Himalayan Art

This study explores the contextualization of the visual imagery associated with Dipankara Buddha in Nepal. As revealed in the early Mahayana text, the Mahavastu Avadana, Dipankara's importance in Buddhism is as the predictor of Sakyamuni's enlightenment, when the Buddha-to-Be Sakyamuni was born a young brahman named Megha in a previous lifetime. Because of Megha's gift of alms, Dipankara predicts that this young brahman will one day attain enlightenment as Sakyamuni. This study suggests that in Nepal, it is the reenactment of gift-giving and the receiving of the prediction of enlightenment by Dipankara that is the major driving force in the Newar community.

This study has two major objectives. First, I establish the iconographic components of Dipankara Buddha in regards to his visual and textual narrative in the Kathmandu Valley. I discuss the iconographic continuity with his representations in the greater Bactro-Gandharan region to reinforce the unique Newar features. Second, I provide an analysis of the multivalent understanding of Dipankara's role in Newar Buddhism through a localized narrative, illustrated on a scroll painting at Guita Bahi in the city of Patan.

My research uncovers the multivalent role of Dipankara Buddha in Newar Buddhism. The symbolism inherent in the iconographic components of Dipankara imagery in Nepal relates to his role as the bestower of a fortunate rebirth. This is reiterated by his veneration at two gift-giving festivals in the Kathmandu Valley, Pancadana and Samyak. Moreover, the themes inherent in the localized narrative of the Kapisavadana reveal the socio-religious significance of Dipankara. While providing the lay community a more fortunate rebirth through his veneration, his worship reaffirms the traditional role of the Buddhist monastic community.  Furthermore, this analysis further clarifies the unique features of Newar Buddhism by revealing cultural continuities within the Buddhist traditions of the Kathmandu Valley.

Supervisor: Dr. John C. Huntington

Located in central Bhutan, Thangbi Lhakhang was originally built to serve as the seat of Fourth Shamar Chokyi Drakpa (1453–1524), a Tibetan master of the Karma Kagyu Buddhist tradition.  This in itself is unusual, as the Karma Kagyu school was--and continues to be--a comparatively uncommon lineage in Bhutan, a country largely dominated by the Nyingma and Drukpa Kagyu sects since the 8th and 17th centuries respectively.  Yet over the centuries the Karma Kagyu maintained connections to Thangbi Temple, including 20th century visits to the site by the 16th Karmapa. This paper examines how Thangbi Lhakhang provides a snapshot of how the Karma Kagyu was tradition was integrated into the Bhutanese context, and how contemporary viewers understand Thangbi’s visual program.

The walls of Thangbi Lhakhang are adorned with modern murals illustrating an admixture of masters and meditation practices from Nyingma, Drukpa Kagyu, and Karma Kagyu Buddhist traditions, providing a snapshot into what the paintings’ patrons feel are the most essential and efficacious images for this specific community. Though Tibetan masters are major compositional components, Buddhist teachers born in and strongly associated with Bhutan play important roles in the paintings, presented as sources of authority and legitimacy on a transregional level. This paper provides an iconographic analysis of the Thangbi murals, seeking to position them not only as an example of syncretism between traditions, but also an assertion of Bhutanese agency and an expression of historical relationships and political authority.

This is the French version of an article that appeared in English under the title “Portrayals of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (Zhabs drung Ngag dbang rnam rgyal) in Bhutanese Painting: Iconography and Common Groupings of the Great Unifier of Bhutan.” In T. Tse Bartholomew and John Johnson eds. 2008, The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan. pp. 78–87. Chicago: Serindia Publications

(Text of a lecture delivered in 2000 and submitted in 2002 for publication in the proceedings of the Oxford IATS conference.)

For a revised version and color illustrations see Mirror of the Buddha: Early Portraits from Tibet. Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 3. New York: Rubin Museum of Art, , 2011, chapter 4: "Early Taklung Kagyu Paintings and their Lineage Conventions."

