Unknown
The Bon Meditational Deity Kunzang Akor16th century

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: The Bon Meditational Deity Kunzang Akor
Place Made: Central Tibet (by a Newari artist)
Date Made: 16th century
Medium: Gilt brass inlaid with turquoise and coral
Dimensions: 6 1/8 x 5 1/16 x 3 3/16 in. (15.56 x 12.86 x 8.1 cm)
Credit Line: Indian Art Special Purpose Fund
Accession Number: M.83.191
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: The Yungdrung (Eternal) Bon religion is the indigenous spiritual tradition of the western Himalayan regions that is believed by its followers to have been founded by Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche some 8,000–18,000 years ago in the kingdom of Zhangzhung. It was located in Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring, in the present-day Tibet Autonomous Region, with Mount Kailash as its center. The kingdom flourished in circa 500 BCE–625 CE and predates the arrival of Buddhism in the 7th century when it was conquered by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (r. 618–649). Bon originally consisted of animistic and shamanistic rituals focused on nature spirits and the afterlife but evolved through intense interaction with Buddhism into a sophisticated, organized monastic system. Symbolizing the nature of the mind and the five purified elements, the principal symbol of Bon is the counterclockwise swastika, which reflects the direction of how its practitioners circumambulate holy sites and spin prayer wheels. In contrast, Buddhist swastikas are typically clockwise although both directions are known.

Kunzang Akor is the meditational form of Lhachen Shenlha Okar (also known as just Shenlha Okar or Shiwa Okar). He is the supreme deity of compassion and white light, and the most important of the Four Transcendent Lords (Four Sugatas) of the Bon religion. There are various ritual cycles and meditation practices for Kunzang Akor, whose image was often commissioned as a death memorial. Crowned and heavily ornamented, Kunzang Akor is usually identified by the Tibetan letter 'A' portrayed over his heart. His two hands are typically held in the meditation gesture (dhyana mudra) with the left hand properly placed over the right, in contrast to the Buddhist version with the right hand on top. His hands each hold the stalk of a lotus that supports a swastika on the right and a vase containing the elixir of immortality (amrita) on the left. He sits in the meditation posture (padma asana) on a lotus base that is adorned on the bottom plate with an incised swastika at the center of a mandala with the Eight Auspicious Symbols that were revered in both Bon and Buddhism. See Himalayan Art Resources, no. 85785, https://www.himalayanart.org/items/85785.

See also M.79.152.179.
Selected Bibliography: Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style and Choices. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Expanded edition. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990.

Unknown
The Bon Meditational Deity Kunzang Akor16th century

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: The Bon Meditational Deity Kunzang Akor
Place Made: Central Tibet (by a Newari artist)
Date Made: 16th century
Medium: Gilt brass inlaid with turquoise and coral
Dimensions: 6 1/8 x 5 1/16 x 3 3/16 in. (15.56 x 12.86 x 8.1 cm)
Credit Line: Indian Art Special Purpose Fund
Accession Number: M.83.191
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: The Yungdrung (Eternal) Bon religion is the indigenous spiritual tradition of the western Himalayan regions that is believed by its followers to have been founded by Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche some 8,000–18,000 years ago in the kingdom of Zhangzhung. It was located in Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring, in the present-day Tibet Autonomous Region, with Mount Kailash as its center. The kingdom flourished in circa 500 BCE–625 CE and predates the arrival of Buddhism in the 7th century when it was conquered by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (r. 618–649). Bon originally consisted of animistic and shamanistic rituals focused on nature spirits and the afterlife but evolved through intense interaction with Buddhism into a sophisticated, organized monastic system. Symbolizing the nature of the mind and the five purified elements, the principal symbol of Bon is the counterclockwise swastika, which reflects the direction of how its practitioners circumambulate holy sites and spin prayer wheels. In contrast, Buddhist swastikas are typically clockwise although both directions are known.

Kunzang Akor is the meditational form of Lhachen Shenlha Okar (also known as just Shenlha Okar or Shiwa Okar). He is the supreme deity of compassion and white light, and the most important of the Four Transcendent Lords (Four Sugatas) of the Bon religion. There are various ritual cycles and meditation practices for Kunzang Akor, whose image was often commissioned as a death memorial. Crowned and heavily ornamented, Kunzang Akor is usually identified by the Tibetan letter 'A' portrayed over his heart. His two hands are typically held in the meditation gesture (dhyana mudra) with the left hand properly placed over the right, in contrast to the Buddhist version with the right hand on top. His hands each hold the stalk of a lotus that supports a swastika on the right and a vase containing the elixir of immortality (amrita) on the left. He sits in the meditation posture (padma asana) on a lotus base that is adorned on the bottom plate with an incised swastika at the center of a mandala with the Eight Auspicious Symbols that were revered in both Bon and Buddhism. See Himalayan Art Resources, no. 85785, https://www.himalayanart.org/items/85785.

See also M.79.152.179.
Selected Bibliography: Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style and Choices. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Expanded edition. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990.