looks like a thick window frame to me (jamb, head, cill) doing the stuff window frames do (keeping the window robustly set into the wall)?

wxyz: can you give us more of an idea why you think this is a notable/exceptional condition for which there might be a back story.
don't know that we can suss out much from the very small picture.

but now you've got me curious about this condition. if it was notable enough to get you into a discussion about it, i'm sure there's something to it.

I would suspect if its not an indiginous invention that it arrived from china durring the khan era (c. 1200s?) Much of tibetan culture is distinctly mongolian.

dont know if thats obvious/not helpful?

No Steven and oe ,
Its a good question and well It does have a more deeper meaning , i know it since I did my college thesis on Esotericism and symbolism in buddhist arch.

wxyz,

thats a combination of both deep religious symbolism as well as climate sensitivity


Climate sensitivity wise , The black strips.to put it very succintly, kind of maintain indoor temperature by absorbing more sunshine and preventing cracks and fissures between the windows and the walls.

-----
but more importantly ,If you notice the shape , the black strips are more or less trapezoidal in shape( its not squarish or rectangular )

the Black Trapezoidal shape surrounding the window edge is actually a geometric representation of the Buddhist diety 'Avalokiteshwara '

He's called "chenrezigs or 'Padma Pani 'in Tibet.


Avalokiteshwara in sanskrit means the "one who looks down on this world "..In Tibetan Buddhist Mythology he's considered a protector diety.
Hence his geometric shape is trapezoidal cos the trapezium shape kind of depicts a field of vision from top to bottom


~ ~
. .
/ \
/ \
/ \
---------------

Something like that.

and That shape is put on windows , as a protective emblem cos the Tibetans also believe (for some reason ,im not aware of ) is that evil forces, demons etc can only enter thru windows and not thru doors.
hence that shape is like a protective charm of Avalokiteshwara which protects the residents of the home.

Hope that helped.

Wow exelent research brotha :)

In America we have square windows cause it is less expensive to build, and with no spiritual meaning what so ever except economics.

good stuff!

Hi wxyz, If you'r observing the monasteries, theres another interesting typical detail of the columns , You'll find its always the same everywhere.( expecially in the religious architecture )



something like that..

well theres religious proportions to that too.
Its this way. if the column width is = x
then the capital above it is = 3x = y

and the decorative lintel or beam above it will be 3y or 9x



|||||||||||||||||||||............... 3y
......|||||||||.......................3x ( y)
.........|||
.........|||
.........|||
.........|||.............................x


Its done in multiples of 3 , cos it represents the three jewels of buddhism

1)the Buddha = The Teacher
2)The Dharma = The Teachings
3) The Sangha = those Taught

and this philosophy is supposed to be the "support" of the buddhist doctrine ..hence that philosophy is used architecturally to "support" the centre of buddhism , the temples and the monasteries.

:)

our guide told us the colour black is to scare ghosts away

and demons.

great stuff on the windows nevermore.

if you have anywhere i can get my hands on some more info on tibetan architecture, particularily symbolism of colours etc. please let me know. good books you'd suggest would be great too.

cheers

4haus,
I could help you out myself if you could be more specific in what you need but to put it rather briefly ,

This is the standard modern 'buddhist" flag depicting the 5 major colours of buddhism.(of course there are countless theories on the symbolism of those colours but the most widely accepted one is that The 5 colours are said to be the colours of the 'auras' that the buddha emanated, the moment he attained enlightenment.)

so those 5 colours are used as a major theme in all buddhist art and architecture world wide


--------------

yup, & in tibetan buddhism ,colours have extremely symbolic connotations in tibetan arch.
especially in religious arch, the monasteries , religious paintings (thangkas)and esoteric sand designs called 'mandalas'.
There are even rules laid out in their scriptures for the colours to be used to depict so and so , the proportions etc . cos in their view this not only affects the identity of the building or painting but also affects the end user


generally they used to use vegetable dyes in the olden days to paint the monasteries in the traditional monastery colours.
The purity of the stuff was such that many ancient monasteries 100s of years old look more vibrant today as compared with artificial colours over concrete.

well its quite a detailed topic but you could start on this

Dance of colours: Basic patterns of colour symbolism in Mahayana Buddhism by Jan Slavik
ISBN: 9187484080

and for Tibetan buddhist style architecture, history and culture and building techniques , a very good concise book is

Buddhist Monks And Monasteries Of India: Their History And Their Contribution To Indian Culture by Sukumar Dutt
ISBN: 81-208-0498-8

or you could contact the Tibetan Architecture Documentation Centre,
Its a non profit voluntary organisation which collects data from anyone who's kind enough to contribute.
their details are,

Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh 176215
India. Tel: 00-91-1892-22467 Fax: 00-91-1892-23723 .

:)

snooker: if any spiritual meaning were infused (other than a church) the lawsuits would be endless :)

nevermore -
thanks for the info, that's an especially satisfying explanation. we had figured that the black served some kind of heating function, but couldn't explain the taper... i have a travel blog (www.kwxyz.com/collisionblog/ciollisionblog.html) where i'll be doing a post on tibetan vernacular, it would be great if you could give me some feedback on it.

