1. Time Travel by Thangka
Or, A Tale of Two Cities’ Thangkas
2. The Buddhist lama Tashipel, 2013.19
1210-1273
Tibet, Taklung Monastery
Colors on cotton
28 x 21.6 cm.
Padmasambhava as
Drakpochey, 1992.344
Approx. 1550
Tibet, Riwoche Monastery
Colors on cotton
10x5.5
Riwoche Monastery
Eastern Tibet
Ruins of Taklung Monastery
Central Tibet
3. 4/23/13 2
“Oral Tradition” (kagyu) Paintings from
Taklung and Riwoche Monasteries
1 Tashipel
3 Sangye Yarjon2 Kuyalwa
4 Onpo
Stuart Carey Welch
0 Phagmodrupa
4. Sharri
Beri
The cosmic Buddha Vairochana, 1992.58
Approx. 1100
Tibet
Colors on cotton
39x28
The cosmic Buddha Vairochana, 1991.1
Approx. 1300
Tibet
Colors on cotton
33x26.
5. Elements of the
Taklung Style
Jewel-Staff Mountains
Gold Throne with
Turquoise and
Coral
Glowing Rock
Foundation
Elaborately Scrolled
Cushion and Halo
Rainbow Nimbus
6. Taklung Elements Articulate
Visionary Spaces
Green Swirled Throne Cushion
Jeweled Shrine as Throne
Rainbow of Appearance
Mysterious Arched Structure
Overlapping Crystal Rocks
Blue of Empty Mountain Cave
10. 3 OM AH HUM
SEALS visualized
being into the
painting
1 Consecrating Lama
VISUALIZES the
Central Figure…
2 Visualized Image
ENTERS the
Painted Image
Sealing a Sacred
Presence in a
Stupa in Three
Steps
11. The “Ye Dharma…” Formula:
1 Equals fundamental content of the Buddha’s Mind
2 Transforms an Art Object into a Virtual Stupa
“The Buddha has declared the causes of those things
which have a cause, as well as their termination…”
B60S598 B60S571
15. 10
2: Onpo Lama takes
sacred objects from
Taklung to Riwoche…
Riwoche before wartime destruction
of monastery in 1950
Taklung
Riwoche
Thangka of Onpo Lama
Private Collection
16. 3 Onpo Reconsecrates
Tashipel Painting at Riwoche
First consecration of deities with OM AH HUM
formula, ca. 1210
Onpo’s Later Reconsecration ca. 1273
18. Lineage of
Taklung
Kagyu
Lamas
Lineage of
Indian Great
Adepts
Luyipa:
Siddha who
Eats Fish
Guts
The Great
Adept
Jnanatapa:
Previous
Reincarnation
of Onpo
ca 1350
Metropolitan
Museum of Art,
New York
19. Nyingma and
Kagyu Fusion at
Riwoche
Kagyu Lamas
Padmasambhava
Pema Lingpa’s Successor
as a Nyingma Treasure
Finder
Gold-on-Red Riwoche Stupa
on Reverse
Tai Situ Choku Gocha of Riwoche
Private Collection
21. Rainbow Nimbus
Simplified
Crystal Towers Wider
Cushion Now 2-tone
Later Riwoche Painting
Series:
Simplified and Intentional
Archaism in the 17th
Century
Jig ten wangchuk of Riwoche
Private Collection
22. Red Stupa with
Gold Lettering on
Small Format
Painting:
A Key Riwoche
Diagnostic
34. A Mandala of Tsakali
Himalayan Galleries
Metropolitan Museum of Art
35. 33
Lineages of
Reincarnating Lamas
in the 17th century:
Further Conscious
Archaism
Sacred Environments in
14th Century Taklung
and Riwoche Styles:
Jewel Staves and
Continuous Lineages
16Archaic Motifs at 16th century
Riwoche
*Nyingma and Kagyu Fusion
*Transmission of Terma by Art
Taklung Artwork as a
Means of Transmitting
Sacred Power Across
Time and Space
Editor's Notes
I’m JDACHAAAMSF – thanks for coming out this morning to our little time machine in Samsung Hall
Now I say that it’s a time machine today, because we are going to see how two important paintings in our collection not only have traveled down through time to reach us
But also how they enable a kind of virtual time travel for those creating and interacting with them
Science fiction and art history meet at the center of San Francisco – how appropriate!
