Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Refuge Field (Buddhist) - Gelug Lineage

སྐྱབས་འགྲོའི་ཞིང་ངམ་ཚོགས་ཞིང་། 皈依境(佛教)
(item no. 24073)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1800 - 1899
Lineages Gelug and Buddhist
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Private
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Object/Concept

Interpretation / Description

Tsongkapa: surrounded by lineage teachers above and to the sides with meditational deities and protectors below - the Field for the Accumulation of Merit (Tib.: tsog shing). (See the Gelug Refuge Field Main Page).

Tibetan: Tsog shing Tibetan: Lama Tsongkapa

At the center is Tsongkapa with students depicted below followed in descending order by 1. meditational deities, 2. Buddhas, 3. bodhisattvas, 4. pratyeka buddhas, 5. arhats, 6. dakas and dakinis, 7. wisdom protector deities and 8. worldly protector deities.

Above Tsongkapa are a number of figures representing the abbreviated Indian and Tibetan teacher lineages of Tantric practices that were transmitted to Tsongkapa.

In the cloud cluster to the middle left side is Maityreya and the teacher lineage of the Yogachara school of Indian Buddhist philosophy. In thew cloud cluster to the right is Manjushri and the teacher lineage for the Madyamaka philosophical system.

Jeff Watt 2-2016

Related Items
Thematic Sets
Collection: Christie's, New York (Painting. March, 2016)
Subject: Refuge Field, Gelug (Main Page)
Subject: Refuge Field, Gelug (Tsongkapa)
Subject: Refuge Field Masterworks
Teacher: Tsongkapa Iconography