Corey Haim Dead At 38

Canadian actor Corey Haim has died in California after allegedly suffering a drug overdose. The 38-year-old Lost Boys star was reportedly discovered unresponsive at his home in Oakwood in the early hours of Wednesday morning by his distraught mother. He was taken to St. Joseph's hospital in Burbank, where he was pronounced dead. He is believed to have passed away between the hours of 4 and 4:40 a.m. Sergeant Frank Albarren, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department, tells MSNBC.com, "It was an apparent overdose. Unknown what type of medication." Haim, who had a long history of drug problems, found incredible fame in the 1980s with films like Lucas, License to Drive and The Lost Boys; which co-starred Corey Feldman.

Celebrity Tributes Pour In for Haim

Stars including Alyssa Milano and director Kevin Smith have paid tribute to late star Corey Haim, who died suddenly on Wednesday from an apparent drug overdose.

The 38-year-old star collapsed at his home in Oakwood, California, in the early hours of Wednesday morning and was taken to St. Joseph's hospital in Burbank, where he was pronounced dead.

Haim, who had long battled prescription drug abuse and made a reported 15 trips to rehab, had complained of flu-like symptoms in the days before his death, according to TMZ.com. In 2001, he was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, after reportedly suffering a drug-induced stroke.

And as news of Haim's death spread, celebrities have taken to Twitter.com to express their grief over the loss of the tragic actor.

Milano, who once dated the star, writes: "Just woke up to the sad, sad news that Corey Haim passed away. RIP sweet boy," while Smith tweeted: "Lost Boy goes home: Corey Haim, dead at 38. ... G'bye, LUCAS. You gave hope to the weird & unlikely."

Christina Applegate added: "My thoughts go out to Corey's family and friends today. So sad."

Former child star Ralph Macchio also expressed his condolences: "Always so sad and disturbing when the addiction and demons prevail. RIP Corey Haim."

According to Los Angeles Coroner assistant chief Ed Winter, there were no signs of foul play in Haim's death. Winter has confirmed four "normal" prescription bottles were found at the actors apartment and "no illicit drugs (were) found at the residence."

Haim's cause of death will be released pending the results of his autopsy and toxicology reports.

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TASHIDELEK AND NAMASTE

Thangka

A "Thangka," also known as "Tangka" or "Thanka" (Pronunciation: tänkä [the "a" as in the word "water;" the "g" is silent]) (Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་, Nepal Bhasa:पौभा) is a painted or embroidered Buddhist banner which was hung in a monastery or a family altar and carried by lamas in ceremonial processions. In Tibetan the word 'than' means flat and the suffix 'ka' stands for painting. The Thangka is thus a kind of painting done on flat surface but which can be rolled up when not required for display, sometimes called a scroll-painting. The most common shape of a Thangka is the upright rectangular form.
Originally, thangka painting became popular among traveling monks because the scroll paintings were easily rolled and transported from monastery to monastery. These thangka served as important teaching tools depicting the life of the Buddha, various influential lamas and other deities and Bodhisattva. One popular subject is The Wheel of Life, which is a visual representation of the Abhidharma teachings (Art of Enlightenment).
While regarded by some as colorful wall hangings, to Buddhists, these Tibetan religious paintings offer a beauty, believed to be a manifestation of the divine, and are thus visually stimulating.
Thangka, when created properly, perform several different functions. Images of deities can be used as teaching tools when depicting the life (or lives) of the Buddha, describing historical events concerning important Lamas, or retelling myths associated with other deities. Devotional images act as the centerpiece during a ritual or ceremony and are often used as mediums through which one can offer prayers or make requests. Overall, and perhaps most importantly, religious art is used as a meditation tool to help bring one further down the path to enlightenment. The Buddhist Vajrayana practitioner uses the image as a guide, by visualizing “themselves as being that deity, thereby internalizing the Buddha qualities (Lipton, Ragnubs).”



Types of Thangkas

Based on technique and material, thangkas can be grouped by type. Generally, they are divided into two broad categories: those, which are painted (Tib.) bris-tan and those, which are made of silk, either by appliqué or with embroidery.
Thangkas are further divided into these more specific categories:
Painted in colors (Tib.) tson-tang -- the most common type
Appliqué (Tib.) go-tang
Black Background -- meaning gold line on a black background (Tib.) nagtang
Blockprints -- paper or cloth outlined renderings, by woodcut/woodblock printing
Embroidery (Tib.) tshim-tang
Gold Background -- an auspicious treatment, used judiciously for peaceful, long-life deities and fully enlightened buddhas
Red Background -- literally gold line, but referring to gold line on a vermillion (Tib.) mar-tang



Support
Thangkas exist on various fabrics. The most common is a loosely woven cotten produced in widths from 16 - 23 inches. While some variations does exist, thangkas that was wider than 17 or 18 inches frequently have seams in the support.





