Initiation Cards (Tsakalis)  1416

Tsakali cards were used by itinerant teachers moving from one monastery to another in order to evoke Vajrayana Buddhist deities. When laid on the ground in the form of a mandala, as seen here, they functioned to create a fixed sacred space like that of a temple. The deities shown on these initiation cards include the Tathagata Buddhas, various bodhisattvas, fierce protecto...