Faith & ethics

The Jamyang Buddhist Centre in Leeds is a centre for the study and practise of Tibetan Buddhism. Meditation is the most important part of this practise and art is vital to the process.

The Gompa (meditation room) at the centre in Wortley is filled with statues and brightly-coloured paintings line the walls.

David Midgley, a trustee and teacher at the centre, explains how pictures are used in the Buddhist faith:

One of the paintings is the Medicine Buddha, commissioned especially for the centre in 1999 from artist Andrew Weber. He learnt to paint using traditional techniques by studying for seven years in India under a Buddhist master artist.

Symbolism and meaning

Different aspects of the picture symbolise teachings of the faith, for example the white and gold cushions that the Buddha is seated on represent the qualities of compassion and wisdom.

The vibrant colours are created using gouache paint made only from pure vegetable and mineral dyes and each colour brings additional meaning to the painting.

David with the picture at the centre

Meditating on the image while chanting a mantra and reciting prayers is also believed to bring healing powers.

The Medicine Buddha has a special meaning for the Jamyang centre: "We practise the service that's connected with the Medicine Buddha every week, we do the recitation and visualisation, and it's been my experience that it really helps to develop the spiritual energy of the centre and keep it harmonious."

David says that while the group performed their first Puja (offering ceremony) for the Medicine Buddha one of their number had a father who was critically ill in hospital and not expected to make it through the night. After the ritual he returned to the hospital to find his father sitting up in bed, he lived for another two years.

David explains what the picture means to him: "I think what it gives me is a sense of deep faith.

"I feel a real sense of being part of this tradition which is like a river that's been flowing down through time for two and a half thousand years and feeling very much connected to that and the benefit that that tradition has brought to countless people is something that we are continuing now in the west, while it's threatened in Tibet...

"For some reason the tradition has come to us, it's something we hold and are trying to preserve to keep the flame and spiritual energy alive. So it feels to me as though the spiritual energy that's been continuing for thousands of years is coming through me, and through this centre, through the medium of this painting. So it has a very special meaning."