haa 183k

this is so bogus

Vairocana

• central buddha

• turning wheel (dharmachakra) or wisdom fist mudra

• white

• lion throne

Akshobya

• eastern Buddha

• blue (associated with dawn)

• earth-touching (enlightenment) mudra

• elephant throne

Amitabha

• western Buddha

• red (associated with setting sun)

• meditation mudra + begging bowl

• peacock throne

Ratnasambhava

• southern Buddha

• yellow

• varada mudra (gesture of supreme generosity)

• horse throne

Amoghasiddhi

• northern Buddha

• green

• abhaya ("no-fear") mudra

• garuda throne

Four orders of Tibetan Buddhism

• Nyingma

• Kagyu

• Sakya

• Kadampa —> Gelug

Descent of Ganges

• Ganga was a celestial river, when there was a severe drought on earth she agreed to descend to earth

• Shiva agrees to help after a devotee worships with tree pose, allows Ganga to come down via a lock of his hair

• Mirrors river coming down through the Himalayan mountains

Ravana shaking Mt. Kailasa

• In an act of arrogance, Ravana attempts to lift and shake Mt. Kailasa (home of Shiva)

• Is then trapped under the mountain by Shiva’s foot

• Ravana then becomes a devotee of Shiva, does such penance that he gains significant power

8 life scenes of the Buddha

• Birth of the Buddha at Lumbini

• Enlightenment of the Buddha at Bodh Gaya

• Buddha's first sermon at Sarnath 

• The monkey's offering at Vaishala

• Taming Nalagiri the elephant at Rajgir

• Descent from Tavatimsa Heaven (sermon for mother) at Sankassa

• Miracle at Shravasti (self-multiplication)

• Death of Buddha at Kushinagar

Shiva

• destroyer/transformer

• Home is Mount Kailash

• Crescent moon headdress

• Trident

• Snake

Milarepa on Mount Kailash, Central Tibet, c. 1500 CE, pigment and gold on cotton, The Art Institute of Chicago

Uma-Maheshvara or Shiva’s family on Mount Kailash, Kathmandu valley, Nepal, c. 10th century

Scenes from the life of Milarepa, Eastern Tibet, 18th century, pigment and gold on cotton, Nyingjei Lam Collection

hand on ear!

Five Sages in Barren Icy Heights, folio from the Kedara Kalpa. Attributed to the workshop of Purkhu. Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India, ca. 1815. Opaque watercolor on paper

Shangri-La

a fictional place, a mythical Himalayan utopia

Shambhala

a mythical happy kingdom hidden somewhere beyond the snow peaks of the Himalayas in Tibetan Buddhist tradition

Cakrasamvara Mandala, Nepal, ca.1100. Distemper on cloth. 26 ½ x 19 ¾”, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Centered around Chakrasamvara and his consort, Vajravarahi, trampling on a form of Shiva + his consort

• 6 lotus petals, reminiscent of 3 vajras

  • Surrounded/protected by circle of vajras

• Each deity holding a splayed human skin

• Varied activities taking place in the charnel ground background

  • Gruesome, but juxtaposed with bright colors, heavy movement, and joyous facial expressions

• Blue at center + white in the east = Vairocana lineage becoming of central importance

• Donors in bottom right corner

  • Potential early representation of Vajracharya householder monk + two wives

    • Esoteric Buddhism addressing its own survival by allowing monks to marry and have children

Eyes in Newar art

ovular with third line at corner

Eyes in East Indian art

“seagull eyes”

Eyes in Kashmir and Western Tibetan art

almond shaped

theosophical society

• religious movement originating in the US in 1975

• Founded by Helena Blavatsky + two other founding members

• Believed Tibet to be the home of the Mahatmas (Great Souls), keepers of the wisdom of Atlantis 

Garuda, Changu-Narayan temple, c. 6th-7th century, Kathmandu Valley, stone

mythical bird-like figure, commonly depicted as half-man, half- bird, can control nagas

