Images of Nyening Monastery have been added. The images belong to the Sarah Richardson Photographic Archive. Nyening, located a short distance South of Gyantse Town, is counted as one of the very early monasteries of Tibet. It is located on an important trade route that connects the Gyantse Valley to Nepal and India in the South.
Images of Lhasa, Central Tibet, have been added. The images belong to the Sarah Richardson Photographic Archive. At this time the images are only catalogued as 'Lhasa' without having been divided into their individual Lhasa locations.
Additional images have been added to the Art Depicted in Art Paintings Page. Look carefully to find the specific art in art image in this Milarepa Life Story painting.
Images of Ngari, West Tibet are primarily architectural and show the locations of some of the more common towns, temples and cave complexes. The images belong to the Sarah Richardson Photographic Archive. At this time the images of West Tibet from various sources are not fully developed or organized on the HAR website. Cataloguing of the images is forthcoming.
Images of Lhakang Chenmo Monastery, along with architectural elements and mural paintings, have been added to the HAR site courtesy of the Sarah Richardson Photographic Archive. Lhakang Chenmo Monastery, located in Tsang, was the largest building in Tibet prior to the construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. It is the principal monastic seat of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and continues to this day as a thriving academic center. Sakya Town is also the hereditary home of the Khon family, the spiritual leaders of the Sakya Tradition. The monastery itself is contained within giant fortress like walls. Inside the complex stands the main temple along with many other buildings serving different functions.
Images of Samye Monastery have been added to the site courtesy of the Sarah Richardson Photographic Archive. Samye Monastery, located in central Tibet, is regarded as the first Buddhist monastery to be built in Tibet. From approximately the time of Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) the monastery has been under the administration of the Sakya Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Diagrammatic Art is art, primarily paintings and murals, intended to convey large amounts of highly structured and codified information to the viewer. The principal topics of Diagrammatic art are:
1. Mandalas
2. Charts, Astrological
3. Charts, Medical
4. Charts, Body Mandala
5. Charts, Yantra
6. Hands & Footprints
7. Refuge Field
8. Wheel of Life
9. Cityscape
10. Offering Paintings
11. Didactic, Miscellaneous
One of the most interesting diagrammatic works in the didactic category is a painted illustration of the Bon teachings explaining Dzogchen philosophy and training.
Images of Tsurphu Monastery have been added to the site courtesy of the Sarah Richardson Photographic Archive. Tsurphu Monastery, located in central Tibet, is the principal monastery of the Gyalwa Karmapa, the head Lama of the Karma Kamtsang Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism (also known as the Karma Kagyu).
Gyajin Pehar is one of the Five forms of Gyalpo Pehar. He represents the mind aspect and is typically depicted as blue in colur and riding an elephant. From among the group of five forms the Activity Pehar is the form most commonly found portrayed as the central figure in paintings and commonly found as a sculpture. Gyajin is the only other form to be depicted as the center of the group. Sometimes sets of five compositions are painted - one composition for each of the five Pehar forms.
The Five Gyalpo Pehar (Kings) of the Terma (Treasure) Lineage of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism are worldly protector deities. Although only a single deity, Pehar has five forms representing body, speech, mind, quality and activity. Each of the five has a different appearance. The most common form to appear in art is Activity Pehar with three faces, six arms, white in colour and riding a lion.
Gods & Deities are a common feature of Tantric Buddhism. What are they exactly? Who are they and where do they come from? This is a big question in Tibetan Buddhism and subsequently it is important to understand. Deities make up a large percentage of the iconography in painting, sculpture and more importantly meditation practice. Initially the most important thing to learn is that the terms 'god' and 'deity' are used interchangeably with no real intended difference in meaning. (This page on Gods & Deities is a work in progress).
There are many different types and styles of paintings. A noticeable feature of Himalayan art are the various back ground colours that can be found. There are Four Types of Ground Colour. The standard and most common type is the multi-coloured.
There are three further types of ground colour, black, gold and red, in this order, according to the time when each began to be used. The multi or variously coloured paintings are by far the more common in the Himalayan and Tibetan cultural regions. The other three colours are used to invoke mood and emotion. Black is for caution, fear and protection. Gold is for wealth, wonder and opulence. Red is for alarm, power, and resolve.