And here are those two paintings I was referencing
The Buddhist lama Tashipel on the left
A 13th century painting datable via style, iconography and inscription
And the Buddhist lama Padmasambhava as Guru Drakpochey
A painting with 14th century features that was actually created, as we shall see in some detail, in the 16th century
Now these two paintings certainly don’t look related in any way, at first or even second and third glance
But because of the resources we have here at the Asian, we’ve been able to establish precisely how these two thangkas are more than just related
They represent two termini – the beginning and the end - of a vast story that is one of the most interesting in Himalayan art history
The first phase of the story I’m referring to begins at a place now in ruins, Taklung Monastery in central Tibet, which was destroyed by fire in 1548
This is where our Buddhist lama Tashipel was created
The second phase takes place at Riwoche in eastern Tibet, destroyed in the cultural revolution but since rebuilt
This is where Tashipel was taken and re-consecrated, and our Padmasambhava as Guru Drakpochey, was created
Taken together, these two masterworks reveal a fascinating but poorly known artistic and religious continuum whose characteristics are only now being discovered and described
The history of the Taklung artistic and religious tradition in Tibet and beyond
And over the next couple of hours, we’ll be exploring this continuum, and in particular how its art transmits Taklung teaching and practice down through time
In other words, how Taklung art engineers a kind of time travel for the teachers and teachings it depicts and – what is more – embodies
Let me give you a little background, which will initially at least involve a fairly short and direct trip back in time to about 1995
A puddle-jump in comparison to the kinds of art-catalyzed time-travel we’ll discuss shortly
At this time, a series of related paintings began to find their way into the global art market
They were identified on the basis of iconography and style as coming from the Taklung monastery
Here you see three of these related paintings, and along with the figures they depict – you’ll see them again later in our discussion
Now up to this time, very few of these seemingly related paintings were known, let along published
One of the few in the US at that time was our very own Tashipel, which had been in the collection of Harvard curator Stuart Carey Welch for decades before we acquired it
The subject matter of these Taklung paintings was fairly limited, too
Several of them depict Tashipel, main figure on our masterwork and first abbot of Taklung monastery
Others depict Tashipel’s teacher Phagmodrupa, readily recognizable as you’ll shortly see by his trademark mutton-chops
(That’s him right over Tashipel’s head, and I’ll show him in more detail in a minute)
Tashipel’s two successors, Kuyalwa and Sangye Yarjon, also appear in this body of paintings, and usually they appear together, as they do in the center thangka in this slide
In addition, the figure of Onpo, fourth abbot of Taklung monastery, is a prominent presence
The last thangka does not appear in this slide - what you see is a blacked-out copy of the central one as a stand-in
But the principle is the same
The lineage cascades downwards and left to right
So all things considered, this corpus of paintings consisted primarily of Taklung monastic lineage paintings
And the stylistic similarities between the Taklung lineage paintings suggests the existence of an atelier, or at least a distinct style, developed at Taklung Monastery
This style is quite early, and represents a variation on the eastern Indian, or Sharri in Tibetan, style of painting, which we’ll explore in the next slide
Here you see two masterworks from the Asian’s own collection
I hope you are already intimately familiar with them from last year’s mini-exhibition Enter the Mandala
They are the same figure, the cosmic Buddha Vairochana, but executed in two different styles
The style on the left is the classic Indian style
It features dynamic deities interacting with one another
Vairochana’s scrolled throne back, the lively figures, are all diagnostics of the Sharri style
This Sharri style was the first to enter Tibet, and it decisively informs thangka art for two centuries, from about 1000-1200
Compare that to the Beri or Nepalese style on the right
Here, the subject matter is the same – the cosmic Buddha Vairochana
But note now how all the figures are separated from each other in discrete shrine-like spaces
Vairochana himself now sits within an elaborately scrolled shrine arch
The bodhisattvas too are stiff and hieratic rather than fluid and lithe
Now starting around 1200 – the time the monastic consortium in north India fell apart under economic and military pressure - the Beri begins to interact with and then largely replace the Sharri
By 1350, the resultant Sharri-Beri synergy begins to generate a definitively Tibetan Sharri style associated most decisively with the Taklung order…
…And it manifests decisively on the Tashipel portrait in our collection
Now you’ll immediately note that the Taklung version of the Sharri style is noticeably different from either of the Vairochana paintings you just saw
First note how key elements of the Sharri remain in place
Stylized rock strata of this type appear on the earliest of Sharri paintings, which are the earliest made in Tibet
Tashipel’s elaborately scrolled green seat cushion and orange halo – these too appear in Cosmic Buddha paintings in the Sharri style
And if you look closely behind the cushion and beneath the lotus upon which Tashipel sits, you’ll see another key Sharri diagnostic
A golden shrine encrusted with coral and turquoise
Do you see the upturned ends of the shrine?
Despite such continuities, however, there are major differences from the classic Sharri we saw in the previous slide
Yes, many of the figures are dynamic, but they are isolated from one another in separate shrines, as with the Nepalese Beri style
So in some ways it can seem a combination of the Indian and Nepalese styles
And given the date of its creation, ca. 1250, it would not be surprising that the separate influences were beginning to synergize with one another and generate novel forms of artistic expression
But it’s those strange rainbow strata, horizontal and vertical, that demarcate the various shrine-like regions of the painting that comprise a key Taklung diagnostic
Which of course begs the question of exactly how they function in the Tashipel painting…
…The answer is that stylized rock formations allow Taklung artists to articulate visionary spaces in an entirely new, deeply layered way
And the best way to see how this Taklung layering works, surprise surprise, is to look very closely at an important region of the painting where we see no less than five visionary spaces
They are concentrated in a space smaller than a post-it note, but look at the detail
To identify them, let’s return to our detail from the upper left quadrant of the painting
First you see overlapping crystal rocks that signify the isolated nature of the mountain fastnesses where visionary experience becomes available
The Mysterious Arched Structure that appears just inside the multicolored crystal towers is crucial, and I’ll discuss its importance in detail in a moment
Just inside the Mysterious Arched Structure is a layer of deep blue that stands for emptiness, or Shunyata in Sanskrit, that is, the fact that nothing exists inherently or by itself
And that as a consequence everything is connected to everything else
Nestled right next to the blue arch of emptiness is the yellow-red of a rainbow arch
It stands for appearance, the equally factual observation that manifold, multicolored objects that are empty of self-existence nonetheless still appear to exist
Together, the blue and rainbow arches signify the realization that emptiness and appearance are not two but one thing
This is of paramount importance, for the realization that emptiness and appearance are the same thing IS enlightenment in Vajrayana, Lightning Vehicle Buddhism
And the attainment of the state of Awakening, bodhi, which is coterminous with Buddhahood
Moving inwards further still, we get another hint that you saw in more complete form in the previous slide
Tashipel sits on that golden shrine-throne encrusted with turquoise and coral
Finally, note how Tashipel sits face-forward like the Sharri and Beri Vairochanas
So, taking all of this together – crystal staves, the blue and rainbow arches that signify awakening, the turquoise shrine and the full-forward posture -
What do they indicate?
Very simply, that Tashipel is a virtual Buddha
And in fact he is the first human depicted as a Buddha in Tibetan art
A human who has reached the summit, the apex, the ultimate in insight into the nature of reality as emptiness plus appearance
And how did he reach it?
Through a sustained series of visionary experiences…
…which appear in the side columns of this painting, which I’ve excerpted in this slide
Here, separated by the Taklung crystal towers that demarcate visionary space, the content of Tashipel’s visions can be seen – by us as well as by him, which is pretty interesting in itself
There are four such visions that appear in portraits of Tashipel, and not always in the same position, but always the same group of four
Interestingly, one of these visions involves the historical Buddha
Another focuses on the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
And two involve fierce Vajrayana deities – Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini in yab-yum on the left, and Vajrayogini by herself on the right
Now here’s something small but crucially important
Do you see the Mysterious Arched Structure over the heads of all these four figures?
