What do Tangka's paintings of elephants, monkeys, rabbits and birds picking peaches mean?

The story first appeared in the book On Law written by the first Dalai Lama Gendun Zhuba (1391-1474). The hero of the story is about four kinds of animals: elephants, monkeys, rabbits and birds.

According to "On Law", a long time ago, in a virgin forest called Gaxi, there were four kinds of animals called "Sihe". They never bully the small with the big, are United and harmonious, and are very happy and harmonious.

One day, "Four Harmony" came to a big fruit tree with flowers and streams. Monkeys and birds enjoy the fruit freely, while elephants and rabbits are angry because they can't eat the fruit. Therefore, it is recommended to choose an elder in the group to have the final say, and everyone is worried about what to do.

At this time, the bird stood up and said, this is easy to handle, so it flew to the fruit tree. Look at this fruit tree under my feet. Who can tell the growth height of this fruit tree at the first time, we can confirm who is the elder.

So the elephant looked up and said, when a group of elephants and I first saw this fruit tree, it grew as tall as us. The monkey said I was as tall as me when I saw it. The rabbit said that when I saw it, it was as tall as me. I licked the water dripping from the leaves.

The bird finally said, it seems that you three monkeys are born older than elephants and rabbits are older than monkeys. As for me, I used to eat enough seeds and often flew here to shit, and then this fruit tree grew. So everyone thinks what the bird said makes sense. There are no fruit trees without seeds. Finally, everyone chose the wise bird as the elder. From then on, everyone respected each other, helped each other and lived a happier life. When the elephant carried everyone across the river, the monkey picked the fruit and shared it with everyone, showing a touching scene of unity and harmony. The story described by Thangka actually expresses the desire of human society for harmony and family happiness.

People often hang four harmonious Thangka paintings at home or paint on the walls of temples to convey the spiritual culture that values harmony.