Spend any time around Tibetan communities and you’ll come across their traditional painting, the thangka. A thangka is a silk painting, sometimes with embroidery, that usually depicts a Buddhist deity, mandala or scene from Tibetan history. The artform serves a dual purpose being both decorative and an aid for meditation. Traditionally, thangka paintings were created by traveling monks. They could be easily rolled, stored and transported as the monk journeyed between different temples and monasteries, and were utilized as teaching aids. The scenes and figures depicted on them, including the Buddha, different Bodhisattvas, influential lamas, mandalas and more. They can serve as a focus for various rituals, visualizations and ceremonies conducted all in an effort to help guide the practitioner further along the path to enlightenment