You saw it just a minute ago
As it turns out, we know exactly what it is:
It’s Tashipel’s reed shrine at Taklung, which his guru told him to build as a meditation retreat
So the message here is that all these visions took place within that shrine
And likely these are appearances not merely of these deities TO Tashipel, but rather Tashipel’s visionary transformation INTO these figures
A practice known as dzogrim, where you visualize yourself AS the deity
As opposed to merely kyerim, where you see visualized deities in front of oneself
So you might well consider these sacred figures from all three phases of the Buddhist tradition
The Shakyamuni of ancient Buddhism, the Avalokiteshvara of Mahayana Buddhism, and the fierce Vajrayana figures
are actually Tashipel himself taking on the visionary body of the figure in question
But all is not high-flown meditative metaphysics with no connection to the world of ordinary experience
For if we move to the area just under Tashipel’s throne, we get a different perspective – that of ordinary reality
First, we see Tashipel’s shrine seen frontally rather than as a cross-section, as it appears arching over the central image
Then, we see Tashipel’s shrine along with other buildings from his home monastery at Taklung
That is, the shrine is not an abstract philosophically-informed space, but rather a concrete historical location
Clearly, the visionary realm and the historical realm interpenetrate in this painting
So far so good
But if the monastery depiction derives from historically existent structures, there is an anomaly that won’t escape you for long
For it looks for all the world like Tashipel appears at least five more times in this register
That is, that he is present in multiple space-time locations in this one painting
We’ll return to Tashipel’s multiple appearances in a moment, but first let’s look at what after the reed hut must have been the most important edifices at Taklung
The two golden stupas to the left
What might Tashipel have to do with these?
Well, the one on the left likely depicts the stupa in which Tashipel and his relics were interred
While the next one depicts that of his successor, one Kuyalwa, whom we shall also meet in a moment
As we shall see, stupas like this are the key to establishing an authoritative monastic lineages, at Taklung Monastery as elsewhere
But first, we need to understand a little bit about how the Tashipel on the painting might be understood as inhabiting a stupa – for in fact he does…
…But how so?
The first clue appears on the front of the painting
The four smiling Guardian Kings represented in this slide hold the key
Note how they occupy a four-square position around the edges of Tashipel’s demesne
Now this configuration has a special function:
Its foursquare form marks the center of the cosmos
And like all such centers, it has a profoundly important vertical dimension:
The center is also the summit
Now in the Buddhist world, this center-and-summit is marked by similar forms
The world mountain, Sumeru, is one such center
You can see it on the Burmese shrine and the Nepalese stupa here in the Museum
Another cosmic center demarcated by the center-and-summit configuration is the reliquary mound called a stupa
Doctrinally if often not in practice, stupas are typically reserved to house the remains of advanced meditators
Now since these remains are deemed to be saturated with the positive karmic force called merit or punya
Their enshrinement in a stupa gives the faithful ongoing access to the rebirth-determining potency accumulated in life by the deceased adept
Now there is a clearly a fourfold center here – but is there a stupa?
After all if Tashipel is really a Buddha he should be enshrined in one…
…And if we turn the painting over, you’ll see that this is in fact the case
See the red outlines? They describe the subtle form of the stupa – with inscription inside of it
Indeed, stupas drawn in this manner are a key and long-lasting feature of Taklung thangka traditions
But that’s only part of the story
The inscriptions you see here reveal traces of a ritual that took place centuries ago
A ritual called rab gnas in Tibetan, abhishekha in Sanskrit – a consecration rite
Here’s how it would have worked:
First the consecrating lama would VISUALIZE the central figure, in this case Tashipel
Then, the lama visualizes the visualized image entering the painting
Finally, the consecrating lama seals the visualized image into the painting at three points
The brow, throat and heart
With three syllables, OM AH HUM
Here I’ve indicated Tashipel’s OM AH HUM in magenta
And if you’ll look closely, you’ll see that all the sacred images on the thangka have similarly been ‘sealed’ into the painting
Finally, a series of consecration verses is written in the cursive Tibetan script called Umey
And they are enclosed within the red outlines of the stupa
They consist most importantly of the ye dharma phrase, which translates as “the Lord has declared the causes of those things that have a cause. He has also set forth the manner of their cessation”
Philosophically, this phrase is understood as the fundamental thought form of the Buddha
More concretely, it serves to transform whatever it’s inscribed upon into a virtual stupa
Its presence here means that Tashipel’s visualized presence has now been sealed inside a virtual stupa,
And so we can say that Tashipel is “in” the painting both visually and ritually, iconically and performatively…
As a brief aside, note that we see this formula throughout the galleries
But especially in realms Pala
On the left, you see our masterwork
The Buddha is thinking, “the Buddha has declared the causes of those things which have a cause…” The same ye dharma formula that appears beneath the stupa on the buddha image
In an apparent stone anticipation of the later practice of Tibetan thangka painters
The import is this: because the formula is in place, the object has become a receptacle for the time-transcending power of the Buddha’s mentation
Now what’s really interesting is that this PAINTING - like Tashipel himself IN the painting - has been understood as once having resided in a stupa
Physical embodiment of the time-transcending Buddha’s mentation
In particular, the architectural stupa I showed you a few slides ago that once existed at Taklung Monastery
Together with the stupa next to it, these are the reliquaries of the first two Taklung abbots - Tashipel, and Kuyalwa - the gentleman on the left in this painting
The fellow on the right, Sangye Yarjon, was successor to Kuyalwa
But Sangye Yarjon’s stupa does not appear in this painting
Consequently, we can date the painting’s execution to before Sangye Yarjon’s death in 1273 and obviously after Tashipel’s demise in 1210
Now stupas of this type are exactly where one might deposit a thangka such as this, probably as a part of the stupa’s consecration ceremonies
And that’s why some early scholars speculated that the Taklung paintings came from the stupas at Taklung monastery
And accordingly dated them all to the 14th century
But there is a problem
Taklung was entirely destroyed by fire in 1548
This makes it extremely unlikely that the painting came straight from a stupa deposit at Taklung
