Buddha Tarot by Robert Place is at once spiritually insightful, tantrically powerful and imbued with the very essence of both Buddhism and Tarot. Well-known Tarot historian and scholar Robert Place, best known for his superb book, The Tarot, History, Symbolism and Divination, not only demonstrates a masters touch as an illustrator, he has created the first "Buddhist" Tarot deck that makes any sense.

Rating: The World!

Review by Derek Armstrong, author, The Last Troubadour, a tarot-themed epic novel. 

• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (February 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738704415
• ISBN-13: 978-0738704418
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.7 inches

Originality
It is difficult to conceive of a more "originally" conceived deck. On the  other hand, Place "spoils" the originality rating by coming within a hair of "proving" that Buddha's life story influenced the entire Major Arcana "Journey of the Fool." Joking aside, there can be no doubt that Place's brilliant analysis of the historical Buddha Shukyamuni's journey to Enlightenment as the "Fool's Journey" is intellectually insightful, creative, inspired, and very, very convincing. Place even presents several pages of chronology to support his theory. Everything card meshes directly with a symbolic event in Buddha's life. A brilliant concept, and without doubt with more than a hint of truth.

Illustrated left: THE FOOL — Taking after the higher spiritual meaning of the card as the "hero on the journey to enlightenment", Rober Place makes the future-Buddha Siddhartha his Fool, her illustrated wonderfully descending (per the Buddhist sutras) from Tusita Heaven with a white elephant. Siddartha's mother Maya dreamed of a white elephant on the night Siddhartha was concieved and the elephant is sacred to Aksobhya, the Buddha of Vajra tantra.

Artwork
There's never been any doubt of Robert Place's superior illustration style, very sensitive as always to various spiritual streams. His Alchemical Tarot and Angel's Tarot demonstrated his brilliance. The Buddha Tarot is the highest form of its expression. Deceptively simple, symbolically correct, beautiful and deep, the cards are a joy for meditation, divination, or just as lovely illustrations.

The Major Arcana
The Fools Journey becomes the Journey to Enlightenment of the Buddha, with one special and inspired addition, a 22nd "Trump" titled Parinirvana. It is certainly "optional" in readings for those who prefer the "traditional" 78 card deck.

Because Place makes the key point that the Buddha's journey actually inspired the  "hero's journey" in the Major Arcana at least in part, he has adopted the more traditional 8-11 attributions of Strength as 11 and Justice as 8. This is accepted by most experts as correct when using the Major Arcana as the "Journey of the Hero."

Now, the entire cycle of the "Journey of the Fool" or "Journey of the Hero" per Joseph Conrad and Carl Jung becomes truly Enlightening, as Place journeys us through the story of the historical Buddha in the cards (Place's names in Italics, although each card has the traditional Major Trump name as well):

• 0 — The Fool — The Descent From Tusita Heaven: Buddha is conceived
• 1 — Magician — Asita, the Seer: Asita the magus predicts Siddhartha will become the Buddha
• 2 — Priestess — Maya, The Mother: Buddha's mother, who in Buddhism is quite revered, a "Queen even the Gods adored."
  
