The Puntsog Podrang (Palace) Stupa Room houses the remains of a number of Sakya Tridzins and important teachers of the Puntsog Podrang branch of the Khon family of Sakya. Most of the bodies are sealed inside the many stupas. The room is located on a second floor of the main Lhakang Chenmo Temple, Sakya Town, Tibet.

There are six principle texts belonging to the Yoga Tantra Classification. Most of the texts only have one or two associated mandalas, however the Sarva Durgati Parishodhana has twelve mandalas. The Namasangiti Tantra is known for having seven principal mandalas of Manjushri.

Yoga Tantra Texts:
- Sarvatatagata Tattvasamgraha Nama Mayahana Sutra [Toh 479] Vajradhatu Mandala, Trailokyavijaya Mandala
- Vajrashekhara Mahaguhya Yogatantra [Toh 480]
- Shri Paramadya Samkshipta Kula Mandala [Toh 487] Vajrasattva Mandala 1, Vajrasattva Mandala 2
- Sarvadurgati Parishodhana Tejorajasya Tatagatasya Arhato Samyaksambuddhasya Kalpaikadesha Nama [Toh 483]
- Sarvadurgati Parishodhana Tejorajasya Tatagatasya Arhato Samyaksambuddhasya Kalpa Nama [Toh 485]
- Manjushri Jnanasattvasya Paramarta Namasangiti [Toh 360] Dharmadhatu Vagishvara, Samkshiptakula Guhyaka Manjushri

The Charya Tantra Classification System, although following the same basic Kriya classification of the Three Buddha Families, has very few actual texts and even fewer deities or mandalas. Further to that, not all of the Tibetan Traditions agree on the text titles found under Charya Tantra classification. The Sakya Tradition includes The Manjushri Mulakalpa and Siddhaikavira Tantras as Charya. Most of the other Tibetan Buddhist schools do not. There is variation between the different Tibetan Tantra classification systems based mostly on three points: [1] how the Tantric literature classifies itself, [2] chronological time period, and [3] later religious traditions.

Charya Tantras:
1. Tatagata Family:
- Maha Vairochana Abhisambhodi Tantra [Toh 494]
- Manjushri Mula Kalpa [p102]
- Siddhaikavira Tantra [p103]

2. Padma Family:
(There are no texts translated from an Indian language into Tibetan from this classification)

3. Vajra Family:
- Vajrapani Abhisheka Tantra [Toh 496]
- Nilambaradhara Vajrapani Tantra [Toh 498]
- Vajrapatala Tantra [Toh 499]

The Three Lords constitute the second level of deity classification according to the Kriya Tantra system. At the top level of classification are the Three Buddhas: Shakyamuni, Amitabha, and Akshobhya who are the heads of the Three Buddha Families - Tatagata, Padma and Vajra. In the Kriya system there are as many as eight levels of deity classification for each of the Three Families: 1. Buddha of the Family, 2. Lord of the Family, 3. Mother of the Family, 4. Ushnisha of the Family, 5. Wrathful Deity of the Family, 6. Messengers of the Family, 7. Bodhisattvas of the Family, and 8. Nagas & Yakshas of the Family.

The Three Lords of the World (Bodhisattva): Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani.

Note that the Three Lords: Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani are not protector deities. In many non-Tibetan publications it is common to see the Three Lords mistakenly referred to as Protectors. The confusion is based on the Tibetan word 'gonpo' meaning 'lord' which is also used as a term for the class of Mahakala deities and others. The confusion also arises from Tibetan and Himalayan folk culture where a cairn is located at the entrance to a village and referred to as the shrine of the 'Gonpo Sum' - Three Lords (protectors). The village shrines most likely predate Buddhism and were originally unrelated to the Three Lords of Tantric Buddhism.

The Tantra Classifications page has been updated along with the sub-pages. More work still needs to be done making this a work in-progress.

Tantra Classification: in Vajrayana Buddhism there are different ways of enumerating, cataloguing and categorizing the many different texts in Tantra literature. Several different systems made their way to the Himalayas and Tibet. At the present time there are two principal systems in use, the Nyingma and the Sarma. The Tibetan word Nyingma literally means old traditions of Tantra and Sarma means the new traditions of Tantra. The new Tantra traditions are composed of the Kadampa, Sakya, Marpa Kagyu, Shangpa Kagyu, Pacifying of Padampa Sanggye, Jonang and the Rwa Tradition. The Gelug Tradition was not included amongst these formative traditions because it was not in direct receipt of any of the tantric traditions from India but was a later synthesis of the already mentioned traditions in Tibet.

The Greyscale Main Page for Figurative and General Subjects has been updated with many new additions.