Instead, we’ve been able to determine, on incontrovertible internal evidence, that the painting came not from Taklung but from a place called Riwoche
Which you saw in our first slide
And this place is where the story really gets crazy…
…to appreciate the story, you’ll need to know at the outset is that Tashipel, like all Tibetan Buddhist masters, is one link – albeit a crucial one – in a chain of doctrinal transmission and institutional authority
A virtual lineage that a series of stupas like the two we just saw makes tangible
And it’s the integrity of that chain is the subject matter that appears in the top register of the Tashipel painting
Here you’ll see the succession of masters of the Kagyu Order, or Oral Tradition, whose practices Tashipel inherited
In this slide, I’ve numbered them according to their position in this chain
First comes the blue Buddha Vajradhara, with hands crossed over his chest in Vajra Humkara posture
It is this Buddha, of whom we have a great Qing lacquer, that is understood as the origin of all the Tantras introduced into Tibet after the fall of its empire in the 9th century
Moving left, we see the two Indian adepts Tilopa and Naropa, gurus 2 and 3
Moving back to the right, gurus 4, 5 and 6 are respectively the knobby-headed Marpa and Milarepa, followed by the grey-haired Gampopa
At the very center and just over Tashipel’s head is Phagmodrupa, easily recognizable by his trademark mutton-chops
This is the guy who told Tashipel to build that reed shrine we were just exploring
Now apart from the fact that counting generations in this way is perhaps the most powerful means of dating Tibetan paintings at our disposal
It highlights something else – the absolutely crucial role that lineal transmission and succession plays in the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet
For without such lineage, one has neither the qualifications to practice nor the authority to direct the practices of others
And it is precisely a dispute about lineage and transmission that catalyzed a change of venue for our Tashipel painting
Here’s how it all started and ended – to make a long story short, in three easy steps…
First, in 1182, Tashipel’s guru Phagmotrupa, the mutton-chop master, the small image at the top of this painting told Tashipel (1142-1210) build a reed meditation hut
The place he built it would soon become Taklung Monastery, one of the wealthiest and most important in Tibet at the time
After Tashipel’s death, his successor and nephew Kuyalwa (1191-1236) enshrined his remains in a stupa at this location, as we have seen
Sangye Yarjon (1203-1272) succeeded Kuyalwa, and in turn performed the stupa ceremonies for his mentor, in the second of the gold stupas we were examining
Now one might assume that the chain of transmission and interment would continue, each successive stupa attesting to the continued integrity of the lineage
But during this period, there were dangerous political and military intrigue afoot in Tibet
For at this time, Khubilai Khan (1215-1294) was busy trying to bring all Asia to heel, including Tibet
Now the Great Khan’s approach to conquest was first to ask for submission, take hostages, then appoint an indigenous head of state if terms were met
In the case of Tibet, the indigenous head of state would turn out to be the famous Phagpa (1235-1280)
First a hostage to the Khan, he later became abbot of Sakya Monastery, then Yuan Imperial Preceptor, and finally regent of Tibet
Now as it turns out, Phagpa was a close associate of Sangye Yarjon
And at Phagpa’s request, Sangye Yarjon sent his eldest nephew, one Mangalaguru, to the Khan as a hostage
Since Mangalaguru was in virtue of his seniority de facto heir to the abbacy at Taklung, his absence left a vacancy in the monastery’s lineal succession…
…so in Mangalaguru’s absence, Sangye Yarjon appointed another of his nephews as interim abbot, a twenty-one year old named Onpo
And here you see him in a magnificent thangka
The year was 1272 – and it would turn out to be Sangye Yarjon’s last
Upon Sangye Yarjon’s demise, Onpo conducted the funeral rites, including Sangye Yarjon’s interment in a stupa that would become the third erected at Taklung
Shortly thereafter, however, Mangalaguru returned to Taklung from the Khan’s court
Once there, Mangalaguru took over the abbacy from the younger Onpo
Onpo took this turn of events badly, and determined to leave Taklung and found his own monastery
However, Onpo had been instructed by his uncle Sangye Yarjon “never to part with the holy relics of Taklung”
Finding himself in a bit of a double-bind, Onpo solved the problem by taking a large number of sacred objects – including thangka – and headed for his and – coincidentally Tashipel’s – home land in eastern Tibet
Once there, he founded the monastery of Riwoche
And one of his first orders of business appears to have centered on the disposition of the sacred objects he brought with him from Taklung
And in particular their reconsecration
How can we possibly know this?
One source of information is textual – the ecclesiastical history of Tibet called the Blue Annals
This record tells us that Onpo re-consecrated a number objects in 1273
But another is much more immediate and less subject to the vagaries of editing and transmission
That source is none other than the Tashipel thangka itself
For as fate would have it, Tashipel bears Onpo’s re-consecration inscription
The very one the Blue Annals suggest must be there
It reads – “stag lung pa’i dbon po bla ma rin po che dpal gyis rab gnas bzhugs” – literally, “the consecration was undertaken by the Taklung lama Onpo Rinpochey”
And so do many of the Taklung paintings
But not all of them
And the presence or absence of this formula allows us to identify paintings that were made at Taklung and taken to Riwoche
And other, often quite similar paintings that were made at Riwoche, either as copies of earlier paintings or, even more interestingly, as new compositions entirely
As a result, when we survey the corpus in as much of its entirety as possible, we get the impression that Tashipel existed in multiple art historical time horizons
Early in the case of our Tashipel, and later in the case of subsequent versions or copies that do not bear the key consecration inscription
Which is interesting, because Tashipel was understood, like his teacher the mutton-chop master Phagmodrupa, to be able to manifest in multiple space-time locations at once
And that, as you’ll recall, is exactly what we see happening in our Tashipel painting…
…For in this one painting, we see Tashipel in no fewer than seven separate places / times
In the side columns just above the lower directional guardians
And in the Taklung Monastery tableau, looking out face-forward Tashipel-style from five different monastery windows, including from his reed hut, as we have seen
What exactly is at stake here remains a mystery that only further research will reveal
As I suggested, it likely that it has something to do with Tashipel’s Buddha-like ability to be simultaneously present in multiple space-time locations
Are we in the Matrix? Has Tashipel replicated himself, like Mr. Smith?