Svayambhūnāth

the most important sacred site in the Kathmandu valley, a location where the self-existent came forth in the form of light

Vishnu

• Preserver

• Associated with snakes, Garuda

• Takes 10 different forms to preserve the world

• Always has a chakra (wheel), a club, and a conch

Vishnu Vikranta or Trivikrama (an incarnation of Vishnu), Changu-Narayan temple, c.9th century or later (transitional period), Kathmandu Valley, stone

Vishnu Anataśāyin (Vishnu Reclining on Serpent Ananta) or “Jalaśayana Viṣṇu,” donation by Vishnugupta, Būḍhānīlakaṇṭha, Kathmandu valley, dated 640CE, polished stone, 21’2”

• Visnu sleeping on Serpent couch “reclining Visnu”

• Placement within water to activate the cosmological significance 

  • Nature in cosmic meaning-making

  • Tied to politics—shows the ability of kings to harness nature to harness cosmology

• Imagery demonstrates Nepal's connection to the rest of the Indian subcontinent

• Stone was likely acquired elsewhere and brought to the site

• Charged with sensory experience in ritual context

Characteristics of Newar art

• Elongated torso

• Ovular eyes with third line at corner (in contrast with east Indian seagull eyes)

• Wide foreheads (in contrast with ovular east Indian heads)

• Less saturated color palettes

• U-shaped drapery on clothing

Vishnu Riding on Garuda, Nepal, dated 1004 (N.S. 124), gilt copper repoussé, H: 41.9cm, Metropolitan Museum 2012.463

Vishnu repoussé plaque, Nepal, dated 983 or 1180CE, Copper alloy with gilt. H:47.3cm

Standing Vishnu, Nepal, dated 1105CE, copper alloy with gilding. H: 42.9cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ardhanarisvara (Shiva as half woman), c. 1000 CE, Nepal, copper alloy with semiprecious stones

Palm-leaf manuscript of the Perfection of

Wisdom(AsP) sutra

Standing Buddha, Kashmir, c. 6th-7thcentury, Brass, copper and silver inlay

• Evidence of extensive touch = veneration

• Almond shape eyes (characteristic of Kashmir and Western Tibet)

  • + sharp eyebrows

• Round, short face

• Proximity to Gandhara, which has a demonstrated connection to Hellenistic traditions of depicting drapery

• Drapery becomes increasingly abstract/not naturalistic

Palola-Shahi Dynasty

ruled in Kashmir-Gilgit region during the seventh through the early eighth centuries, well known royal patrons of Buddhist art in the region

Gilgit Manuscript Covers, painted wooden covers to a Saṃghāta sūtra manuscript, ca. 8th century CE or earlier

Buddha’s Enlightenment and other 7 life events of the Śākyamuni Buddha, c. eleventh century (Pāla period), Ghosrawan, Bihar, black stone stele. Indian Museum

• Birth of the Buddha at Lumbini

• Enlightenment of the Buddha at Bodh Gaya

• Buddha's first sermon at Sarnath 

• The monkey's offering at Vaishala

• Taming Nalagiri the elephant at Rajgir

• Descent from Tavatimsa Heaven (sermon for mother) at Sankassa

• Miracle at Shravasti (self-multiplication)

• Death of Buddha at Kushinagar

Buddha (Shakyamuni) on Mount Meru, Kashmir, c. 700CE, Bronze with silver and copper, Norton Simon Museum

Buddha’s enlightenment, manuscript painting, early 12th century, Nalnada monastery, Bihar, India, Asia Society, New York

Preaching Buddha with Bodhisattvas and Royal devotees, Kashmir, dated c. 715 CE.

