A glossary of Gesar terms specifically related to the art has been added to the Gesar pages. Epic Literature Gesar is a very large subject with a huge vocabulary of specialized terms and unique names. Luckily for the student studying Ritual Gesar, and the many visual forms, the unique vocabulary is much less daunting and easier to manage.

A new glossary briefly describing and linking the main Buddhist Protectors has been added to the site. The Buddhist Protectors Outline Page has been updated.

Links:

Protectors Glossary

Buddhist Protectors Outline Page

The Glossary Page has been updated with more links. There are now eleven (11) specialty glossaries listed at the top of the page.

The glossary page Painting Sets Index/Glossary has been updated with the names and links for the painting sets belonging to the Bon Religion which were inadvertantly left off of the original list.

Sets of Paintings account for at least half or more of all Himalayan and Tibetan painted compositions making sets a unique feature of Himalayan Style Art. Sets can be divided between four major subject types: [1] Life Story, [2] Teaching Lineages, [3] Incarnation Lineages, and [4] Miscellaneous Subjects. This last group can be divided into three subsets: [4a] Mytho-historical Teachers, [4b] Deity Sets and [4c] Miscellaneous Subjects (medical sets, astrology, historical, etc.).

Painting Sets Index/Glossary Page. Also located at the top of the main Glossary Page.

Painting sets account for at least half or more of all Himalayan and Tibetan painted compositions making sets a unique feature of Himalayan Art. Sets can be divided between four major subject types: [1] Life Story, [2] Teaching Lineages, [3] Incarnation Lineages, and [4] Miscellaneous Subjects. This last group can be divided into three subsets: [4a] Mytho-historical Teachers, [4b] Deity Sets and [4c] Miscellaneous Subjects (medical sets, astrology, history, etc.).

[1] The most commonplace and famous of the sets of paintings are Shakyamuni Buddhas & the Sixteen Great Arhats, followed by the Buddha's Life-story, Previous Life-stories (jataka) and Teaching Stories (avadana). The life-story of Padmasambhava condensed into the Eight Forms, along with the Milarepa and Tsongkapa life stories are also quite common.

[2] The Teaching Lineage painting sets of the Sakya Lamdre (Margapala) and the Karma Kagyu Mahamudra Lineages (sertreng) are the most common.

[3] For the Incarnation Lineage painting sets the Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama and Jonang Taranata are the most common.

[4] Miscellaneous Subjects include Shakyamuni Buddha & Sixteen Great Arhats, Six Ornaments & Two Excellent Ones, Eighty-four Mahasiddhas, Twenty-one Taras, Vajravali Deity set, Sarvadurgati Parishodhana, Four Transcendent Lords, Twelve Ritual Deities, etc.

The main Mandala Outline Page has been updated and several new detailed and expanded mandala outlines have been created. A new Mandala Technical Glossary has been added to the site. It can be found on the Glossary Page or found linked to the various mandala pages and outlines.


Mandala Art Topics Outline
Mandala: Sets & Traditions Outline
What are Mandalas?
Mandala-like Circular Forms Outline
Mandala Technical Glossary

A Google Search Box has been added to the top right of the HAR Blog Page and to the Advanced Search Page. The HAR Home Page is in the process of being re-designed and simplified. When it is finished it will include the Google Search as well.

The navigation menu that appears on the left side of most pages has been re-ordered and includes more choices. Content from some pages has been moved to the Introduction Page. The About Us Page has been simplified. The new pages called Art History and Iconography are still being worked on so please have patience for now.

The Function & Relationships Guide/Glossary has been doubled in size and all of the links are slowly being added. We will now begin to annotate the entries. If you think that we have left things off the list then please let us know.

A new glossary has been added to the Main Glossary and the Glossary Resources Links Page of HAR. The new Function & Relationships Guide is primarily iconographic. It relates various activities, functions and concepts to the different deities represented in the art. There are some references to people included especially where the unique or particular function characterizes that person, such as Milarepa with song, Tangtong Gyalpo with theatre and iron working, and Drugpa Kunleg as a joker and trickster. The glossary will be annotated over the next few weeks.

Seven glossaries on the site with more on the way: the Main Glossary has been updated and the Caution Words and Buddha Names were both updated recently.

1.Himalayan Art Resources Main Glossary: a general glossary of common Himalayan 'Style' Art terms, both technical and general.

2. Animal Relationships Guide/Glossary: a simple list intended to directly reference the different types of animals depicted in art and iconography to the important deity subjects and symbol sets.

3. Bon Religion & Culture Technical Glossary: a glossary sensitive to the subtleties of the Bon religion, iconography and unique terminology.

4. Buddha Names Glossary: a list and description of the numerous Buddhas that are depicted in Himalayan art.

5. Caution Words & Sensitive Subjects: mistakes from the past, sloppy iconography, sensitive and political subjects, terminology, definitions, etc.

6. Function & Relationships Guide/Glossary: linking up the functions, activities and concepts to the principal deities, gods and figures in Himalayan art.

7. Mahasiddha Technical Glossary: most of what you need to know in order to understand the subject of mahasiddhas.

There has been a lot going on with the HAR site but it is mostly behind the scenes or additions to the various thematic and subject sets. This happens too often to notify everybody every time a small change is made. The Animal Relationships Guide/Glossary has been added to the Links/Glossary Resources Page. Now all of the glossaries are together. It has also been annotated with a few remaining entries still to add. The Jataka Animal Guide is still in process.

The HAR staff have been busy with cataloging several new museum collections to be uploaded to the site in the near future. Once we photograph an art collection, or receive digital images, it takes time and work to organize, number, upload and catalog. Currently we have approximately 10,000 images from scores of collections to be cataloged and uploaded. Deciding how to prioritize those collections is one of our ongoing challenges, a challenge we are grateful to have.