The Buddhist art of Tibet evolved under the influences of Indian, Nepalese, Kashmiri and Chinese artistic styles. In the realm of sculpture, stone carving is vitually unknow in T...

The Buddhist art of Tibet evolved under the influences of Indian, Nepalese, Kashmiri and Chinese artistic styles. In the realm of sculpture, stone carving is vitually unknow in Tibet, but many broze figures of bodhisattvas and deities have been made, often by the Newari craftsmen of Nepal and their descendants. These share with the Nepalese images an elaborate, heavily ornamented style. Some of the most remarkable sculptural images are the figures of male and female deities joined in sexual embrace. Known as yab-yum, or father-mother images, these figures symbolize the union of wisdom (femaleX and compassion (male) that is believed by many Mahayana Buddhists to be necessary for enlightenment. The most striking of these figures are the wrathful deities, with their bulging eyes, fangs and many arms wielding swords with which they destroy evil. Other notable Tibetan images are the figures of the various deified teachers, or gurus, of Tibetan Buddhism, including Padmasambhava, who brought many tantric practices to Tibet in the eighth century, and Atisha, who helped reform Buddhism in the eleventh century.