Donors: King Nandivikramadityadeva and his Queen Samadevi, prime minister

Gunodadhi. Brass with silver, Pritzker Collection

• Over time, Buddha becomes increasingly conceived as cosmic, transcendent

  • No longer just a human teacher, now king of the dharma realm

• Also representational of the human desire to make more merit through making offerings/adorning him 

Preaching Buddha in front of a stupa, Ajanta, Cave 26, c. 462-500CE

Shakyamuni/Vairocana, Kashmir, Donors: Princess Devashri and her husband

Samkarasena, dated c.714 CE, Brass with copper and silver alloy, Asia Society, New

York

• Bottom layer: wheel of dharma + deers = Budhas first sermon at Sarnath

• Second Layer: lotus + nagas + stupas = Buddha’s multiplication miracle

  • Different stupas = different Buddhas?

    • Staircases on all four sides

• Representations of donors on either side

• Crowned, adorned

  • Signaling of different (cosmic) level of the Buddhahood

  • Potentially develops out of ritual adornment of such Buddha figures

• Cosmic Buddha body associated with Akanistha heaven 

  • “Enjoyment-body”

Mahayana

• Great vehicle/way

• association with bodhisattva ideal → helping others before reaching enlightenment

• Must go through many lives/reincarnations

Hinayana

little/lesser vehicle/way

Vajrayana (tantric/esoteric Buddhism)

• Emphasis on secrecy, importance of guru (teacher) for initiation and guidance

• Philosophically based on Mahayana teachings

• Immediate enlightenment through ritual

Theravada

way of the elders, Pali Buddhism

Three M-s

• Mudra (body)

• Mantra (speech)

• Mandala (mind)

Tabo monastery

• Spiti Valley, India

• founded 996 CE

• under the patronage of kings of the Guge-Purang Kingdom

• Based on the Sarvatathāgatatattvasagraha (STTS)

• Three structural entities of the Tabo Main Temple:
  1. Entry hall dedicated to protective deities
  2. Assembly hall featuring a Vajradhatumandala with four-bodied Vairocana + The Pilgrimage of Sudhana and Life of the Buddha
  3. Cella containing Amitabha (formerly Vairocana) surrounded by an Ambulatory

Royal Lama Byang-chub’od and donor Assembly, southern face of the entrance to the Cella, ambulatory, Tabo Monastery, 1042

Vairocana/Amitabha, Cella, Tabo Main temple

• one of the two main images of the temple

• flanked by two standing Bodhisattvas

  • difficult to securely identify the bodhisattvas in the Cella because they have been repainted many times, based on their arm positions + traces of color possibly represent Avalokitesvara and Vajrasattva

• being offered flowers by four deities

• generally interpreted as Buddha Amitabha (red body color, meditation gesture), but was originally an ancient form of Vairocana (lion throne, holds wheel in meditation gesture

Mahavairocana, behind altar, Main Temple, Tabo

• Vajradhatu (Vajra realm) mandala 

  • According to STTS, center of mandala is four-headed Vairocana

    • Depicted in Tabo as four-bodied

• Similar anatomical proportions to images from Sarnath

• Sarvatathagatatattvasamgraha text emphasizes Vairocana as the universal sovereign 

  • New teaching at the time of Temple renovation

The Pilgrimage of Sudhana

• based on the Gandavyuha sutra

• featured in Tabo’s assembly hall

• Sudhana takes a pilgrimage on quest for enlightenment and studies under 53 "good friends", those who direct one towards the Way to Enlightenment

Manjushri blesses Sudhana, Pilgrimage of Sudhana, Assembly Hall, Main Temple, Tabo, 11th century

Sudhana visits the perfume merchant Samantanetra, Assembly Hall, Main temple, Tabo, 11th century

Lady Maya’s dream (conception) and the palace of King Shuddhodana, Assembly Hall, Main Temple, Tabo, 11th century

Maitreya

• Bodhisattva, future Buddha

• Stupa on the headdress

• Water jug, symbol of the ascetic lifestyle, associated with Siva

Alchi monastery

• Lower Ladakh on the southern bank of the Indus Valley

• mid-12th to early 13th century

• traditionally attributed to Rinchen Zangpo

• Dukhuang (Assembly Hall) with four-faced Vairocana

• Sumtseg (Three-Storied Temple)

