Known as tsakali in Tibetan, empowerment images are small square paintings that depict numerous subjects related to the performance of specific empowerment rituals. Such an image could be a simple painting of a ritual vase or a flower, or tsakalis may depict more complex sets of deities or spiritual masters that are associated with a specific initiation ritual. These empowerment images, which are not particularly known for their artistic merits, are usually placed during the empowerment ritual upon a heap of grain, contained in a bowl, or sometimes at the top of a ritual cake. During the initiation ceremony, the initiating master visualizes the corresponding subjects portrayed on the tsakali, whether it is an article of offering or a host of meditational deities, being actually present where the tsakali is placed, and then conducts the relevant initiation rite. Each cycle of initiation rites, such as the famous Rinjung cycle of initiations, has a distinct collection of a large number of these empowerment images, which collectively make up the complete symbolic iconography of a particular cycle of empowerment practices. The samples displayed here belong to a cycle of initiation rites of the Tibetan Bon tradition known as The Inner, Outer and the Secret Empowerment.

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