Though in practice it is not always easy to analyse lineages and other aspects of composition in Tibetan thangka paintings, most historians of Tibetan art would now agree that such an analysis is essential. Indeed, lineage structure is one of the few clues for dating paintings systematically through internal evidence, and it should be investigated ideally in combination with other chronological evidence, namely inscriptions. The need for such a two-pronged method was brought home to me forcefully several years ago when investigating a large number of Sakyapa paintings from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. I began to wonder whether the conventions I had found were unique to the Sakya tradition and those periods. Would I obtain similar results if I analyzed other corpuses of paintings from different traditions and periods? With that question in mind, I turned to the early Stag lung pa Bka' brgyud paintings.

Iconography and Visual Literacy in Bhutanese Art

Although more than seventy percent of Bhutan’s populace self-identifies as Buddhist, many do not recognize Buddhist imagery of any but the most basic historical figures and deities. This phenomenon is especially noted among modern Bhutanese youth, who tend to look outside the country for much of their information. Given that iconography communicates key ritual practices, teaching lineages, and local and national history that Bhutan considers crucial to its cultural identity, the relative disinterest in Buddhist art and iconography is a key concern moving forward: how will this imagery and its meaning be communicated to future generations?

Drawing on the visual programs of three temples dating between the 15th-19th centuries, this paper elucidates the ways in which iconographic study provides necessary keys to understanding Bhutanese history. Using iconography, rather than style, provides a system of visual literacy that can communicate across communities and regions. By cultivating an ability to recognize—and understand the significance of—the iconography of historical figures, teaching lineages, ritual practices, and the various classifications of Buddhist deities, viewers will have an enhanced understanding of Bhutanese culture and religious practice. Further, a better-informed populace will increase the likelihood that sacred sites will be better protected and maintained in the long term.  This paper will further address current efforts to document sacred sites, and the ways in which particular Bhutanese and Buddhist masters have contributed to the visual programs within them.

This paper examines common thematic and esthetic features discernable in the rock art of the western portion of the Tibetan plateau. This rock art is international in scope; it includes Ladakh (La-dwags) (under Indian jurisdiction), To (Stod) and the Changthang (Byang-thang) (under Chinese administration) hereinafter called Upper Tibet. This work sets out the relationship of this art to other regions of Inner Asia and defines what we call the 'Western Tibetan Plateau Style'. The primary materials for this paper are petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (rock paintings). They comprise one of the most prolific archaeological resources on the Western Tibetan Plateau.

"The Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje (1604-1674) was not only leader of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism but also famous as a great artistic innovator. He was best known for his unique style of painting inspired by Chinese models that he developed during his long exile on the southern Sino-Tibetan border. The Karmapa was also a talented sculptor who looked to a range of traditions, especially ancient Kashmir. One of the most original and eccentric figures in the history of Tibetan art, he combined different compositional and figural models as well as styles, even mixing genres to create a very personal visual idiom full of charm, wit, and humor. A sensitive and playful depiction of animals is especially distinctive, making his works both intimate and directly accessible. The life of this artist is well documented in Tibetan sources, which provide an alternative historical narrative of the tumultuous seventeenth century as well as a new perspective on Tibetan art history.

The Black Hat Eccentric is the first publication to focus on works by the hand of a single Tibetan historical artist. The centerpiece is an inscribed set of paintings dated 1660 from the Lijiang Municipal Museum in southwestern China. Paintings from sets by the Karmapa's workshop form the other anchor for the project and demonstrate that teams of artists were trained in the Tenth Karmapa's fascinating and enigmatic style. Individual paintings and sculptures attributed to the Tenth Karmapa from collections worldwide are also considered and contextualized by these two aspects of his artistic production."

NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE DIGITAL ACCESS: https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/6._black_hat_eccentric_96

... of Eastern style paint-ings appears as the loss of one or several of the finely applied paint layers; while the damage to Central style paintings usually appears as deep cracking through the ... The dark background of the painting relates to the iconography of the subject matter. ...

