Tak gyi Den
Animal Skins
Animal skins, wether sheep, yak or carnivorous beast, have been used for survival from the elements, comfort, convenience and status since humans could hunt or domesticate animals. They were a ready source of material for creating clothing, dwellings and furnishings. Skins and furs form a natural mat or rudimentary carpet, and have been used in this way from prehistory up to our present technological age. Thus the use of skins as a meditation seat also goes back to earliest times. However, they acquired quite a new purpose, meaning and symbology in the context of Vajrayana. Indeed, wild animal hides formed an intrinsic part of the tantric lifestyle and accoutrements of the wandering yogis and yoginis of ancient India. Dorje Trollo, the wrathful emanation of Padmasambhava, rides a tiger as his consort and Dombi Heruka, the great mahasiddhi, is also depicted in this iconic form. In fact a number of the legendary 84 Mahasiddhis are typically portrayed seated on animal skins, including Virupa and Bhayani (depicted on the left). The migration of the Secret Mantra Path to Tibet also brought numerous tantric implements, instruments and specialized forms of dress, and the animal skin seat was readily adopted. Milarepa, like many other great saints of India and Tibet, is traditionally shown sitting on a deer or antelope pelt, and even Sakya Pandita (shown below) is shown in yogic pose on a tiger skin—and wielding a bone kangling!
The Woven Rug
The development of the woven rug in Tibet in poorly understood. Apart from tribal or local weaving methods, there were obvious Central Asian, Indian and especially Chinese influences. The creation of rugs took place in isolated villages and valleys with local and available materials, and thus many individualized styles developed. Still, rugs in Tibet were numerous and essential parts of nomadic, village and monastic lifestyles. They were portable, warm, and also became a sign of status and wealth. Meditation rugs, woven from yak wool, might typically have patterns of dorjes, auspicious symbols or other dharmic themes.
But for the yogi, and particularly the chöpa, the wild animal pelt was the preferable seat. All the traditional texts that list the chöpas tools of the trade mention the damaru, bell, kangling and tent, followed closely by the tiger seat, "with its claws intact." Tiger pelts would have been fairly plentiful and available, their natural range spreading from India and Nepal to China. Hunters or villagers eliminated animals that encroached on their territory, while the large cats still had vast uninhabited regions in which to roam free. Then, as now, in spite of the Buddhist respect for all life, hunting and meat-eating was an intrinsic part of Tibetan culture. Nevertheless, even in olden times, there was excess, as demonstrated in the exquisite, but outrageous tiger skin tent, (see below) which belonged to the sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1705), made of some hundred pelts. The dwindling tiger population worldwide, and a very favorable change in human consciousness, has made the killing of these magnificent animals abhorrent to the modern mind. In the year 1900, there were an estimated 100,000 tigers worldwide. Today there are probably fewer than 5,000 wild tigers "across an ever shrinking range."
It is not clear when the transition to the woven wool tiger took place, but certainly the two traditions existed simultaneously. Only some 200 truly antique tiger rugs are still in existence, with a wide variety of personalized patterns and designs. And even these are not more than one or two hundred years old. In any case, the the carpet has happily taken the place of an actual tiger pelt, and such rugs are now available from Tibetan craftspeople in communities outside Tibet, especially in Nepal and India.
The Meaning of the Tiger Rug
Not caring for status, and little for comfort, why would the wandering chöd practitioner or ngakpa (mantric practitioner) consider the tiger skin as an important or even essential part of their travelling baggage? There are two reasons for this. One is its the obvious and powerful symbolism of these beasts. The tiger represents our basic passions and desires, and sitting on such a saet means we have overcome the lha and dré, gods and demons of the illusory world of experience and cyclic rebirth. But all aspects of the tantric or yogic practitioner also have an energetic, or shamanic if you will, purpose and effect.
The skin of these carnivous beasts, who naturally and freely kill rather defenseless creatures, is endowed with very special energies. On an outer level, the tiger gives us strength and the courage and fotitude to overcome all obstacles and behave fearlessless. On an inner level, the wrathful, violent vibration, the karma of the desire to kill and the actual deeds performed, provide special fuel for the yogi's inner meditative experience. In chöd, and Vajrayana as a whole, it is the transformation of these energies, rather than their avoidance, that is the path. The yogi or yogini steps direclty into the difficult or distorted psychic energies. Such energies force the practitioner to develop greater compassion, and confront their own kamric monsters. On the innermost level, they help the meditator to cut through hope and fear. One's training and practices allow these normally negative or even demonic patterns to be seen as pure Wisdom Mind. Entering into the open, luminous dimension, such paradoxes adn conflcts are fully resolved. This is the same reason that one of the ideal type of of kanglings is from the body of someone who died in battle, or even better, through mutual slaying.
The Modern Rug
The modern tiger rug comes in a number of varieties, but the one directly related to the chöpas practice are the "cut-out rugs," which mimic the shape and look of a real tiger skin. These are all hand made on the Tibetan loom, not mass-produced, so each is a work of art, craft and tradition, fabricated from yak wool, usually at 100 knots per inch. Both natural and chemical dyes are integrated, depending on availability and ease of use. Still, like any craft, the work varies significantly. The woven tiger rug links us to our past tradition, and to the transofrmative and challenging energy of the real tiger skin. Yet somehow, this simple carpet is more than a cartoon replica, or a compassionate substitute.
Somehow they have retained a vibrant link to its living brethren. The best are vibrant, humorous, and absolutely alive. On my "tiger hunting" trips, I go through as many as are available, seeking those with the energetic qualities that make them fitting as a daily meditation companion. Like the damaru, these are effervesent and full of life force, creating saced space and sacred view. A good tiger rug attracts many invisible helpers, dakinis and protectors. Our practice is more enjoyable, and our meditation stronger and more luminous.
An essential part of the chöpas armamentarium, it is a true friend along the way. The cowboy had their trusty horse, the soldier his vigilent guard dog. We benefit from our tiger companion in the ongoing work of liberating ourselves and all sentient beings from endless forms of confusion and obscuration. The tiger rug, with huge fangs and pearly white claws, smiles sweetly with his heart of compassion, eyes twinkling with the clarity of Wisdom Mind.
Lama Jinpa 2008