On the catalogue page for each of the images is a secondary image that is greyscaled (sometimes coloured) and numbered allowing for easy identification of all of the figures in the composition. So far only a small selection of paintings in the collection have had the greyscale and numbering treatment however more are being added all the time. 

Shakyamuni Buddha and depictions of the fifteen miracles at Shravasti. According to the life story of Shakyamuni Buddha he once stayed at Shravasti in Northern India and over the course of fifteen days performed fifteen miracles or magical displays. Generally paintings of the miracles are included in the sets of paintings depicting the life story. There is some evidence that suggests that on occasion the Fifteen Miracles may have been treated as a separate topic from the general life story and painted separately.

Paintings:
- Life Story Painting (painting set)
- Life Story Block Print (from a block print set)
- Life Story Painting (painting set)
- Three Miracles (Fifteen) (from a set of fifteen miracles)
- Fifteen Miracles (from a set of block prints)
- Others....

This painting depicts the 7th Dalai Lama Kalzang Gyatso (1708-1757). The composition belongs to a set of likely seven paintings depicting secret Tantric practices. At this time, this composition is the only known example from the full set of paintings (see detail images). There are several other known sets with the same identical composition. The most complete set is in the collection of Tibet House, New Delhi.

It is believed that the central figure is Kalzang Gyatso, the 7th Dalai Lama surrounded by siddha figures and Tantric symbolism. The entire set of seven paintings must be understood as a whole to be able to understand individual compositions such as this painting.

According to the Tibet House painting set the known images and compositions are:
1. Avalokiteshvara
2. Kalzang Gyatso
3. Kalzang Gyatso (?)
4. Siddha Figure (Kalzang Gyatso?)
5. Chakrasamvara Meditational Deity
6. Kalachakra Meditational Deity
7. (Unknown subject)

Surrounding the figure of Kalzang Gyatso there are two sets of eight siddha figures. The outer eight siddhas are named along with the names of eight sacred locations known as a pita (pitha). There are twenty-four & thirty-two sacred pitas in India that are associated with Tantric places of worship. The twenty-four locations are also code names for twenty-four points in the physical body of the Tantric practitioner - the Body Mandala. Two of the other paintings in the complete set have an additional eight siddhas per painting accounting for the remaining sixteen sacred pitas of India (see the Kalachakra and Siddha figure paintings).

The eight siddhas inhabiting the inner rocky enclosure do not have any name inscriptions and remain unidentified.

In front of the throne seat is a table with various offerings arranged which include the five meats, alcohol and a large white 'torma' - ritual food offering. The five goddesses in dancing postures located at the lower front are the Sense Offering Goddesses representing [1] touch, [2] smell, [3] sight, [4] sound, and [5] taste. (See the numbered image).

There are a number of hidden images placed in the composition. How many can you find?

The Bhutan Main Page has been updated with many new site locations, write-ups and images - murals, painting, sculpture and architecture. 
Ariana Maki Photographic Archive (Bhutan):
- Bumthang Tang Mebartsho
- Bumthang Ura Dzong
- Chendebji Chorten Trongsa
- Gangtey Gonpa Wangdue Phodrang
- Paro Chumphu
- Paro Dzong
- Paro Gorinang
- Paro Shrine
- Taktsang
- Third King Chorten Thimphu
- Miscellaneous
- Miscellaneous 2
- Bumthang Chamkhar Tamzhing
- Paro Dzongdrakha
- Paro Kyichu
- Paro Thongdrol
- Thimphu Chang Gankha Lhakhang
- Thimphu Tango Shedra

Padmasambhava life story paintings can be found in sets of compositions, often nine in number, or they can be found as wall murals in temples. It is very common to find sets depicting the principal form of Padmasambhava along with the Eight Forms, or manifestations, in single compositions.

It is not all that common to find Padmasambhava life story paintings and the Eight Forms in a single composition. On this page there are three individual paintings and one image of a partial wall mural depicting the life story and Eight Forms. Two of the images are from Tibet and two are from Bhutan.

The most detailed of the images is HAR #90161. The painting has some damage but the integrity and beauty of the painting and creativity of the artist has not been lost. The over-all composition is wonderful but the true magnificence of the painting is in the details. The composition of the painting is also unique because the Eight Forms follow the chronology of events in the story where as the other three images on the page do not.

It has become, over the last several hundred years, the artistic convention to arrange the Eight Forms of Padmasambhava according to iconographic hierarchy rather than to follow the strict chronology of the life story. Typically the celestial forms of Padmasambhava appear at the top, followed by the earthly forms and lastly the two wrathful forms at the bottom left and right of a composition.