The Process


Painted Thangkas are done on cotton canvas or silk with water soluble pigments, both mineral and organic, tempered with a herb and glue solution - in Western terminology, a distemper technique. The entire process demands great mastery over the drawing and perfect understanding of iconometric principles.
The physical construction of a thangka, as with the majority of Buddhist art, is highly geometric. Arms, legs, eyes, nostrils, ears, and various ritual implements are all laid out on a systematic grid of angles and intersecting lines. A skilled thangka artist will generally select from a variety of predesigned items to include in the composition, ranging from alms bowls and animals, to the shape, size, and angle of a figure's eyes, nose, and lips. The process seems very scientific, but often requires a very deep understanding of the symbolism of the scene being depicted, in order to capture the essence or spirit of it.
Thangka are often overflowing with symbolism and allusion. Because the art is explicitly religious all symbols and allusions must be in accordance with strict guidelines laid out in buddhist scripture. The artist must be properly trained and have sufficient religious understanding, knowledge and background in order to create an accurate and appropriate thangka. Lipton and Ragnubs clarify this in Treasures of Tibetan Art:
“[Tibetan] art exemplifies the nirmanakaya, the physical body of Buddha, and also the qualities of the Buddha, perhaps in the form of a deity. Art objects, therefore, must follow rules specified in the Buddhist scriptures regarding proportions, shape, color, stance, hand positions, and attributes in order to personify correctly the Buddha or Deities.”





Literature Cited


Lipton, Barbara and Ragnubs, Nima Dorjee. Treasures of Tibetan Art: Collections of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art. Oxford University Press, New York. 1996


Types of Thangkas


Based on technique and material, thangkas can be grouped by type. Generally, they are divided into two broad categories: those, which are painted (Tib.) bris-tan and those, which are made of silk, either by appliqué or with embroidery.
Thangkas are further divided into these more specific categories:
Painted in colors (Tib.) tson-tang -- the most common type
Appliqué (Tib.) go-tang
Black Background -- meaning gold line on a black background (Tib.) nagtang
Blockprints -- paper or cloth outlined renderings, by woodcut/woodblock printing
Embroidery (Tib.) tshim-tang
Gold Background -- an auspicious treatment, used judiciously for peaceful, long-life deities and fully enlightened buddhas
Red Background -- literally gold line, but referring to gold line on a vermillion (Tib.) mar-tang





Support


Thangkas exist on various fabrics. The most common is a loosely woven cotten produced in widths from 16 - 23 inches. While some variations does exist, thangkas that was wider than 17 or 18 inches frequently have seams in the support.








Vajra and Vajrayana


The vajra destroys all kinds of ignorance, and itself is indestructible. In tantric rituals the Vajra symbolizes the male principle which represents method in the right hand and the Bell symbolizes the female principle, which is held in the left. Their interaction leads to enlightenment. Also the Dorje or Vajra represents the "Upaya" or method Tibetans name Vajra as "Dorje". When made to be worn as a pendant, it reminds the wearer, and the viewer, of the supreme indestructibility of knowledge.
In Buddhism the vajra is the symbol of Vajrayana, one of the three major branches of Buddhism. Vajrayana is translated as "Thunderbolt Way" or "Diamond Way" and can imply the thunderbolt experience of Buddhist enlightenment or bodhi and also implies indestructibility, just as diamonds are harder than other gemstones.

Vajrasattva holds the vajra in his right hand and a bell in his left hand.
In the tantric traditions of both Buddhism and Hinduism, the vajra is a symbol for the nature of reality, or sunyata, indicating endless creativity, potency, and skillful activity. The term is employed extensively in tantric literature: the term for the spiritual teacher is the vajracarya; instead of bodhisattva, we have vajrasattva, and so on. The practice of prefixing terms, names, places, and so on by vajra represents the conscious attempt to recognize the transcendental aspect of all phenomena; it became part of the process of "sacramentalizing" the activities of the spiritual practitioner and encouraged him to engage all his psychophysical energies in the spiritual life.
An instrument symbolizing vajra is also extensively used in the rituals of the tantra. It consists of a spherical central section, with two symmetrical sets of five prongs, which arc out from lotus blooms on either side of the sphere and come to a point at two points equidistant from the centre, thus giving it the appearance of a "diamond sceptre", which is how the term is sometimes translated.
Various figures in Tantric iconography are represented holding or wielding the vajra. Three of the most famous of these are Vajrasattva, Vajrapani, and Padmasambhava. Vajrasattva (lit. vajra-being) holds the vajra, in his right hand, to his heart. The figure of the Wrathful Vajrapani (lit. vajra in the hand) brandishes the vajra, in his right hand, above his head. Padmasambhava holds the vajra above his right knee in his right hand.
In Hindu mythology vajra is a powerful weapon having the combined features of sword, mace, and spear. It was created out of hard thigh bones of sage Dadhichi who gave up his life willingly for a noble cause so that his spine could be used to build the weapon to be used for a noble cause. This was the weapon Lord Indra used to kill Vritrasura who had conquered heaven and terrorized gods. Due to this supreme sacrifice sage Dadhichi became a legend.