From a religious studies point of view, the strongest hypothesis is that these images record Tashipel’s appearances across time
He can appear in this way because he has, like a Buddha, completely transcended time
And thus is able to appear in multiple places and times
So again to use the science fiction metaphor,
He may be like Kurt Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim from Slaugherhouse 5 – he is unstuck from time, but deeply involved with history - a very interesting situation to be in
And something he shares with a gentleman we’ll meet shortly, a man known variously as Guru Rinpochey or Padmasambhava
But first let’s look at a painting that by inscription certainly was made at Riwoche
Here, we can understand how Onpo understood himself as “unstuck from time.”
And here it is
This is the great adept, Jnanatapa
Onpo considered himself a reincarnation of this Indian adept
For its part, the painting bears many of the features we’ve been exploring as key elements of the Taklung version of the Sharri
Including a jewel-box throne, scrolled cushion, and jewel staves
Yet it is transitional in other ways, in particular with respect to its background, whose blank green wash suggests Chinese influence in this east Tibetan region
But what makes this painting so important and interesting is that its inscription states explicitly that it was made at Riwoche
And allows us to place this transitional style at Riwoche
Plus, if you look at the gurus, you’ll see immediately that this is a Taklung lineage painting, but in a time-reversed way
Usually the most recent, not the most ancient Guru is at the center
Here, the earlier Indian gurus are on the bottom of the painting, all great adepts or siddhas, easily identifiable by each one’s peculiar habitus
For example, there’s Luyipa at the bottom right - he’s busy at his characteristic austerity - the consumption of fish-guts for food
The Riwoche lineage appears in the upper registers of the painting
What is their connection?
Simply that Onpo believed himself a reincarnation of Jnanatapa, the yogi with a thighbone trumpet at the center of the painting
So Onpo like Tashipel is also a time traveler
Here’s another phase of the tradition, which dates to the mid-16th century
When we’ve seen a few examples of these, you’ll easily note the brilliant red-blue palette, small format, and most importantly, as we shall see, Taklung-derived archaisms
Like the gold-flecked red halo in the first painting and the rainbow arch behind the throne in the second
Now here’s something crucial about the composition of the painting
The lamas at the top two corners wearing black hats belong to the Kagyu order – but not to the Taklung
Instead, their black hats mark them as lamas of the KARMA Kagyu order
Beneath the lama on the right is another anomalous figure
He is Padmasambhava, the great Indian adept who brought Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th century,
And the man who founded what was to be known as the Nyingma or ancient tradition
So here we have two Karma Kagyu lamas in the presence of the Nyingma founder
But there is more
Take a look at the main figure here
He wears a red hat of a specific kind that identifies him as a Terton, or Treasure Finder, a figure associated with Padmasambhava and the Nyingma tradition
So here we have a Nyingma- Kagyu fusion characteristic of Riwoche
In fact, the central figure is Chokyi Gocha, abbot of Riwoche, who lived from 1542-1585
Nevertheless, there are archaic 14th century stylistic elements all over the place, like an exaggerated and simplified rainbow nimbus and gold flecked fiery aureoles for the fierce deities
Beyond its archaizing tendency, this thangka, does something else remarkable
And do you see the green silk border that each of these paintings has?
After the lecture, I’d like you to go up to the HIM galleries and see if Drakpochey has one too
So you can see that we’re beginning to be able to place our thangka in proper art historical context
More Kagyu-Nyinmga synthesis at Riwoche
Here you see three leaves from a late 13th century manuscript from Riwoche
Like the top register of the Tashipel painting, the illuminations represent a Kagyu or Oral Tradition lineage
The first two gurus are easily identifiable as Phagmodrupa and Tashipel
The next three are likely Kuyal, Sangye Yarjon, and Onpo
But what about that guy in the weird hat and the curiously shiny green robe?
That is no Kagyu, or Oral Tradition, lama – that’s Guru Rinpoche – Padmasambhava – 8th century Indian adept and founder of the ancient or Nyingma or Ancient school of Tibetan Buddhism
What on earth is Padmasambhava doing here, right in the midst of a Kagyu lineage?
The answer lies in the fact that by moving from Taklung to Riwoche, Onpo has removed himself from the very source of his religious legitimacy – his monastic lineage
As a result, it was incumbent upon him to secure an alternate means of gaining religious legitimacy without an intact lineage
A means obviously based not on direct lineal transmission of doctrine, but of a trans-temporal transmission
And in Tibet, trans-temporal transmission of tradition would find itself rooted in the life and teachings of Padmasambhava
Here we have reference to the philosophy of terma or treasure
And the special relationship with the Treasure tradition that the Kagyu – the oral tradition – developed at Riwoche
A relationship that we’ll further explore with the second of our Masterworks, Padmasambhava as Guru Drakpochey
When last we left Riwoche, we were observing there a curious relationship between the Kagyu and the Nyingma
We were also exploring some of the diagnostic features that characterize the art of the Taklung Kagyu
In particular its emphasis on jeweled staves, layers of stone and special nimbus features
But when the Taklung corpus first came to light, it was noted that a number of paintings conformed only superficially to the paintings brought from Taklung to Riwoche by Onpo
Here is one of the most interesting of them
Like Tashipel, this is a small format painting, which is itself an important Riwoche diagnostic
Moreover, it seems to bear “Sharri” diagnostics as jewel-staff caves, elaborately scrolled throne backs, and the lamas’ rainbow nimbus
But there are telling differences even in these details
For example, the jewel staves are much wider and less deeply and carefully executed than their earlier counterparts
The elaborately scrolled throne-backs have now become two-tone
And in general, we find a less detailed, more cursory treatment of both the major and subsidiary figures
In fact, the lamas that appear in this painting tradition appear curiously similar to one another
As if individual difference in portraiture were either not important or not relevant in this case
But there is something even more telling: these lamas can be date by inscription not to the 14th but to the 16th century
Under these conditions, such elements as the jewel staves, the scrolled cushion, and the rainbow nimbus must be seen as archaisms
That is, later use of earlier motifs
This begs the question of why such archaisms were used
Perhaps it was done as an hommage to art traditions represented in the monastic collection
Or perhaps there was something more at stake beyond the persistence of tradition
Perhaps, indeed, such archaisms were intentional
Now let’s turn the painting over and take a look at another key Riwoche diagnostic
…and here it is, a bright orange stupa inscribed with superbly calligraphed Umey script
Something completely unattested in the pure Sharri or Beri stylistic traditions
What’s up with the fancy stupa, and what could it’s presence here mean?
