Votive plaque with walking Buddha and multiple small seated Buddhas

Fragments and Fractals
This plaque depicts a walking Buddha, a type that is rare in Buddhist art outside Thailand but fairly common in the sculpture of north central Thailand. Many objects virtually identical to this one were placed in the sacred chambers of Buddhist temples. The background of this plaque is filled with Buddhas, beings who have comprehended the totality of existence. By extension, each small-scale image represents the entirety of the Buddha's message. Such objects are ideal for miniaturization and transport.

While not explicitly Lightning Vehicle art, these plaques use a similar "fractal" principle seen in the Tibetan paintings at the center of this gallery: the whole is present in each of its parts, which are functionally identical to the whole. It's as if each pixel of the image contains the whole image.