We will now investigate the qualities which enable a support created by humans to become a living receptacle of the Three Jewels presence. Before looking into the aspects of Tibetan transmissions and their history which many wrongly assume to be the sole indicator of a work's validity, we will start in a broader sense by examining this notion of sacredness in art and then more specifically Dharma and vajrayana art.

In order to investigate that which is said to be 'living' there are two possible approaches. One approach relies upon an objective observation of phenomena and the other upon a so called subjective experience of the life force. If we consider this from the Dharma's perspective which avoids extremes one can say that the contemplation of the mind and the contemplation of manifestation are not at all contradictory.

Scientific studies have shown that from the DNA right up to the most evolved forms of life one always finds the same patterns, growth rhythms, proportions etc. These studies have also shown that human production (in architecture, painting, sculpture, pottery etc.) in diverse civilisations is governed by these same laws. In the West, according to our way of expression, this has been theorised in the form of scientific calculations known as the famous 'golden number'.

However other civilisations could produce similar things in a completely intuitive way or by a systematic imitation of their tradition's codified forms. Thus transcending all cultures one can find examples of a sort of 'life principle' which is codified to a greater or lesser degree and is expressed according to different beliefs and cultural conditioning. These two approaches of intuition or the imitation of canons are two extremes having a complementary role.