King: Qianlong Emperor (with Famous Teachers. Circular Format)
Qianlong Field of AccumulationCircling the Qianlong Emperor is an assortment of eighteen or more famous teachers of India and Tibet. At the top right and left sides are Asanga and Nagarjuna with students, followed by Marpa and Milarepa, Atisha and Dromton, Sakya Pandita and the original Panchen Lama incarnations. In some examples Tsongkapa is at the top of the circle and in other examples it is the Panchen Lama with Tsongkapa depicted above that.
Five of the examples below present the essential figurative components of a Refuge Field (Field for the Accumulation of Merit) in circular spheres or formations following a Traditional Buddhist hierarchy. A single example below (HAR #9926) presents the different hierarchic groups in a floating figure composition occupying certain zones or quadrants of the painting without the addition of circles or spheres.
Traditional Hierarchy (in descending order):
(1) Guru (center, Qianlong Emperor)
(2) Buddha (top of composition)
(3) Ishtadevata/Meditational Deity (top of composition, right or left)
(4) Bodhisattva (upper composition)
(5) Arhat/Pratyekabuddha/Sthavira (upper composition, right or left)
(6) Daka/Dakini (lower, right or left)
(7) Protector Deity (lower composition)
(8) Wealth Deity (bottom of composition)
(9) Four Guardian Kings (bottom of composition)
(10) Worldly Gods of the Indian Pantheon (bottom of composition)
Jeff Watt, 10-2026
