Liberation Through Seeing

There is a special class of esoteric art objects in Tibet that are said to plant seeds of liberation in the mindstream of the viewer and be a catalyst for spiritual awakening. The name of these objects in Tibetan is spongrall, translating as liberation through seeing. These artifacts, like the “Black Hat of the Karmapas” or the statue of Padmasambhava that was blessed by him are felt to transmit enlightening energies.  All the world’s wisdom traditions seek to embody spiritual presence in their creative expressions.  The promise in all sacred art is an encounter with the holy, to “set us free.”

According to  the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism, Moksha means emancipation, liberation or release. Moksha connotes freedom from saṃsāra, the cycle of death and rebirth. 

Metaphorically, Moksha refers to self-realization and self-knowledge. The path to moksha is described in this 8th Century Hindu text:

Beyond caste, creed, family or lineage,

That which is without name and form, beyond merit and demerit,

That which is beyond space, time and sense-objects,

You are that, God itself;

Meditate this within yourself.

— Verse 254, Vivekachudamani, 8th Century AD

To wake up a worshipper to Divinity is the mission of an icon painter. Christians icons are considered windows to heaven or doorways to the sacred. Looking though the window, ceremonially consecrated by a priest, empowers the transmission of the sanctified art object. The eyes of spirit portrayed in a Christian icon painting gaze back sending love to the devoted, making the work of art a two-way Sacred Mirror.

Accessing the Divine Imagination, an artist may feel morally compelled to share an effective icon representing that experience. Contemplating that artifact, the consciousness of a viewer could be uplifted to a higher spiritual orientation. Direct contact with Transcendental reality, the mystical experience, brings relief from suffering. By dis-identifying with the limited ego-self, we open to a true unbounded state that is described in the mythology of all religions. Holy artworks are sacred mirrors that can transmit the highest wisdom and compassion into the heart of the beholder.