These images depict known sculpture appearing in paintings such as the Shakyamuni Buddha sculpture in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet, and the famous Sandalwood Shakyamuni Buddha in Beijing, China. The whereabouts of the Sandalwood Buddha are not currently known. Other famous sculpture are the Pagpa of Kyirong and the Three Lords of Ngari.
Torma (Tibetan: tor ma. Sanskrit: ba lim ta): torma are cone shaped ritual food offerings, generally made from flour dough, sculpted into a variety of shapes and sizes, coloured and then adorned with flat circular 'buttons' made from butter.
Have a look at the process and finished product of this unique ritual art form practiced by Bon religious followers of Tibet and the Himalayan regions. "Preparing tormas for the end-of-year Phurpa rites, at Triten Norbutse Bon Monastery, Kathmandu."
Purba Drugse Chempa is one of the principal meditational deities of the Yungdrung Bon Religion. The standard form has three faces and six hands, wrathful in appearance, embracing a consort, and the lower body in the shape of a dagger-like peg.
The Mandala Roof Balcony of Lhakang Chenmo Monastery, Sakya Town, Tibet, is located on the 2nd to top floor and faces in towards the central open courtyard below. The mandala paintings are subject to a tremendous degree of weathering because they are exposed to the elements with only a roof above them. The subjects of the mandalas follow closely to the iconographic programs of the Shalu and Gyantse Monasteries.
The Main Temple of Lhakang Chenmo Monastery, Sakya Town, Tibet. This set of images is still very large and needs to be divided into smaller groupings of images. The labeling will take some time to complete. The famous Temple Pillars have already been divided into a separate grouping.
The Bamo Lhakang Temple is located on the outer wall of the Lhakang Chenmo Monastery in the north-west corner tower. The various rooms contain a number of clay sculpture of famous Throne Holders of Sakya. The remaining rooms and confusing corridors house small protector chapels for the Three Witches (Bamo) of Sakya. The numerous wall towers of Lhakang Chenmo also serve as residences for senior monks and abbots.
This is a great introductory article describing the phallic art of Bhutan. The name of the article is "In Bhutan, friendly phalluses painted on houses scare off evil spirits (NSFW)".
The custom of painting phallic imagery on the outside walls of Bhutanese homes is believed to ward off negative spirits and protect against obstacles. Although the origins of the practice in Bhutan are generally attributed to an eccentric teacher named Drugpa Kunleg, it is more likely that the custom is far older and related to folk culture and marital customs.
The Himalayan Art Resources team have been asked to write a series of introductory postings on Buddhist iconography for the Tricycle Magazine Blog. See below for more information and links.
"Buddhist practice and Buddhist art have been inseparable in the Himalayas ever since Buddhism arrived to the region in the eighth century. But for the casual observer it can be difficult to make sense of the complex iconography. Not to worry—Himalayan art scholar Jeff Watt is here to help. In this "Himalayan Buddhist Art 101" series, Jeff will make sense of this rich artistic tradition by presenting a weekly image from the Himalayan Art Resources archives and explaining its role in the Buddhist tradition." (Tricycle Blog).
The First Five Topics are Listed Below:
- Calm Abiding 5, April 2012
- Buddhas 12, April 2012
- Bodhisattvas 19, April, 2012
- Mandalas 26, April 2012
- Mandalas Part II 3, May 2012
Repeated images surrounding a central figure are common in Himalayan and Tibetan art. The images of paintings found on this page are only a selection from some of the larger museum collections on the HAR website.
The central subject can be almost any figure, a buddha, deity, or teacher. The surrounding subject can also be a repeat of the central subject or another figurative subject. The consistency is in the surrounding figures all being the same. Sometimes each figure is drawn individually by hand but more often the figures are created from a wood block stamping the outline of a number of figures at the same time or some other such mold to replicate the outline of a large number of images quickly and then painted to a greater or lesser degree.
The purpose of such paintings is to create large numbers of the same subject or deity. This in turn multiplies the amount of merit from creating a single holy image to a hundred-fold amount of merit from creating a hundred auspicious images.
