Item: Teacher (Lama) - Teacher

A Textual Research on the Kesi Thangka Portrait of Kongtang Lama Shang Collected in the Potala Palace

Dorje Rinchen Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University

The kesi thangka Portrait of Kongtang Lama Shang collected in the Potala Palace was first published in Tibetan Thangkas, a book compiled by the Cultural Relics Administration Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1985, and subsequently attracted widespread attention from the international academic community. The book identified the main deity of the kesi thangka as Kongtang Lama Shang (ཀོང་ཏང་བླ་མ་ཞང་ 1123–1193) and dated it to the late Song Dynasty, but provided no basis for these claims.

Regarding the weaving date of this kesi thangka, existing theories include the 13th-century Yuan Dynasty (Hangzhou origin), the Western Xia Dynasty (1032–1227), the 14th century, and the late Western Xia or Yuan Dynasty. These views are divergent and scattered in other studies; to date, there has been no special discussion on the iconographic identification, dating, and patrons of this kesi thangka.

Based on the inscriptions on the back of the kesi thangka, this paper confirms that the main deity is undoubtedly Kongtang Lama Shang, the founder of the Tsalpa Kagyu School. The inscriptions were written by Jampa Jungne (བྱམས་པ་འབྱུང་གནས་ 1414–1444), the 6th Desi (ruler) of the Phagmodrupa Dynasty and also known as the “King who Spreads Culture,” between 1432 and 1440.

Combined with early literary materials such as The Collected Works of Kongtang Lama Shang and The Biography of Kongtang Lama Shang, as well as iconographic materials of the same period, this paper verifies the following about the thangka: the row of lineage portraits on the right side depicts the lineage of the Six Dharmas of Naropa and Mahamudra that Lama Shang learned from his two root gurus—Dakpo Gompa Tsultrim Nyingpo (དྭགས་པོ་དགོན་པ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་སྙིང་པོ་ 1116–1169) and Malyerpa Wa Monlam Btsan (མ་ལྱེར་པ་དབའ་སྨོན་ལམ་བཙན་ 1105–1170); the left side shows the lineage of the Chakrasamvara Tantra that Lama Shang heard from the translator Ga Lotsawa Gyaltsen Pal (དགའ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ་); the lower row, from right to left, consists of the patron, Yellow Jambhala, Akshobhya Buddha, Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara, Vajrasattva, Four-Armed Mahakala (transmitted by Tsalpa Kagyu), and Raven-Faced Dharma Protector.

The patron of this kesi thangka should be Jaya Lungpa Chokyi Senge (also known as Drapa Senge; འབྲས་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེང་གེ་), a disciple of Lama Shang who once served as a state preceptor of the Western Xia Dynasty. He dedicated this thangka to Tsal Gunthang Monastery in 1216.

Dorje Rinchen 9-2025

Thematic Sets
Teachers: Early Paintings of Teachers (Indian Style)
Teachers: Early Teachers (Right Facing)
Teachers: Early Teachers (Single Figures)
Painting Style: Indian (11th to 13th century)
Textile: Masterworks (纺织品, འཐག་དྲུབ་མ།)