Now as it turns out, I was by this time aware of another small-format painting with a beautiful orange stupa executed in gold letters…
…and here it is
The finest of its kind that I’ve encountered, it is to my current (but hopefully not future) knowledge unique in Tibetan art
The orange stupa here frames the main deity on the front of the painting
And each of the smaller lenticular orange dots frames a smaller divinity on the front
Each one consecrated into the painting with the OM AH HUM formula executed in superb gold letters
The content of the text, however, is something even more interesting
For what we have here on the back of the painting is a hymn in praise of the figure on the front of the painting
In this case the figure has two names
The thangka’s inscription calls this figure “Padma Totreng,” or Lotus Skull Garland
But he has another name, too – Gu ru drag po che, or The Great Fierce Guru
Who could this figure possibly be?
There’s an easy way to find out
Turn the thangka over
And that’s just what we’ll do after the break
***
When we left off a few minutes ago, we were discussing red-orange stupas as a Riwoche diagnostic feature
Here is the one we were looking at
I noted that the inscription calls the figure on the front Pema Totreng, or Lotus Skull Garland
Now it’s time to find out what this mysterious Lotus Skull Garland looks like
So let’s turn the painting over…
…and meet Pema Totreng, “Lotus Skull Garland” mentioned in the inscription on the back
It’s our masterwork painting that appears on the front of the orange inscribed stupa we were just examining
At the center of the painting you see
Who is this exceedingly strange figure?
Well, from a TRADITIONAL perspective, he – or I should more properly say “he-she” - a fierce form of Padmasambhava, that 8th century lama who appears in the top left corner
Although called Pema Totreng, “Lotus Skull Garland” in the inscription, the usual name for this figure is Gu ru drag po chey, the Great Fierce One - one of Padmasambhava’s 8 great forms
Such fierce composite male-female figures are technically known as yidam
Typically, fierce forms like Drakpochey are associated with the overcoming of otherwise intractable forces, which appear trampled beneath the figure’s feet
This holds true across all the major Himalayan Buddhist lineages
From an ART HISTORICAL perspective, however, there is some intense weirdness here
For like other paintings from this corpus, it bears a number of apparent 14th century diagnostics
The rock layer upon which Drakpochey, alias Pema Totreng stands, which I’ve blown up big so you can see its detailing, disappears from other painting traditions in about 1350
The gold-flecked red haloes for the fierce deities also dates to the 14th century
So obviously this is a 14th century thangka, right? Because that’s the time to which early scholars dated this painting and several others like it…
…But there is temporal anomaly here: the gent at the top can be identified on the the Bhutanese culture hero and lama, Pema Lingpa
(although the inscription reads punye mamghale, which translates into Tibetan as Sonam Tashi – could be a name, but the Skt is in the dative case, suggesting that the purpose of the thangka is auspicious merit)
The problem, however, is bigger than identification
This is a problem of temporality, for Pema Lingpa died in 1521, and so this is no 14th century painting
Instead, it must date to the mid-16th century at the earliest
So again, we encounter apparently conscious archaisms – 14th century diagnostic features on a 16th century painting
Now one question is why Pema Lingpa is here at all – after all, we are talking a Bhutanese lama who appears in the art historical corpus of Riwoche paintings
Now I can’t yet answer all HISTORICAL aspects of why he’s here, even though I’m working on it,
But I can describe the RELIGIOUS aspects of his presence on this painting
It’s because, according to tradition, Pema Lingpa “discovered” something remarkable
Or rather somethingS – a whole series of what are known as “treasures” or terma
What exactly is a “treasure” in Tibetan thought?
In a nutshell, a terma is a teaching or object or some combination thereof capable of catalyzing initiatory changes even absent a historically-traceable transmission lineage
How might this process work?
According to “treasure” theory, such terma were secreted by Padmasambhava during the 8th century
And their locations were then implanted in the mind-stream of special disciples
In particular his consorts Pemasel and Yeshe Tsogyal
So that when these disciples were re-born in the future, they would be able to rediscover the time-tuned teachings
This thangka, which calls itself Drakpo Metreng or “Fierce Garland of Fire,” might be seen as a kind replica of a treasure
***
THIS IS JUST FOR THE CURIOUS
Here’s how the process works in the case of Pema Lingpa
His biography cites an 8th century prophecy to the effect that “One Pema Lingpa will appear and recover a Treasure, a terma, in the burning lake, Mebartso”
Pema Lingpa can make this discovery, says the text, because he is a reincarnation of Princess Pemasel – who was the “consort” of Padmasambhava in the 8th century
And it was then, in the 8th century, that the Treasure was implanted in Pemasel’s mindstream, so the future Pema Lingpa could recover it in the 16th
A time-traveling teaching indeed!
Now what Pema Lingpa’s prophecy-of-discovery accomplishes is this:
The prophecy (lung bstan) NARRATIVELY collapses the present and the past by juxtaposing accounts of the hiding and the discovery of the treasure
In other words, accounts of the treasure’s CREATION and its DISCOVERY occur in the same text, collapsing 8th and 16th century events within itself
Just like the thangka itself VISUALLY collapses 8th century and 16th century figures within itself
For the terma, then, THIS is time travel by thangka
…Which raises the crucial question: what exactly is the thangka intended to accomplish?
