of mind. Each deity in thangka painting represent a unique quality which we meditate upon. While we meditate looking at the painting we try to be one with the deity in order to bring the good quality inside us. For example the chenrezig is the bodhisattva of Compassion. We meditate looking upon this thangka to be more compassionate towards all sentient beings for benefit of others. 

2. Purpose 

What is the reason you are purchasing the thangka for? Is it for your House? just for decoration? for prayers ? There can be a lot of reason you would want to purchase a thangka for. But no matter for any reason you having a thangka painting at your space creates a very pleasant and good energy.

3. Quality

To be a master thangka artist it requires a lot of dedication and time. The thangka master painter are those who have been painting for at least 30 years. Having a good quality thangka is very important because a good quality thangka will always have the right proportion of the deity and all symbolism correctly painted according to the traditional texts and figures. These can be medium budget to high budget price too. As Thangka is a long term investment we always try to help our customers to get the thangka by offering them instalment payment plan. In this way we believe that we are helping our artisans and the customers too. We recommend you to check the following few things when it comes to quality:

 a. The Face and the Eye

 b. The Body, gestures and postures

 c. Alignment and Proportion

4. Border Framing

The thangka is a scroll painting so when you purchase thangka at Lucky Thanka it wont be coming with a frame. However, we recommend you to visit our Request Brocade page and choose brocade to email us regarding your choice of Brocade for the Thangka. Alternatively you could frame it by purchasing a wooden frame at your nearest shop for western look. We offer a very good price for adding a Traditional brocade for your thangka  from Lucky Thanka which cost from $50 and above according to the size.

Motivation to buy Thangka Painting

Our motivation can be a great move to help us buy a Tibetan Thangka Painting too. If the motivation is for the benefit of your body, mind and speech so that you can help others through your awakened mind then you could gain a lot of merit. Here are some of the other factors that may be the motivation for people to buy a Thangka Painting.

1. An appreciation towards artwork

Lot of people love art work and when they understand the work and details involved in the painting people can actually feel the energy. People buy it for recognising the artwork and value it with their heart.

2. A blessing to your personal or professional environment

Tibetan thangka can be consecrated and blessed by your lama, teacher, spiritual friend. Your daily routine while passing the thangka, will be to remind you of the qualities of the deity and / or make offerings to him (incense, flowers, saffron water, etc.).

3. A tool for devotion

A tibetan thangka can help you to better identify and remember the qualities of divinity and integrate them into your practice using the teachings of Buddhism. Lot of people who enjoy teachings of Buddhism would love to buy Thangka Paintings for their practice.

4. Practice Meditation

A thangka is also called as a road map for the enlightenment. Through the thangka and deity visualization, you can practice various exercises to find inner peace and an awakened mind.

Choosing Thangka according to its meaning

There are more than thousand of different thangka paintings. Since each thangka is hand painted every pcs is a unique form of artwork. Each Thangka representing different deity, story, bodhisattva, buddha have their own meaning. Mostly the thangka painting always teach us to be compassionate and loving towards all sentient. I have listed out some of the popular thangka painting with its short meaning so that it can help you to decide which thangka painting you should consider buying.

1. Wheel of Life 

This is one of my personal favourite thangka painting also known as bhavchakra. This thangka has made me realise a lot of things in my life which have helped me to see a lot of things differently from what i used to perceive the world. The Wheel of life thangka is best for anyone to be motivated in life to do good karma. Click here to read everything in detail about Wheel Of Life.

2. Tara

According to the legend Tara is an emanation of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. This thangka is more famous amongst female. There are 21 tara among which Green Tara and White Tara are the famously known. Both of the tara help us to liberate and end the suffering. The mantra for tara is Om Tare Tu Tare Ture soha. 

3. Chenrezig/Avalokiteshvara

OM Ma Ni Pad Me Hum: Reciting this mantra and looking upon the Chenrezig thangka has an immense benefit. Chenrezig is a bodhisattva who has delayed its enlightenment for helping suffering in the world. Avalokiteshvara is the different form of Chenrezig in 1000 arms and 1000 eyes so that Chenrezig can offer help towards all sentient. Personally for me Chenrezig is the thangka which helped me to deeply understand true meaning of Love & Compassion deeply. 

4. Different Buddha

  a. Shakyamuni Buddha : The Awakened one.

  b. Medicine Buddha : Healing Buddha for our physical and mental health. 

  c. Maitreya Buddha : The Future Buddha to come.

 d. Amitabha Buddha : For Long Life and Longevity.

5. Zambala

Also known as Kubera in Hindu is a popular God for wealth and prosperity. Zambala is also believed to be an emanation of Avalokitesvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. People mostly buy it for office and work related but it can be kept in house as well for positive energy. 

6. Mandala

A mandala is a symbolic picture of the universe. The mandala's purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones and to assist with healing. A mandala is often a symbol that is used to help people focus in on meditation and achieve a sense of oneness with the universe. At Lucky Thanka we have categorised Mandala into 3 categories:

 a. Kalchakra Mandala 

This pattern was designed by Dalai Lama for peace and compassion. This Thangka is mostly selected by Family for their house to have positive and good luck in house. 

 b. Mantra Mandala

This Mandala specially consist of Mantra Syllable. There are a lot of variety in this collection and every pcs is beautiful. These mandala may have different designs but the essence might be same if the mantra is same. These are a perfect for gift to your loved ones on christmas, thanks giving day, fathers and mothers day or any special occasion. 

7. Manjushri

Manjushri, as meditation experience, is a powerful image representing ever-present wisdom plus the  sword of awareness to cut off all delusion. Recite this mantra : Om Ah Ra Pa Tsa Na Dhi and meditate upon Manjushri for greater wisdom.

The Consecration 

By receiving the wisdom being into the commitment being allowing them to become one being, the thangka gains vitality and is made a true living image. The customer can request us to get the thangka for consecration. We do this process by visiting the different stupa in Nepal and get the thangka blessed by lama and Rinpoche. For this a small donation is suggested for their time and service. They will happily accept any thing offered for this awakening process and we should contribute anything we can towards their help.