• 3 — Empress — Yasodhara, The Future Empress: Buddha's wife
• 4 — Emperor — Siddartha, The Future Emperor: as the prince (future emperor) of the Shakyas
• 5 — Hierophant — Suddhodhana, The Father: Siddartha's father, the king, who represents attachment to perfect rule and the rigor of tradition
• 6 — Lovers — Siddhartha and Yasodhara, the Lovers: revealing an image of Siddhartha making the choice between his wife and baby and Enlightenment to save all mankind
• 7 — Chariot — Siddhartha's Visit: Siddhartha's visit to the city on his chariot (a potential example of how Buddha's story, which reached Europe 200 years before Christ via Alexander the Great might have eventually influenced the Major Arcana)
• 8 — Justice — Karma: illustrated as the famous scene when Siddhartha excapes his father on his loyal horse Kantaka, carried silently above the ground by the Gods.
• 9 — Hermit — The Old Man and the Sadhu: blends two stories, Siddhartha's revelation of old age when he sees his first old man, and his encounter with the wise hermit, the Sadhu.
• 10 — Wheel of Fortune — Reincarnation: illustrates a fundamental Buddhist concept, the wheel of life or Samasara, or Karmic wheel, very beautifully illustrated with a cock, pig and snake swallowing each other's tales in a wheel, and revealing the cycle of life and attachments that keep us "trapped."
• 11 — Strength — Siddhartha Cuts His Hair: A highly moving scene from Buddha's life, where he has chosen his sacraficial path and symbolically cuts off his "princely lock" to show his inner resolve and strength. He then strips himself of his luxuries and clothes and goes naked into the world.
• 12 — The Hanged Man — The Invalid, the Suffering Man: Siddhartha succors a suffering man, realizing that he must himself sacrifice all to save mankind.
• 13 — Death — The Corpse: Siddhartha's revelation comes when he witnesses a death and funeral. In Buddhism death is quite a different concept from "Western" ideas. Once the body is discarded, the change is profound. The body is meaningless, and the person is reborn (if the journey is incomplete) or if Enlightened becomes either a Bodhisattva or a Buddha.
• 14 — Temperance — The Middle Path: Siddhartha's main teaching is the Middle Path, the balanced path between the extremes of the physical and the spiritual, highly appropriate to this card.
• 15 — Devil — Mara: Mara is actually a god, not "the Devil" but he is a mara, an earthly god who's name means "delusion." By keeping man attached to cravings and pleasures, he enslaves us to Samsara. Buddha taught an escape and as a result he confronts Mara as he meditates on Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. Mara sends his sensuous daughters to tempt Buddha and warriors to kill him, but all is revealed as illusion and fades away.
• 16 — The Tower — The Flaming Disc: In a dramatic scene under the Bodhi tree, Mara flings his greatest weapon at Buddha (of course this is symbolic of the struggle in Buddha's own mind as he faced temptations and cravings and fear), a flaming disc of ruin (the Tower). Buddha realizes it is illusion and the disc turns to flowers.
• 17 — Star — The Chakras, The Morning Star — In the early evening of his Enlightenment, Buddha released his "psychic" energies by releasing each of his chakras, illustrated in this card.
• 18 — Moon — Wesak, the Full Moon: On that last night, after Mara's defeat, the moon is full (Wesak) and it is Siddhartha's 35th birdhday. Now, Buddha, Enlightened, sees all his previous hundreds of lives and realizes the truth of attachment and delusion.
• 19 — Sun — Buddha and Sakti: Tantric completion of enlightenment involves an understanding that within each of us is a complete male and female both. The "sexual" embrace of Buddha revealed in the Sun card represents that completion (often misunderstood by non-Buddhists.) Place here, explains at length how Buddha, now enlighened, became one with the Cosmic Buddhas and the Sakti's, which really means he became one with the true Universe in completion.
• 20 — Judgement — The First Sermon: I would have called it Deerpark, less "Western" than "sermon", or "turning of the wheel" — both highly meaningful in Buddhist thinking. Buddha now taught his followers in Deerpark the noble truths.
• 21 — World — White Tara: Tara is the ultimate Female Buddha, the Mother of All Buddhas, and the World or Universe itself. Tara holds a special place in Buddhists heart as the savioress of the world.
• 22 — Parinirvana — I had expected Parinirvana to become the World card, but Place gave it a special place with a new card. Parinirvana is Buddha's ultimate completion, as he finally left the world.

The Mandala of Cards

Brilliantly, and this to me shows Robert Place's true inspiration and spiritualism, Place anchored the minor arcana to the four cosmic Buddhas of Mahayana and Vajrayana. Basically, since Buddha transcended everything, he became everything and the Cosmic Buddhas are symbolic of this. Each of the great Buddhas become a "king" of their elemental minor arcana suit.