Again in a nutshell, the Drakpochey thangka is intended to encode instructions for visualizing the fierce figure at the center of the painting
This composite figure with two names – Guru Drakpochey, “The Great Fierce Guru” and Pema Totreng, “Lotus Skull Garland”
But why might the visualization of Drakpochey alias Pema Totreng be so valuable as to be a terma or “treasure”?
Well, as we learn from the inscription on the reverse of the painting, Guru Drakpochey is a Buddha, for he has “overcome samsara and defeated the three worlds”
A time-transcending status peculiar to Buddhas
The result of this status: Drakpochey can and does appear at three pivotal points in time: the 8th, 14th and 16th centuries.
And in each case, his appearance demolishes any number of obstacles to enlightenment
In his first appearance, Drakpochey is a visualized body adopted by the 8th century adept Padmasambhava in order to kill and then re-animate a problematic ogre.
This ogre bore the telling name Totreng, “Skull Garland.”
Half a millennium later, Guru Drakpochey appears a second time.
This time, the Tibetan adept Longchenpa uses its capabilities to overcome a pack of oathbreaker (‘dam srid) demons.
Again, the action is focused on skulls, for it is only by crushing the largest skull (thod) that the unruly group is pacified.
In the sixteenth century, the Fierce Guru appears for a third time.
Now, it’s our friend the Bhutanese lama Padma Lingpa who employs the visualization.
But we know of no instance when Pema Lingpa adopted the Drakpochey body to overcome skull-oriented obstacles in accordance with the model set by his exemplars.
Instead, textual records state that he used the meditation to "survey all five of the Buddha-families," that is, in Buddhist thought, holistically perceive the totality of psychological types.
Interestingly, Pema Lingpa’s vision has a specific name: "the Five Families of Totreng"
And accordingly the inscription on the reverse of the painting duly invokes the five Buddha families, either by name or symbol
For example, the gem or ratna and the lightning bolt or vajra are mentioned, with each symbol corresponding to one of the five Buddha Families
(BTW – you can see and explore these families, along with their emblems, in conjunction with our Svayambhu Stupa on the 3rd floor HIM galleries)
And what is more, these five families are mentioned on the thangka’s inscription in conjunction with a verbal formula or mantra that combines Nyingma and non-Nyingma elements
Thus a mantra of the Nyingma figure Padmasambhava combines with the mantra of the non-Nyingma figure – none other than Vairochana, the crowned Buddha of the cosmic center
And by combining these two formulae, something remarkable happens: the thangka maps Padmasambhava's edgy teachings onto the well-known five Buddha schema taught in other lineages, such as the Kagyu
And like you see in the Svayambhu stupa
So again there is the curious Riwoche combination of Nyingma terma teachings with other systems like those practiced by the Kagyu –
Just what we saw unfolding in the lineage depicted on the manuscript leaves from Riwoche – remember those?
Now all of this is all quite heady, whether you like history or science fiction
Or especially art – and since that’s what we’re focusing on, let’s take a closer look at Drakpochey himself
As well as the inimical forces that the power of his visualization is thought to overcome
…First Drakpochey’s weaponry:
In this slide, I’ve zoomed into the right side of the painting
Here, the first thing you’ll probably notice is the black scorpion he’s brandishing
This is his favorite weapon, and if you look closely, you’ll see it’s consuming a naked human head-first
Those eyes on its back are – wait for the creepy – the black scorpion’s children
You’ll also see another weapon in the upper hand
It’s called a khatvanga, and consists of a trident under which three heads in different stages of decomposition appear
In Vajrayana thought, these three heads symbolize the three bodies of a Buddha – the Truth, Enjoyment and Transformation bodies
The very bodies that allow Buddhas to travel through the three times, which is one of the symbolic valences of the trident
Three prongs, three times – past, present and future
Now take a look at those pointy blue wings
These are a diagnostic for Nyingma deities
And on his wings, those are golden flaming gems
Unfortunately, the thangka has suffered some paint loss on this side, which makes it a little difficult to see what’s going on behind Drakpochey…
…But if we move to the other side, we can see more still
Again, two of Guru Drakpochey’s arms hold weapons
His upper arm brandishes a vajra or dorje, the stylized thunderbolt whose power to generate “enlightenment in this very life” lies at the heart of Vajrayana, esoteric Buddhist, thought and practice
Those are more vajra / dorje that bespeckle Drakpochey’s wings, blue and pointy, Nyingma style
In his lower hand, Drakpochey holds a sword thrice encircled by golden flames
It indicates the power to separate truth from the multifarious illusions that cover it
And as fate would have it, under his wings and behind his arms are three coverings that symbolize different aspects of illusion
These have been stripped away to form a triple cape, as if by a sword
The easiest one to see is the inner cape
It takes the form of a flayed human skin – see the hand and arm, inside of which you see, well, nothing but the pink-dotted inner surface of the flayed skin
Just inside and to the left of the flayed human skin is a flayed elephant skin executed in white, with bloody red swirls inside
Do you see his skin and bloody trunk?
The outermost cape looks like a formal red-and-gold textile, but despite multiple viewings and Kaz’s superb photography, I can’t say precisely what it is
Okay, so now that we’ve looked at Drakpochey’s two sides, let’s zoom into the central image and see what’s going on here
The first thing that will draw your attention is the fact that Drakpochey is not one being but two
Two fearsome beings whose union generates the power to overcome obstacles to enlightenment
Such images are called yab-yum, or mother-father images
Symbolically, they suggest the union of apparent opposites that catalyzes enlightenment in the Vajrayana tradition
Typically, the female symbolizes the ultimate cosmic principle of Emptiness (shunyata in Skt)
The idea that nothing exists in itself or by itself
And the male symbolizes the means undertaken to realize this truth (upaya in Skt)
Their garments you have seen before, but please do note the female’s stylish leopard-skin skirt, the delicate, almost lacy ornaments on her ankles, waist, neck and arms
But don’t let their delicate appearance fool you – the jewelry is made from human bone, like the bone apron in the Himalayan galleries
Her right hand wraps around the male’s body and grips a chopper, while the left holds a skull-cup
Her three eyes, skull-crown, and extra boar’s head glyph her ferocious nature
Drakpochey himself is even more elaborate, for he has three heads, each with a crown of five skulls – see the green eyes from his third head?