The Collection of Namgyal Monastery (Mustang, Nepal) preserves two long and narrow scrolls painted on both sides, of exquisite artistic quality. This article describes and investigates the iconographic and symbolic meaning of the paintings and the use of these objects. One of the scrolls shows the Eight Auspicious Symbols and deities that personify diverse group of offerings painted in an elegant Newari style. The other scroll features an intriguing representation of the Eight Charnel Grounds in a continuous landscape. Full of delicate and charming details, it illustrates the Mahasiddhas, Guardians, Naḡas and stupa of the respective directions. The back of both scrolls has a vajra chain at the bottom and flames represented above it. The scrolls must have been used to encircle specific mandalas. Such objects are rather rare, and it is interesting to reflect on their former use, even more so as no contemporaneous objects of that type are known. The stylistic features of the paintings reveal the broader relationships of the Mustang region to neighbouring areas. Relationships can also be established to objects preserved in the same collection, such as a collection of metal stupa of similar design and typical for the Mustang region and the western Himalayas.

Please introduce yourself.

My  name  is  Khashem  Gyal.  I  was  born  in  Chu  ma,  a  small  farming community  in  Reb  gong,  in  the northeastern  part  of  the  Tibetan Plateau, where we herd yaks, sheep, and cows,  and  also  cultivate  wheat,  barley, and  potatoes.  I  graduated  from  Mtsho sngon  (Qinghai)  University  for Nationalities  in  2013  with  a  BA  in Tibetan Language and Literature. While a  student  there,  I  came  to  realize  that photography and film have the power of sculpting time and preserving certain times in our lives. 
    My  initial  inspiration  was  to  preserve  Tibetan  culture  and promote it through photography and film. I thus started a journey of self-study in an environment where there was limited understanding of film, and an even more limited number of mentors.

What makes Bhutanese art distinctive? Who were some of the artists who innovated, adopted and adapted regional and local impulses to create it?  This paper examines and analyzes one of the most important names in artistic accomplishment in Bhutan: Tsang Khenchen Palden Gyatso (gtsang mkhan chen dpal ldan rgya mtsho, 1610-1684).

After following the Tenth Karmapa Choying Dorje (chos dbying rdo rje, 1604-1674) into exile in Bhutan ca. 1645, Tsang Khenchen stayed on with the encouragement of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (zhabs drung ngag dbang rnam rgyal, 1594-1651), who was in the midst of consolidating the nascent nation. Tsang Khenchen settled in Paro, with his main center at Menchuna (sman chu nang).

Due to the comparative political and social stability of Bhutan over the centuries, works attributable to Tsang Khenchen and his atelier survive intact to the present. Collectively, their extant sculptures and paintings provide a substantive body of material with which to describe, analyze and compare contemporary arts from other countries, and also between works within the kingdom.  This paper presents new research on the development and impact of these works, conducted over the last year in collaboration with Dr. Yonten Dargye of the National Library and Archives of Bhutan.

Every four years, in the middle of a cold winter night, devotees bearing images of 126 Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and other important deities assemble in the Nepalese city of Patan for an elaborate gift giving festival known as Samyak Mahādāna (“The Perfect Great Gift”). Celebrated by Nepal’s Newar Buddhist community, Samyak honors one of the Buddhas of the historical past called Dīpaṅkara. Dīpaṅkara’s importance in Buddhism is rooted in ancient textual and visual narratives that promote the cultivation of generosity through religious acts of giving (Skt. dāna). During Samyak, large images of Dīpaṅkara Buddha ceremoniously walk in procession to the event site, aided by a man who climbs inside the wooden body to assume the legs of the Buddha. Once arranged at the event, Dīpaṅkara is honored with an array of offerings until dusk the following day.