@ Nevermore,

Thank you for those wonderful insights.

---

Another explanation I can think of is that Tibetan tombs were supposedly constructed in a specific trapezoidal shape, like the middle 'chest' part of the stupa - the Vajrasattva Mandala, the "mirror-like" wisdom - to be stationed in such;




Continuing with the tombs,

"This tomb of packed earth and cut stone reinforced by log beams was constructed as two trapezoids, the smaller trapezoid built on top of the other. This trapezoid shape is likened in the literature to a mountain ri, or a tent gur. The shape is distinct from what may be a construed as a rectangular tower, khar /mkhar, which shape is described by lDe'u chos 'byung for tombs only one generation before Srong btsan sgam po.8 Srong btsan sgam po's tomb and all his descendents' tombs in the royal necropolis in central Tibet follow the trapezoid shape but above all, the difference lies in the interior of the trapezoid where there is construction of the cruciform chambers, which is believed to be characteristic of the Tibetan tombs of this period."
http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/heller.html#7sym

The trapezoid form began as a custom to signify Descendancy and the Ancestral Line, generations opening out to generations (like the pic. Nevermore shows), which is not possible to show via a rectangle. The fact that these kinds of windows do not occur at all places but only on potalas and imp. monastries is meant to signify the ancestral generation, like a trapezoidal opening out, from the Buddha Himself.



My reasoning complements Nevermore's because the
Tibetan deity "Gur-gyi Mgon Po" [referred to above with regard to the Trapezoid shape] or the "Lord of the Tent" was regarded as an angry manifestation of Avalokiteshwara:

"Gur-gyi Mgon Po is said to reside in charnel fields, trampling over vanquished enemies who hinder religious attainment. He is usually black, or deep blue in color and is shown with three glaring eyes, fangs and hair that stands on end with a vajra in it. As a result, Gur-gyi Mgon Po came to be considered the primary protector of Buddhist monasteries (Rhie & Thurman, 223)."
http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/sama/Essays/CCGurgyMgonPo.html

That prob. explains why the frames were painted Black.

Nevermore says he does not know why evil was believed to enter only through windows and not doors. This is because the door is specifically a threshold and is meant as one. The window is an empty opening where the soul outside looks inside and the soul inside looks outside. So the window had to be protected, like Gur-gyi Mgon Po protects over the mind for enlightenment. The correspondence of the trapezoidal shape in the stupa is with the "Vajrasattva" mandala, meaning "the essence of the Thunderbolt" or the "adamantine mind".

The Vajrasattva deity is regarded as the purifying being through which he rids one of negative karma. The window being that interactive space, the trapezoid again suggests a protective/purefactory measure.

In the Tantra of Complete Purification (Sarva Durgati Parishodana Tantra), it is written,

"Reverence to the guru [in this case Vajrasattva]|
At the great mountain [Mount Meru] assemble at the future full moon|
By means of [this] splendid image [put all] desires into one heap|
Conquer own death by perfectly white Amrita [literally “not dying” (‘without death’)”]|
You [attain] an adamantine heart-mind (vajra chitta) by means of this painting|
[You] develop the gotra [lit. “caste”/lineage] of the best of teachers (guruttama) (i.e., you become Vajrasattva)"


I'm sure with the forementioned trapezoid regarded as the very form of the mountain ri indestructible as the vajra, and Line of Descendancy, the above inscription adds meaning.

Also you can see, its not just the window, but the whole building itself is wider at the base and is itself like a trapezoidal structure, prob. to imply being stationed in wisdom like that stupa part.



http://www.pbase.com/towkay/image/

As an aside, the occultist R.Whitaker writes on the law of the trapezoid,

""All obtuse Angles are magically harmful to those unaware of this property. The same angles are beneficial, stimulating, and energizing to those who are magically sensitive to them."

By environment I mean the AREA OF INFLUENCE by which the various
representations of the angles (visual,audio,field phenomena) are able to act within.

What exactly happens when an individual enters a angular environment? It is very apparent that a polarity is produced within the individual. This is in essence what the LAW OF THE TRAPEZOID describes. Angles produce the COMMAND TO LOOK which then motivates into a polarity which can be predictable."

aaah there you go wxyz.more explanations than you could ever imagine.

amazing @ sotthi !



P.S sotthi..the buildings wider at the base with the walls tapering inwards alos provide greater protection against crumbling during an earthquake in a heavily seismic zone like Tibet.
:)

Nevermore:> protection against crumbling during an earthquake in a heavily seismic zone like Tibet.
:)


Ok Ok, you get to make the last point! lol

Thanks.

wow

i'm gonna have to rewrite the post i was about to put up. amazing stuff, i had figured the trapezoid was just for seismic reasons. can't believe the detailed meaning in this architecture.

I enjoyed reading your blog http://www.kwxyz.com/collisionblog/collisionblog.html

(there was a typo in your prv. link)

Nice work.

oops. well spotted, that's what i get for not keepin it simple. that post will go up any day now...

that post is finally up:
http://www.kwxyz.com/collisionblog/collisionblog.html
also, the new york times has an article today on tibet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/travel/10Tibet.html?pagewanted=2