Tsakli or Initiation cards

Tsakli (also “tsakalis”) are Tibetan Buddhist miniature paintings, normally produced as thematic groups or sets, which are used in rituals as initiation cards, and in training.

Melek Taus

The subjects found on tsakli are similar to the better known larger Tibetan thangka scroll paintings on cloth, but much simpler, usually showing only a single deity, or a pair. The subjects are usually deities or ritual objects and offerings associated with these deities are represented on the tsaklis. Occasionally, Tibetan inscriptions on the backside can identify the subjects which are painted on the front.

The tsakli which are normally painted in sets which can comprise from 6 to almost 100 small paintings of similar subjects are used as offerings in temples or in rituals. For example, before a temple building is started, the area can be marked with tsakli representing protective deities. In this case they are mounted on small wooden sticks. Similarly tsakli can be used by a buddhist lama to remove evil influences from a sick person, from a tree which does not bear fruit or a stack of grain which is going to be thrashed. A tsakli can also be placed in a portable shrine or box (Tibetan “gau”) and carried as a device giving protection to the traveller or pilgrim who carries this box around the neck or on a shoulder strap.

The majority of tsakli are painted on cloth (like most of the tangkas) or cardboard. There exist also tsakli which are printed from woodblocks on cloth or paper. Larger sets of tsakli are kept between two wooden covers in a similar manner as pages of Tibetan books are protected.

Tsakli are traditionally assembled into sets and may represent Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Yidams, Gurus, mantras, sacred symbols and ritual implements. They are an important visual aid when conferring empowerments. The vast majority of these images are painted on cloth.

Many Mongolian miniature paintings were actually worn in an amulet box or kept inside a portable shrine and were revered as efficacious protection amulets.

Among the numerous items employed in Tibetan ritual is a genre of miniature painting little known in the occident and rarely spoken of in the liturgical literature translated into western languages. These are the 'Tsakli' or 'Initiation Cards' .Tsakli paintings are employed in numerous ritual situations such as empowerment, ritual mandalas, transmission of teachings, substitutes for ceremonial items, visualization aids and funerals. The subjects depicted in tsakli cover a vast range from main deities and protectors to their various power attributes and appropriate offerings. While tangka paintings often depict these subjects in rich detail, tsakli are unique in that they generally focus on just one item at a time. One card may have a Mahakala, for example, another card would depict the vajra attribute, another the rosary of heads, another may have the skull cup and so on. This individualized approach may add up to form an entire mandala set of cards with over a hundred paintings.
To facilitate visualization during ritual tsakli are sometimes briefly shown to the initiates by the officiating lama by simply holding the card at arms' length, or they may be held by a stick as part of other ritual items in the altar. Sometimes the cards being displayed in an altar are changed gradually over a course of several days as a series of teachings unfold or they may be integrated with torma offerings to form a tridimensional mandala. Tsakli with the guardians of the four quarters may be set up facing the appropriate directions during the construction of a new monastery building. Or they are placed singly within a portable altar called Gau to be carried during a long journey. Tsakli often serve as substitutes for ritual items which are difficult to procure such as precious stones of different colors, or flayed skins of demons.
To facilitate visualization during ritual tsakli are sometimes briefly shown to the initiates by the officiating lama by simply holding the card at arms' length, or they may be held by a stick as part of other ritual items in the altar. Sometimes the cards being displayed in an altar are changed gradually over a course of several days as a series of teachings unfold or they may be integrated with torma offerings to form a tridimensional mandala. Tsakli with the guardians of the four quarters may be set up facing the appropriate directions during the construction of a new monastery building. Or they are placed singly within a portable altar called Gau to be carried during a long journey. Tsakli often serve as substitutes for ritual items which are difficult to procure such as precious stones of different colors, or flayed skins of demons.
The materials employed for tsakli are generally either primed cloth or cardboard made by gluing several layers of Himalayan paper. Some very rare sets have been made on very thin sheets of Himalayan mica carefully painted and then trimmed and glued on the edges. Other sets have been made from carved woodblocks and then printed either on paper or cloth. The large sets of tsakli were often carried between wooden covers specially carved to size.
So far, there is no evidence of tsakli use in ancient India, China or South East Asia, so it may be a purely Tibetan custom. With our scant knowledge about this genre of ritual art it is impossible to speculate when tsakli use may have begun. The only certain thing is that they deserve an important place among the ancient ritual arts of Tibet and the outlying regions.

Lobsang Lhalungpa notes the spellings tsak-li and tsa-ka'-li, and adds; "Tsakali are primarily used for single or serial empowerments. Besides figures of deities, tsakalis also depict every set of symbols and offerings, including ritual objects. Sometimes a tsakali of a chosen deity is placed in a traveller's shrine (ga'u)." Tsakali does not appear to be a Tibetan word but may be derived from a  Sanskrit word or compound.

 Azrael