This dissertation investigates how Newar Buddhists utilize art and ritual at Samyak to reenact and reinforce ancient Buddhist narratives in their contemporary lives. The study combines art historical methods of iconographic analysis with a contextual study of the ritual components of the Samyak Mahādāna to analyze the ways religious spectacle embeds core Buddhist values within in the multilayered components of art, ritual, and communal performance. Principally, Samyak reaffirms the foundational Buddhist belief in the cultivation of generosity (Skt. dāna pāramitā) through meritorious acts of giving (Skt. dāna). However, the synergy of image and ritual performance at Samyak provides a critical framework to examine the artistic, religious, and ritual continuities of past and present in the Newar Buddhist community of the Kathmandu Valley. An analysis of the underlying meta-narrative and conceptualization of Samyak suggests the construction of a dynamic visual narrative associated with sacred space, ritual cosmology, and religious authority. Moreover, this dissertation demonstrates the role of Samyak Mahādāna in constructing Buddhist identity in Nepal, as the festival provides an opportunity to examine how Newar Buddhists utilize art, ritual, and performance to reaffirm their ancient Buddhist heritage.

Supervisor: Dr. Dina Bangdel

A review of this work by Aurora Graldi can be found on Dissertation Reviews: http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/13691

When Tenzin Rabgye (1638-1696) became the Druk Desi, or administrative head of Bhutan, in 1680, he had already established himself as a reliable ‘right hand man’ to the “unifier of Bhutan”, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. However, most of the country was unaware that Zhabdrung had died in 1651; his death was being kept a strict secret.  As Bhutan’s nation-building process had not always been smooth, the country was still in a nascent phase and needed to ensure stability.

Under pressure to identify a successor to the Zhabdrung and also to maintain control over regions only recently brought under the purview of the central government, Tenzin Rabgye was installed as the country’s highest authority. Whereas his predecessor had been a military powerhouse, Tenzin Rabgye had different strengths. Trained as a Buddhist monk in the Drukpa Kagyu tradition of Himalayan Buddhism, Tenzin Rabgye understood the roles that ritual and religion should continue to play at this crucial point in Bhutan’s history.  Further, he understood that in order to help solidify the Drukpa Kagyu hold on Bhutan, new policies and ‘propaganda arts’ would be key components in the process.

Of the many projects he implemented along these lines—inviting prestigious artists from Tibet to paint the regional dzongs, or fortresses, that Zhabdrung had built, of reforming monastic laws and curriculum, and establishing a system of large scale public religious festivals—this paper is dedicated to the works commissioned by Tenzin Rabgye to cover the walls of his private quarters ca. 1688-1690. Iconographic and historical analysis will shed light on which individuals he thought were the most important in Drukpa Kagyu history, which ritual practices deserved the most attention and promulgation, and which Buddhist lineage masters provided their budding nation with the most authority and pedigree.  In short, this paper uses Tenzin Rabgye’s painted creations to better understand how he envisioned power, authority, and the role of art as contributing to the formation of the Bhutanese state.

Tibetan Schools trace their lineage to Indian tantric masters: Drupchcn or Mahasiddhas. Monks like Zanabazar sculpt Mongolian monasteries as late as the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Tibetan teachers like Rinchen Tsangpo employ Kashmiri artists at Alchi and Tabo monasteries in Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. Such pre-eminent personages stand out as bearers of the trans-Himalayan dialogue. Kumarajiva heads the translation bureau in China in the fourth century CE. Bodhidharma founds Shaolin boxing at the Loyang monastery in China. The Guhyasamaja Tantra, Arya Manjusri Mula Kalpa, Sadhanamala, Rasamanjari, Chaurapanchashika, Karandavyuba Sutra, Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra, Suvamaprabbasottama Sutra, and many Vajrayana texts and Vaipulya sutras are translated and retranslated into mystical dharanis, songs, mudras, hand gestures, cave paintings, cloth scrolls, wood-block paintings, masked Chamb dances, yantras, and mandala designs. The stories of Pancatantra—Kalila wa Dimna in its Arabic version— Vetalapancavimsati, Kathasaritsagara, and Lalitavistara are translated into sculpture or murals in the Himalayas and in Central and South East Asia. Vedic, Zoroastrian, Nestorian, Manichaean, Buddhist, and Islamic texts have entered a cauldron for shaping the Indian mindscape. The article provides a background to the great surge of philosophical speculations and cerebration, which was inherited by Swamy Vivekananda and transmitted to the future generations through the Advaita Ashrama at Mayavati. Prabuddha Bharata was established by Swamiji to transmit Indian Philosophical thought to the entire world.