Each one of these iconographic elements encodes different capacities that Drakpochey can use to overcome inimical forces.
But what inimical forces?
We cans see them just below his feet in the next slide…
Now let’s take a look at who Drakpochey is using his powers against
Here, you’re looking at a series of ten figures upon whom Drakpochey is trampling
They include three snake-tailed Naga-like figures, including one who has eyes all over his body
A blue naga-like figure looks straight up at Drakpochey, while a green-bodied figure to the right seems to look up, hands together, in submission
There are three smaller dark blue figures, and two naked figures, one light blue on the right, and one white on the left
And that gentleman in the red hat and the fancy red cloak?
The truth is – I don’t know who that is, but I have two hypotheses that I haven’t confirmed and so can’t share with you in detail
Suffice it to say that I think this is a historical figure with whom either Pema Lingpa or his 14th century predecessor Longchenpa had significant truck
If I can confirm either one, this small red-cloaked figure may hold the key to situating this visionary work in actual history, that is, in Time
Much in the same way that our Tashipel painting melds the visionary and the ordinary worlds
Concentrating them both in one painting that encompasses both ends of the visionary-ordinary spectrum
Now the power to defeat such formidable obstacles must itself be formidable, and so must itself be warded
That’s the function of the figures in the lower register of the painting
At the left you see a Red Heruka here ‘appointed’ as guardian, brandishing his vajra and scorpion to ward the terma
A similar red Heruka (which means ‘blood drinker’ in some Tibetan translations) appears on the right, this time in combination with his female counterpart
And in the center you see two dakini, “sky walkers” like Simhavaktra in our galleries, under whose auspices the mysterious script terma are written in can be decoded
Now their presence here is not unexpected at all, for Pema Lingpa’s main activities after recovering a “treasure” were twofold
In the first place, he would appoint guardians over the terma, like the Herukas on the left and right
In the second place, he would interact with dakini, “sky walkers,” to decode the terma treasures he found
So below the two dakini in the center of the painting, you see an example of terma script
It resembles classical Tibetan, but inverts and distorts letters so that none but those predestined to be tertons, like Pema Lingpa, can transcribe, decode and transmit them
From an art historian’s perspective, these Riwoche paintings are a dream come true
(actually, you could argue that same thing from a Buddhist perspective too, but that’s another talk)
Suffice it to say that once you start looking for these things, they start to come out of the woodwork
The images you see in this slide were published in Secret Visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama years ago, but were not treated as products of a distinct tradition in that volume
But by now you can see that it obviously belongs to the same corpus
Take a look at the two figures in the center
The first is Padmasambhava, again
The one just below him is another Terton, a generation older than Pema Lingpa, a guy who died right around when he was born, Ratna Lingpa (d. 1479)
All of this visionary history is quite interesting, but the question will obviously arise:
How might the teachings be transmitted beyond the discoverer in actual practice in the ordinary, so-called real world of name and form?
As it turns out, this question opens up a vast new field for exploration, and one that as far as I know is unique in the extant Himalayan art historical corpus
For along with the thangka itself, a whole set of smaller but definitely related objects have found their way into western collections
These objects are known as tsakali, or initiation cards
They typically feature a single deity, and are presented by the teacher to the student when the latter is “initiated” into the meditation on that deity
In this slide, you see one of my favorites, which was published years ago in Tibetan Rituals: Secret Visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama
It features someone you may know
This is Simhavaktra Dakini, looking perhaps even more terrifying than our own Simhavaktra in the Himalayan galleries
There are two important items of note about her
First, if you turn her over, you’ll be able to predict what you’ll see
Any guesses?
Yes, it’s that red-orange stupa, a Riwoche diagnostic
Second, note how you can see Simhavaktra the tskakali almost precisely reflects Simhavaktra in the thangka
So this means that the tsakali represents one member of the company or mandala depicted on the thanka
And now we might expect - if these various tsakali are components of a mandala, then it is likely that others of its kind exist
And when I started shaking the tree, this is what fell out:
And here you see four more examples of the exact same sort of tsakali we saw represented as Simhavaktra in the previous slide
Five of them - straight flush.
And in fact they are the key, for it is tsakali that would actually be used ‘on the ground’ to transmit visualization instructions from teacher to student
They are the practical means of transmitting complex visualization teachings through time
Not as a composite mandala painting,
But rather as components of a collapsible mandala that can be deployed and broken down at will
And as you can see, there is precedent for precisely such a card-configured mandala
Here, you see the Met’s recent installation of an older set of Tsakali
Which raises the interesting possibility of researching the entire mandala represented in the five tsakali known to me at present
Something that, given the scope of the corpus, could provide dramatic insights heretofore unavailable
With this rather optimistic assessment in mind, I’d like to sum up our findings today
We’ve gained insight into three different strata of Riwoche art, especially as represented in AAM masterworks
Which I’ve represented here
A 14th century horizon, a 16th century horizon, and a subsequent 17th century horizon
Which so far is NOT represented in our collection
A situation I would like to remedy as soon as possible
We’ve seen how these artworks functioned to transmit teachings and indeed identity down across temporal boundaries
From early direct lineages to mentally-discovered treasure texts
From reincarnating lamas to the visualized bodies of tantric adepts
Thangka art plays a critical role in visualization-oriented Vajrayana meditation
So the corpus allows us unprecedented, and literal, in-sight into the workings of the tradition, from its own perspective
What is more, from the scholarly or museum perspective, we are doing something pioneering
We aren’t merely uniting the components of a series of fragments
Given the scope of the corpus, almost ninety paintings, we have an unparalleled database of visionary art that unfold over time in a quite specific historical context at our fingertips
In fact, it a stimulating irony to me that we can do this kind of close art historical work only with the Taglung and Riwoche traditions
After all, the place is full of time travelers and telepathically-transmitted teachings set to put our plodding linear, rational, 3D minds into an apoplectic fit
But as Padmasambhava might say, perhaps that’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be!