• Great and Small Chortens (stupas)

Four-faced Vairocana, central wall, Dukhang, Alchi, c. 12-13th centuries

Avalokiteshvara with a dhoti depicting the holy places and royal palaces of Kashmir, Sumtseg, Alchi, c. early 13th century

• Wears Five Buddha Crown

• Compassion

• Dhoti with holy sites in Kashmir → appears in the world to provide help to people

  • evidence of deep Kashmiri connectio

• Body (of mind, body, speech triad)

• Amitabha

• west

Maitreya with a dhoti depicting the life of the Buddha, main niche, Sumtseg, Alchi, c. early 13th century

• Four-headed Vairocana in headdress

• Future Buddha

• Dhoti with Buddha’s life scenes

• Mind (of mind, body, speech triad)

• Vairocana 

• Center

  • Contains 3 body system in one figure

    • Life of the Buddha = emanation body

    • Vairocana headdress = truth body

    • Maitreya = enjoyment body

Manjushri with a dhoti depicting the 84 Mahasiddas, Sumtseg, Alchi, c. early 13th century

• Wisdom

• Dhoti with Mahasiddhas

• Speech (of mind, body, speech triad)

• Akshobhya 

• east

Detail of Green Tara, Avalokiteshvara niche, Sumtseg, Alchi, c. early 13th century

• Holds a manuscript

• Associated with compassion, said to have emerged from a tear of Avalokiteśvara

• almond-shaped, protruding eyes

• Extreme shading

• Detailed depiction of clothing and jewelry

Portrait of Rinchen Zangpo(?), Great Chorten, Alchi, ca. 1200

the Ngadar

• "the Earlier Diffusion" of Buddhis, ca. 7th-9th cents

• initiated by Songsten Gampo who deliberately imported aspects of Buddhism from abroad

• period during which Tibet became one of Asia's great imperial powers, intermittently controlling their predominantly Buddhist neighbors (India, Nepal, China, etc)

• Buddhism as largely a court religion

• Influence from Indian and other Central Asian Buddhist painting during this early period

• ended with the successive assassinations of pro-Buddhist king Relpachen and pro-Bon King Lang Darma

the Chidar (phyi-dar)

• "the Later Diffusion" of the Buddhist faith, approx 11th-15th cents (main activities: late 10th century-12th century)

• Generated enormous popular appeal

• period during which Tibet supplanted India as the Buddhist holy land

• widespread translation of Indian Buddhist texts into Tibetan + construction of Buddhist monuments

• efforts to model beliefs/practices off of India

  • Tibetan presence in eastern India (ca. 1000-1200) as pilgrims, scholars, monks

• art shows influences from eastern India and the Kathmandu Valley

Rinchen Zangpo

• influential master in the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet

• made monumental translations/commentaries

• brought artists/artisans from northeastern India and Kashmir back to Tibet, ensuring the importance of the Kashmiri tradition in Tibet/preservation of the style in the face of Muslim conquest

Atisa

• revered as Tibet's greatest early spiritual leader

• stayed in Guge for three years, then traveled to central Tibet

• prestigious example shaped subsequent practices

• depicted wearing a red pandita hat (or scholar's hat)

Avalokiteshvara mandala, Tibet occupied Dunhuang (China), c. 9th century, pigments on cloth (silk), H:189cm, Musée Guimet,

Green Tara (Khadiravani Tara/ Ashtamahabhaya Tara), central Tibet, Reting monastery, c. 2nd half of the 11th century, pigments on cloth

• stylistically comparable to contemporary eastern Indian examples

• important lineage object for Reting monastery

Bodhisattva Maitreya, Drathang monastery, ca. 1081- 1093 CE, wall painting

Tara as Saviouress from the Eight Perils, above the Manjushri niche, Sumtseg, Alchi, c. 1200CE(?), wall painting