Here I investigate recent painting traditions of Ladakh, explaining how Central Tibetan styles could be identified in the Far-Western Tibetan region of Ladakh. The two main styles I found there were the New Menri of Tashilhunpo in Tsang and the Driri ('bri ris) of Drikung monastery in northern Central Tibet. For the Driri I documented the work of the painter Ye shes 'jam dbyangs from Lamayuru, Ladakh.

The painting of Ladakh I later updated in my Place of Provenance catalog (Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series, 4), chapter 7.

The rare and endangered Driri ('bri ris) or Drikung Painting Style of Drikung (Drigung) monastery in northern Central Tibet I later documented in more detail (including the painter Ye shes 'jam dbyangs from Nyurla near Lamayuru, Ladakh) in my catalog Painting Traditions of the Drigung Kagyu School, volume 5 in the Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series.

Drawing on examples from across the Himalaya, this paper demonstrates some of the ways in which artists deliberately incorporate puns, playfulness, and wit into Buddhist works of art. Just as the Buddha’s teachings offer multivalent readings, merriment in Buddhist visual arts can be read as carrying multiple concurrent messages. By dividing these often antinomian and occasionally incendiary representations into four broad categories, I will offer insight into the mechanisms and rationales that fuel the inclusion of humor in the visual arts. The first category focuses on amusing depictions of the foibles of the human condition, and how the human body and mind, with all its fallibilities, absurdities, and limitations therein, provide a shared point of reference that can support Buddhists in their individual practices.  Second, how do humorous images create and sustain human communities? Complementing Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa’s examples drawn from texts, I’ll highlight how illustrations reinforce community identity and contribute to the bonds of social cohesion by employing exaggerated portrayals of the Other. Third, what can we glean from representations of super-human masters and their often-subversive behavior? From the tawdry tales of Drukpa Kunley to the actions of Siddhartha Gautama himself, I’ll share representations of antinomian behavior that function concurrently to instill social mores, Buddhist moralities, and indicate advanced states of accomplishment. Finally, I’ll offer works of art wherein the artists seemed to have exercised creative freedom in order to provide the viewer--and perhaps themselves--sources of amusement and entertainment through double entendre and social commentary.

"For centuries, tertons, or treasure revealers, have been magnets for controversy, including the Bhutanese master Pema Lingpa (1450-1521). While texts recount his feats extracting images, ritual implements and scrolls through an oft-complicated process of prophecy, portent and revelation, his autobiography, as those of other tertons, also describes the actions and arguments of skeptics, many of whom called into question the legitimacy of Pema Lingpa’s visions and activities. So how did Pema Lingpa seek to silence his critics and support his claims? Can we possibly know how he envisioned his place in the Nyingma, or Ancient, Buddhist tradition as a whole?

This paper argues we can, through a careful analysis of the visual program and textual accounts regarding his main seat, the temple of Tamzhing, founded in 1502.  By drawing upon Pema Lingpa’s autobiography and employing iconographic analysis of the murals he selected, this research provides insight as to how those specific choices reveal how Pema Lingpa situated himself in local and regional contexts as well as in the larger Nyingma tradition. In addition, this paper highlights how Pema Lingpa chose to display paintings that provided an efficacious and ritually complete site where his devotees—early and modern—could worship, surrounded by imagery and relics that divulged the esoteric and meditative practices unique to his tradition.  In summary, this research shows one way in which Pema Lingpa himself chose to illustrate his legacy and claims to legitimacy at Tamzhing, offered to devotees and skeptics alike for centuries to come."