I mention this here because Place built an entire Manadala out of the cards. It is such a thrilling experience to actually lay these cards out. I felt most "monk-like" and enlightened. Starting with the WHITE TARA World card, which has four colors representing the four directions and four suits and four Buddhas, Place gives a map for laying out a sacred Mandala using all the cards. Then, in symbolic "destruction of illusion" after meditating on your six-foot layout of cards, you sweep them all back into the deck. It's very moving for a Buddhist, who might have watched Tibetan monks work for days on their sand mandalas —only to sweep them away to show the world's impermanence and illusion. 

Minor Arcana

This may take a moment of "adjustment" for non-Buddhists users of these magnificent cards, but the suits are appropriately changed to represent the elements and directions of Buddhist (and most eastern) practice. Directional elements are "turned around" because Eastern spiritual paths and magical pathworkers choose directions appropriate to their world. Buddhists, Hindu and Doaist path workers will all work well with these attributions:

Wheel = Trumps = Aether = Center = White = Vairocana Buddha

Lotuses  = Staffs (Wands) = FIRE = West = Red =  Amitabha Buddha

Double Vajras (a very sacred Buddhist symbol of power) = Cups = WATER = North = Green = Amoghasiddhi Buddha

Vajras (Dorje) = Swords = AIR = East = Blue = Aksobhya Buddha

Jewels (Wish Fulfiling Jewel) = Pentacles (Coins) = EARTH = Yellow = South = Ratnasambhava Buddha

Place illustrates the "meaning" of cards with symbols, mudras and scenes, so these are not strictly "pip" cards, but at the same time he also illustrates a portion of the card with "pip-like" symbols. Best of both worlds. The color coded borders help anyone working with elements to keep everything clear.

The court cards are quite different and probably the area that requires the most "adjustment" for non-Buddhists, although a truly innovative approach is to place the "sacred animal", color symbolism and sacred tool on each court card:

Jina Buddha = King: A Jina is a cosmic Buddha, the most famous of which is Amidabha (Amita)

Satki Buddha = Queen: In Buddhism, nothing is complete without its female counterpart. A Satki is the "other half" of the Buddha, or the female aspect of the Buddha.

Sacred Animal = Knight: In Buddhist symbolism, the sacred animal aspect of a Buddha is his "throne" and his helper aspect

Dakini Goddess = Page: Dakinis are normally visualized as "the upper feminine self" the "goddess dancing on the mind" and links us to the Buddha.

Divination

Clearly, this is a deck wonderfully suited to meditation for Buddhists. They also make a wonderful tool for learning about Buddhism. As you learn the cards, Buddha's life and teachings are revealed. But do they work in Divination?

My own experience — I've never had a deck more attuned and brilliant in connecting with the superconscious. In other words, the diviniations are superb. Place more or less stays in the "overall" realm of the traditional Tarot "meanings" while adding to this with Buddhist lore, symbolism, legend, story, and archetypal images of great power. The cards "jump out" at me as very accurate, and I rarely find myself running for the companion book. It's completely intuitive. This may be my personal experience, as a Buddhist, which allows me to align and link with the symbols, yet my feeling is that these cards would work for anyone. 

Derek Armstrong is the author of The Last Troubadour, a tarot-themed epic novel reviewed as "a work of art" by Aeclectic Tarot reviewer Bonnie Cehovet. 

 Wise Tarot Ratings

Generally, "major arcana" card ratings trump Aces. Aces are the most likely overall best ratings, with slightly different "personalities" between the suites. Twos are typically very good, threes good, fours are fair and fives dissapointing.

World — The Ultimate Synthesis, a perfect rating!
Magician — The Ultimate rating for magickal applications!
Fool — The Ultimate rating for new seekers: bravely combines ease-of-use with artistry

Ace Wands — A near-perfect rating, a deck with real vibrant energy and force.
Ace Cups — A near-perfect rating, a pleasure in every way to use.
Ace Swords — A near-perfect rating, an inspired deck, revolutionary rather than evolutionary.
Ace Pentacles — A near-perfect rating, practical and successful in every tangible way.
Two Wands — A very good rating, successful and likely to do well (dominate competitors)
Two Cups — A very good rating, evokes an emotional and positive feeling
Two Swords — A good rating, but not entirely harmonious, somewhat contradictory or awkward
Two Pentacles — Pleasant and harmonious, but not perfect
Three Pentacles — Good, likely to succeed, but a little forced or unoriginal
Four Swords — Needs work,  incubation or meditation and development
Five of Cups — Dissapointing
Five of Pentacles — Unimaginative 