Prajñaparamita/Tara, mural, left corner of the Avalokiteshvara niche, Alchi Sumtseg, c. early 13th century? (or c. 11th century)

Celestial being (god) offering a flower, Cella, Tabo Main temple, 996CE, clay

Bodhisattva Vajragarbha (rDo-rje-snying-po), South wall upper register, Ambulatory, Tabo Main temple, 1042CE

Mahabodhisattva Mahabala (sTobs-po-che), North wall lower register, Ambulatory,

Ambulatory, Tabo Main temple, 1042CE

Akshobhya, eastern quarter of the Vajradhatu mandala, South wall, Assembly Hall, Main temple, Tabo, 11th century (1042CE), clay, repainted

Ratnasambhava, southern quarter of the Vajradhatu mandala, South wall, Assembly Hall, Main temple, Tabo, 11th century (1042CE), clay, repainted

Amitabha, western quarter of the Vajradhatu mandala, North wall, Assembly Hall, Main temple, Tabo, 11th century (1042CE), clay, repainted

Amoghasiddhi, Northern quarter of the Vajradhatu mandala, North wall, Assembly Hall, Main temple, Tabo, 11th century (1042CE), clay, repainted

Monkey’s offering of honey at Rajagrha, East wall, lower register, west wall, lower register, Assembly Hall, Main temple, Tabo, 11th century

Veneration of the relics, East wall, lower register, west wall, lower register, Assembly Hall, Main temple, Tabo, 11th century

• Contains devotees, both human and divine + the monks of Tabo and abbot

Attendant goddess, Manjushri niche, Sumtseg, Alchi, c. early 13th century

“Portrait” of an Indian master, Western wall, Great Chorten, Alchi, ca. 1200

Portrait of a Mahasiddha, Northern wall, Great Chorten, Alchi, ca. 1200

Ushnishavijaya, central Tibet, 11th-12th century, distemper on silk

• Popular goddes, linked to longevity rituals

• Atributes

  • 3 heads, 8 arms (here more natural looking than at Alchi), 3 eyes

  • Double vajra

  • Bow and arrow

  • Bowl/water jug

  • Holds a lotus with the buddha Vairocana (holding a preaching gesture) sitting atop

  • Tarjani (threatening gesture) + varada (giving) mudra

• Emerges from/in the womb of a Chaitya

• Central line reveals method of making image

• stylistically close to eastern Indian examples

Eleven-headed, one-thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara, central Tibet (a Kagyu monastery), mid-12th century, distemper on cloth

• This specific form is the patron deity of Tibetan Buddhism

• Thousand arms, each with an eye, is a representation of multiplicity + the Bodhisattvas ability to see and help all

• In top right corner is depiction of is depiction of Songtsen Gampo, the first Tibetan ruler of the historical period traditionally credited with introducing Buddhism to Tibet, with his Chinese and Nepalese wives

Portrait of Taklung Thangpa Chenpo, Central Tibet (Taklung monastery), ca. 1200, distemper on cloth

• Lineage along top register, including primordial Buddha Vajradhara

• Hut at bottom, referencing story in the biography of this founder of Taklung monastery

• compositional structure: central figure being a human teacher facing foward, as opposed to a deity or Buddha, is not necessarily a deification, but surely emphasizes the importance of spiritual teachers and lineage

Portrait of Two monks, Central Tibet (Taklung monastery), ca. 1300, distemper on cloth

• Teacher-disciple relationship

  • Phakmo Drupa (left), Tashipel (right), Gampopa (center)

  • Attempts to visually differentiate between figures, based on some sort of likeness

• central teacher figure looking forward

• Book in between, with stupa on tip

• esoteric form of Tatagathas along top?

