[Buddha-l] angels

[Michel Clasquin]

jkirk wrote:
> Hi Gary,
> 
> I never saw a dakini image with wings and so she couldn't be an angel,
> right?

Is the depiction of angels as winged humanoids not a more recent 
European invention? As I recall, the very few biblical references to 
angelic visitations make no mention of wings. Abraham wrestled with an 
angel, didn't he? One would think that the wings would have been 
mentioned if they were there. A swan can knock a man down with its wings 
so wings capable of lifting something human-sized would be a formidable 
weapon.

The angels who visited Lot in Sodom looked like (sexually desirable) 
humans to the Sodomites - they might have been a little more circumspect 
if they saw these strangers flapping around the city.

The carved cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant might have been winged, 
but that would probably have been folowing an Egyptian artistic 
tradition (Horus?). But I'm guessing here.

Michel

(obligatory on-topic content to follow in a later message. Much later, even)

-- 
"Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so."
-- Bertrand Russell