Four harmonious animals

Backside of Tibetan 25 tam banknote, dated 1659 to the Tibetan Era (= 1913). On the right, the four harmonious animals are represented.

The four harmonious animals or four harmonious brothers (Wylie: mthun pa spun bzhi [1] or Wylie: mthun pa rnam bzhi [2]) figure in Buddhist mythology and the Jataka tales[3] that can often be found as subject in Tibetan art.

A popular scene often found as wall paintings in Tibetan religious buildings represents an elephant standing under a fruit tree carrying a monkey, a hare and a bird on top of each other. The scene refers to a legend which tells that four animals were trying to find out who was the oldest. The elephant said that the tree was already fully grown when he was young, the monkey that the tree was small when he was young, the hare that he saw the tree as a sapling when he was young and the bird claimed that he had carried the seed from which the tree grew. So the bird was recognized by the other animals as the oldest, and the four animals lived together in harmony, helping each other to enjoy the fruits of the tree. This is the origin of their name.

The primary source for the Buddhist legend of the four harmonious brothers is the Vinayavastu (Wylie: 'dul ba'i gzhi ), which forms the first section of the Kangyur, the canon of Tibetan Buddhism.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Gege Lama, Principles of Tibetan Art. Vol. II, Darjeeling 1983, p 241.
  2. 1 2 Sagaster, Klaus: Der weiße Lotus des Friedens. Eine moderne Interpretation Buddhistischer Symbolik. Zentralasiatische Studien, Sonderdruck 12/1978, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1978.
  3. ↑ Discussion of tale on thedailyenlightenment.com

External links

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