Ace Wands Rating!Rider-Waite^TM, the original 1971 North American card edition should more properly be known as Smith-Waite or Waite-Smith to give credit to the creators. As difficult as it is to appraise a venerable and traditional deck in use by, perhaps millions, Wise Tarot^TM still evaluates this deck as an ACE of WANDS because of the ultimate archetypal power of this nearly 100 year old deck. Ultimately, all other decks reviewed here will be relative to this deck, the market leader with a commanding 8.8% market share. Both novice and professional can still take a lot away from this splendid deck embued with tradition, the power of accepted archetypal imagery and Pamela Colman Smith's wonderful underrated art.

• Author/Creator: Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur Edward Waite
  
• Publisher: Us Games Systems Inc; Cards edition (January 1, 1971)
• ISBN-10: 091386613X
• ISBN-13: 9780913866139
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 2.9 x 1.2 inches

 

 Originality — Pamela Colman Smith was one of the first artists in history to illustrate the "pips" for easier interpretation. Her interpretations ultimately were an innovation which today, seems common. Yet she must be considered the reigning queen of originality. This was her innovation. It is clear from her correspondence with co-creator A.E. Waite that he focused almost exclusively on the major arcanum. The minor arcana illustrated pips is the innovation which made this deck, the most popular tarot deck of all time by market share and usage.

Artwork — Unfairly, in this reviewer's opinion, Pamela Colman Smith (Pixie) was variously described as simple, cartoony or unemotional. In fact, her artwork was none of these things. Even her style was metaphorical. Deceptively simple, yet she cleverly created the "actors against a backdrop" style so often copied since. Her skills as a stage designer clearly influenced her here. You can almost see the edge of the stage, where the main character is standing and the "drop down" backdrop. It's a clever, lovely, and original style that makes this deck utterly charming. Other decks, perhaps "prettier" or "subtler" or "more realistic" certainly convey similar archetypes and "Waite-Smith" symbolism but this deck has the ability to convey the imagery with timeless appeal. Nearly 100 years old, the illustrations look charming and nostalgic, yet at the same time "in style." Long after other decks have vanished, Pamela Smith's deck will continue strong, and for goo reason.

Symbolism — Smith and Waite embued their deck with archetypes that have their own appeal and power. Some users object to the overly "Christian" theme of the decks, yet all of these Christian themes were borrowed from various other relgions, including pagan faiths. In fact, the symbols are universal, angels and all, as visual archetypes that resonate in Jungian way with our psyche. Themed decks, targeted at niche audiences, might take these universal themes and "paganize" them or "ceremonialize" them, but ultimately, they're part of the same tradition of symbols. The cross was borrowed from pagans who existed long before Christ. Angels were almost always borrowed from classical godforms. Smith's extensive use of universal flower symbols go back even further, tuning into colors universally recognized by nearly every culture. In some ways, the Smith-Waite decks are the most inclusive and universal. Certainly, the symbolism is the easiest to comprehend by anyone of any faith or belief system. This is their ultimate appeal.

Ease-of-Use

Perhaps because the Waite-Smith variants are universally recommended for students of the tarot, there can be no doubt that this is one of the easiest to use decks of all time. The illustrated pips and universal archetypes, regardless of faith system, make intuitive readings fairly precise. The vast majority of "teaching books" use Smith-Waite forms.

Overall

Despite artistic criticisms from modern users, the Smith-Waite variants remain the most used, loved and collected decks of all time. For good reason. 

Wise Tarot Ratings

Generally, "major arcana" card ratings trump Aces. Aces are the most likely overall best ratings, with slightly different "personalities" between the suites. Twos are typically very good, threes good, fours are fair and fives dissapointing.

World — The Ultimate Synthesis, a perfect rating!
Magician — The Ultimate rating for magickal applications!
Fool — The Ultimate rating for new seekers: bravely combines ease-of-use with artistry