The Pali tradition contains a number of narratives featuring Vakkali, a wise and learned brahmin who upon seeing the Buddha’s physical perfection, is completely besotted and desires “to be near the Teacher so as to be able to constantly gaze at his beauty.” Of these, two stand out: the Vakkali Sutta in the Saṃyutta Nikāya (SN 22.87) and Buddhaghosa’s Dhammapada Commentary (DC 25.11). [1]
Vakkali’s story as presented in DC is of tremendous interest because it can be read as a metaphor for a gay Buddhist subjectivity and its possible trajectory toward enlightenment. This isn't to assert that Vakkali was gay in the modern sense of the term. José Cabezon, for one, points out that given homosexuality’s relatively recent provenance as a term and concept, we cannot expect to encounter the term in its precise connotations in the context of early Buddhist literature. However, given the powerful resonance which this story holds for gay male Buddhist practitioners, the Vakkali narrative provides an exceptionally rich resource for theological and artistic reflection.
"Visions of Vakkali" is a collaborative artwork between two Nepali artists, Ajit Sah and Bishowmber Basnyat, and a Singaporean student of Buddhist Studies, Dominic Chua, which attempts to translate the narrative profundity and compassionate message of the Vakkali narrative into an artistic medium.
[1] Piya Tan, “Vakkali Sutta: Discourse on Vakkali,” translated 2003.
Visions of Vakkali. Ajit Sah, Bishowmber Basnyat and Dominic Chua, 2020.
White fabric painted with scenes from the Vakkali Sutta in the mithila art style distinctive to the Tarai region of Nepal is draped upon a wire mesh sculpture made out of GI and copper wire, meant to bring to mind a monk in a meditative posture, The sculpture's right hand is arranged in the Varada mudra, signifying welcome, openness and sincerity.
Most directly, the multi-layered piece represents the enlightenment which Vakkali attains at the moment of his compassionate acceptance by the Buddha. It also embodies the union of prajñā (wisdom, as symbolised by the wire mesh sculpture, with its connotations of anātman , no-self) and karuṇā (compassion, as symbolised by the story of the Buddha's compassionate acceptance of Vakkali, painted upon the white robe).
The installation art piece is accompanied by "Sometimes Vakkali Feels", an original poem written from Vakkali's viewpoint, that tries to give voice to the social isolation which he might have experienced within the sangha as a result of his intense attraction to the Buddha. Chongyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s ideas of dharma art (as spontaneous, employing the principle of Heaven-Earth-Humanity, etc) were employed in the composition of this poem.
Also included here is an academic essay, "'As he hovered in the air': The Psychological Self and Trasmutation in the Vakkali narratives", which explores the philosophical underpinnings of this artwork, in particular the ideas of the psychological self and its relation to the Buddhist doctrine of anātman.
"'As he hovered in the air': The Psychological Self and Transmutation in the Vakkali Narratives"
"Come, Vakkali! Fear not, look at the Tathāgata! I will lift you up like (one lifting) an elephant sunk in the mire. Come, Vakkali! Fear not, look at the Tathāgata! I will free you just as the (eclipsed) sun is freed from Rāhu’s maw. Come, Vakkali! Fear not! Look at the Tathāgata! I will free you just as the (eclipsed) moon is freed from Rāhu’s maw."
~ The Vakkali Sutta, DC 25:11
The elder Vakkali thought, “I have seen the One with the Ten Powers, and he speaks to me, saying, ‘Come!’” He at once experienced profound joy. He thought, “How shall I go?” And standing there on the cliff, on hearing the first line of the stanza, though he saw no path, he leaped up into the air before the One of Ten Powers. As he hovered in the air, pondering on the stanzas uttered by the Teacher, he completely suppressed his zest and attained arhathood together with the analytical knowledges. Then, praising the Tathāgata, he descended to the ground and stood before the Teacher. On a subsequent occasion, the Teacher placed him as the foremost amongst those inclined to faith.
~ The Vakkali Sutta, DC
The 2016 winner of Nepal's Cultural Art Award (Rastriya Pativa Puruskar), Ajit Sah's art has been feted around the world, and for over three decades he has been the face of Nepal's indigenous Mithila art tradition. A staunch ally for women's equality, Ajit trains financially-disadvantaged, widowed Dalit women and school children in Mithila art as a source of self-dignity and livelihood, and as a way of preserving cultural heritage. Notable women artists that he has nurtured include Muni Khatun and Ranju Yadav, who have powerfully critiqued social inequalities through their art. Ajit has painted scenes from the Vakkali Sutta on a white robe for this project.
A young Kathmandu-based visual artist who works in the fields of photography, painting and sculpture, Bishowmber has most recently caught the attention and imagination of Nepal's art scene with his wire mesh sculptures - he is seen here with The Box-Headed Man. For "Visions of Vakkali", Bishowmber has created a wire mesh sculpture of a seated monk.
Bishowmber Basnyat on Instagram
Representing Narratives in Buddhist Art
Pre-Losar Vajrakilaya Puja, Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery, 2019.
Two scenes from 2019 recurred insistently and repeatedly in my mind's eye as I was contemplating the Vakkali Sutra. The first, taken at the main shrine hall in Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling at a tea break during a puja session, shows monk robes neatly arranged behind the low tables which the monks sit at. It reminds me of stories I've come across of Tibetan yogis and monastics who have attained the rainbow body, and thus speaks powerfully to me of enlightenment, *tathāgata - '*one thus gone'. It also seems to me an apt metaphor for anātman - the sense that there isn't a 'self' in the way that we would expect to encounter one, but that it's not a complete void, either.
Kathmandu Pride, Thamel, 2019.
Speaking of rainbow bodies, there were rainbow bodies aplenty at the Kathmandu Pride parade in 2019. I was particularly struck by the white kurta worn by Ankit Trivedi, on which his friend Suvajit Mandal had painted a vertical band containing portraits of same-gender couples in a naïve art style. There was an exuberant, joyous quality to the costume that conveyed the LGBTQ community's hope for dignity and equal treatment.