To prepare for the Monlam, sixty-five nuns and monks from
Kagyu monasteries gathered at Thrangu Rinpoche’s Vajra Vidya
Institute in Sarnath for twenty-two days during December.
They spent this time intensely studying the ancient art of
torma making —the tall, sculpted images that adorn the main
shrine from year to year. At Vajra Vidya, classes began at
eight in the morning and continued to six in the evening,
and some of the students worked late into the night.
Experienced teachers came as well as a statue maker from
Bhutan, who gave the students the precise measurements for
the figures—the rounding of the shoulders, the bend of an
extended leg, the shape of the fingers in their mudras.
Thangka painters also use geometric diagrams as a basis for
their work, but the tormas are more difficult to create
since they are three-dimensional.
A student begins with a model given by the teacher and uses
just wax butter and no color to make their copies until the
forms are just right. New students learn to make the ornate
flowers and various offerings while the especially gifted
graduate to make the central figures of the tormas. In both
groups, the attention to detail is remarkable: the subtle
shading of hundreds of tiny petals that go from ivory white
to a deep blue at the flower’s center; the gentle curve of a
foot crossed in full lotus; the ripple of drapery in the
clothing; or the arch of a brow that suggests an analytical
mind at work.
In Bodhgaya, the torma makers worked at the Bhutanese
Monastery in two large rooms. One was devoted to the
ornamentation and the other to the more complex figures.
Here the artists sat along the walls with their work on a
table in front of them. The space had the feel of a
meditation hall as they shaped a mixture (including palm
oil, wax, and margerine) into figures that emerged from the
circular boards serving as their basis. Later, when the last
detail had been checked, all the individual parts—the
central and side figures, the heaps of offerings, the
leaves, fruits and flowers—would be attached to a six-foot
piece of carved wood, bringing the whole image to life. In
the evening of February 28, when the roads in Bodhgaya were
almost empty, the tormas were carefully transported to
Tergar Monastery on handcarts and set up in an impressive
row on the altar in the Monlam Pavillion.
The Karmapa has revived and inspired the tradition of making
tormas, so that it has become a subtle and exquisite art
form. He chooses the figures for each year, inspects them
carefully as they are being created, and also created a new
template for the tormas. He gave them the name rgyan gtor,
which literally means “an ornamented torma,” pointing to the
multiple shapes and colors they display. The structure of
the torma also recalls the field for accumulating merit (tshogs
zhing), also known as the refuge tree, which depicts the
Three Jewels, the Three Roots, and especially the lineage
lamas. The soft green coloring of the torma background
recalls this allusion to the tree.
The Karmapa envisioned the tormas in five parts. The top is
the classic array of flaming jewels, which spontaneously
bring all that is needed or wished for. Below a golden
umbrella, the jewels are a permanent fixture. Just below
them, in the second section, are buddhas, deities related to
long life, or holders of the teachings, which change from
year to year. This year, in the first set of four tormas are
the four tathagatas, who give blessings during smoke
offerings and form an important part of special rituals to
turn away obstacles (gto). The second set of tormas
depicts four great Indian masters who were vital sources of
the Dharma that came to Tibet: Telopa, Maitripa, Naropa, and
Nagarjuna.
For the third section, billowing clouds flanked by flowers
form a transition to the fourth and central part of the
torma. Here are found the main figures embodying the yearly
themes, and for 2012 there are two. The first set of four
tormas depicts the four great celebrations (dus chen)
of the Tibetan Buddhist calendar: the Buddha’s display of
miracles during the waxing moon of the first month; the
awakening to Buddhahood (which coincides with his birth and
parinirvana) on the full moon day of the fourth month;
turning the wheel of Dharma on the sixth day of the sixth
month; and his descent from the realm of Tushita on the
twenty-second day of the ninth month. In this central
section, the principal images are sometimes flanked by
disciples or other figures related to the main image. This
year, on either side of the Buddha, we find the Eight
Supreme Sravakas (or Listeners, nyan thos mchog brgyad),
the Buddha’s close disciples. Above radiant offerings of
fruit and flowers, they sit in full lotus on their
multilayered cushions.
In this central area, the second set of tormas depicts the
main teachers from each of the four Tibetan Buddhist schools
bringing to mind the four lineage thangkas that were arrayed
behind the Karmapa’s throne in Tergar’s shrine hall. Again
and again, we are reminded of the essential unity of the
Buddha’s teachings in all its forms. The four lineage tormas
represent Padmasambhava (Nyingma), Marpa Lotsawa (Kagyu),
Kunga Nyingpo (Sakya), and Je Tsongkhapa (Gelukpa).
In all eight tormas below this central area comes a spread
of different offerings, which are taken from traditional
categories, such as the eight auspicious symbols, the seven
royal articles, the eight auspicious substances, the five
pleasurable objects of the senses, the requisites of a monk
or simply a graceful torma and beautiful fruit. This upper
part of the great torma is arranged so that as soon as we
see the Buddha, a yidam deity, or a great master, we also
see an abundant offering that we can give and multiply with
our minds.
The base of the torma, the fifth section, takes the shape of
a traditional offering of food (zhal zas) and the
images found here often portray various protectors or
offering goddesses. This year, the four tormas related to
the Buddha have at their foundation the four guardian kings.
Residing in the four directions, they promised the Buddha to
protect the teachings wherever they might be found. At the
foundation of the second set of tormas, a feminine aspect
appears as the queens of the four seasons. Their colors
correspond to those of the four activities: pacifying,
enriching, magnetizing, and subduing. The elements
represented by these eight figures make up our conventional
world, which is likewise constructed of space (the
directions) and time (the seasons), of male and female, of
king and queen. This relative world is also the very basis
upon which we realize the deeper truths embodied by the
figures in the higher levels of the tormas. Symbolizing the
breadth and depth of the teachings, the tormas create a
fitting background for all the practices and events that
take place at the Kagyu Monlam, making an impression that
goes beyond words to touch our minds and hearts directly.
