Four harmonious animals

Four harmonious animals
Information
ReligionBuddhism
LanguagePāli, Sanskrit, Tibetic languages
SutrasIn Vinaya texts and Jātaka collections of many Buddhist canons

The tale of the four harmonious animals, four harmonious friends or four harmonious brothers (Standard Tibetan: མཐུན་པ་སྤུན་བཞི།) (Wylie: mthun pa spun bzhi[1] or Wylie: mthun pa rnam bzhi[2]) is one of the Jātaka tales, part of Buddhist mythology, and is often the subject in works of Bhutanese and Tibetan art. It is perhaps the most common theme in Bhutanese folk art, featuring on many temple murals, stupas, and as a decorative pattern on many daily utensils.[3][4]: 108 [5]: 53  It is the best-known national folktale of Bhutan and is popular in Tibet and Mongolia:[4]: 107 [6] it is widely referred to in these cultures.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ Lama, Gege (1983). Principles of Tibetan Art. Vol. II. Darjeeling. p. 241.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ Sagaster, Klaus (December 1978). "Der weiße Lotus des Friedens. Eine moderne Interpretation Buddhistischer Symbolik" [The White Lotus of Peace: A Modern Interpretation of Buddhist Symbolism]. Zentralasiatische Studien des Seminars für Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft Zentralasiens der Universität Bonn (in German). 12. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden: Zentralasiatische Studien, Sonderdruck: 464.
  3. ^ Carpenter, Russel B.; Carpenter, Blyth C. (2002). The blessings of Bhutan. Latitude 20. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-8248-2679-6.
  4. ^ a b Dagyab, Loden Sherap (2016). Buddhist Symbols in Tibetan Culture: An Investigation of the Nine Best-Known Groups of Symbols. Translated by Walshe, Maurice. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-86171-810-8.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Beer 2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Evans, Steve (2009). "The impact of cultural folklore on national values: A preliminary study with a focus on Bhutan" (PDF). Storytelling, Self, Society. 6 (1): 12. ISSN 1550-5340.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Whitecross 2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Bischoff, Jeannine; Mullard, Saul (2016). Social Regulation: Case Studies from Tibetan History. Brill's Tibetan Studies Library. Brill. p. 114. ISBN 9789004331259.
  9. ^ McGranahan, Carole (2005). "In Rapga's Library: the Texts and Times of a Rebel Tibetan Intellectual" (PDF). Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie. 15 (1): 265. doi:10.3406/asie.2005.1228.[permanent dead link]