• Importance of lineage

Vajravarahi mandala, Central Tibet (Taklung monastery), ca. 1200, distemper on cloth

• Vajravarahi is the thugsdam, or chosen deity, of Onpo Lama Rinpoche of Taklung

• In active movement, unlike depictions of Buddhas, bodhisattvas

  • Dancing on a human figure laying prone

• Holds a skull up, sow-face coming out of head

• Lineage portrait along top

  • Milarepa (white robe) and Marpa in the center

• Two inverted triangles (yantra) = representation of sexual union of deities

• Based on transgressive tantra

  • Goal is immediate spritual liberation by challenging the senses/social norms

• Charnel grounds as background (white bones on black backing)

• Associated with triumph over ignorance

• Orientation through directional deities

Chakrasamvara mandala with the scenes of the eight cremation grounds filled with siddhas, Central Tibet, ca. 1100, distemper on cloth

• Meditating figures facing away from viewer

• Scene of a ritual with a lay donor and a monk in bottom right corner

Ratnasambhava, one of the surviving three tathagatas, Central Tibet, ca. 1200-1250, distemper on cloth

• Yellow + horse

• Elongated limbs at odd angles of attendant bodhisattvas

• Tri-partite body

• Wealth deities along bottom section

• Detailed shawl with depictions of the Buddha around his shoulders

Amoghasiddhi, one of the surviving three tathagatas, Central Tibet, ca. 1200-1250, distemper on cloth

• Green + Garuda

• Elongated limbs at odd angles of attendant bodhisattvas

• Tri-partite body

• Ritual scene at bottom, with layman

Scenes from the life of the historical Buddha, Central Tibet, ca. late 13th-early 14th century, distemper on cloth

• Buddha represented within a shrine place

  • Earth-touching gesture, arrows turning into flowers, earth goddess and Mara 

  • Depicts the moments of enlightenment and represents the orilgrimage site of the Bodh Gaya

    • Collapsing of time and space

• Maitreya and Avalokitesvara on either side

• Buddha life episodes organized spatially and chronologically (ex. different levels of heavens)

• Elongated limbs at odd angles of attendant bodhisattvas

Sadaksari Avalokitesvara, Shalu monastery, early 14th century (restored 20th century), wall painting

• Beri-style ornamentation

Green Tara, attributed to the Nepalese artis Anige (or Aniko), Central Tibet, third quarter of the 13th century, distemper on cloth

• Name of artist only survives in Chinese record

• Artist from Nepal, given position of master of the imperial mongol art workshop

  • Identified based on artistic mastery of this work + presence of small Tibetan monk

• Newar style indicated by ornate and floral makra

• Indications of projection/recess in shrine architecture 

• Bejeweled tree

• Made for a Tibetan patron

• Shrine also includes depictions of the eight great perils

Virupa, Tibet (Sakya monastery), ca. second quarter of the 13th century, distemper on cloth

• Swirled, floral pattern of Beri style

• Virupa stopping the sun to continue drinking

• Located within mountanous landscpae

• Wearing diadem of skull cups

• Deities of transgressive tantras with Vajrayogini in the center

• Green “barmaid” = evokative of Green Tara offering a skull cup

• Grid-like pattern

Amoghasiddhi, one of three Tathagatas, Central Tibet, Sakya monastery, 1st half of the 13th century, distemper on cloth

• Ornateness + head + eye shape = Newari/Beri style

Ratnasambhava, one of three Tathagatas, Central Tibet, Sakya monastery, 1st half of the 13th century, distemper on cloth

• Ornateness + head + eye shape = Newari/Beri style

• Jewel is his symbol

Amitabha, one of three Tathagatas, Central Tibet, Sakya monastery, 1st half of the 13th century, distemper on cloth

• Ornateness + head + eye shape = Newari/Beri style

Sadaksari Avalokiteshvara with Manidhara and Sadaksari, Nepal, early 14th century, distemper on cloth

• Ornateness + head + eye shape = Newari/Beri style

• Mountainous landscape

• idk man

Sealed bottom of a Tibetan bronze statue with double-vajra mark, 18th century, San

Francisco Asian Art Museum

• Vajra = tantric ritual tool, associated the diamond and the thunderbolt

• presence on the bottom of statue indicates that it is consecrated