Page 30 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

episodes in the career of the subject, thus locating the Vajradhara.Similarly, artists almost always painted the
event in the historical or legendary past. We could call composition of the sixteen arhats around the central
such thangkas "narrative paintings." figure of the Buddha Sakyamuni. This composition
Some narrative thangkas portray a succession of would also include the two main disciples of the
notable events in the life of an enlightened one or saint. Buddha, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana, the two com-
Examples include thangkas of the twelve great deeds of panions of the arhats, Hwa-shang and Dharmatala, and
the Buddha and of the important events in the life of the four Lokap3.las, the great guardian kings of the
Milarepa. Such paintings could be called "biographical". four directions.
The subjects need not always be events in the life of a Other examples of a fixed grouping with a main
historical personage. A thangka showing episodes from figure and retinue are found in paintings involving
the epic cycle of King Gesar of Ling would also consti- . Padmasambhava. He is sometimes depicted as one of
tute a biographical thangka. three figures: the Dharmakaya Samantabhadra (chos-sku
Another type of narrative thangka is that which kun-tu-bzang-po), the Sambhogakaya Vajrasattva
portrays events from a succession of the past lives of (longs-sku rdo-rje-sems-dpa '), and the Nirmal).akaya
some great being. Outstanding events in the past life- Padmasambhava (sprul-sku padma- 'byung-gnas). The
times of Sakyamuni as set down in the JeLtaka tales great master Padmasambhava is also shown together with
(skyes rabs) were sometimes the subject of paintings. All a retinue of his twenty-six main disciples. Another
types of narrative paintings could be painted either as grouping depicted him in eight famous manifestations.
single works or as a series of compositions each of which Furthermore there existed a famous set of block-prints
depicted one or many events. In paintings that portrayed depicting all twenty'six disciples in combination with
several episodes the episodes were separated from each the eight manifestations.
other by walls or boundaries, or by empty spaces in the
landscape. Some single paintings depicted only one
Mal}rj.alas
episode from the life of a saint, such as the meeting of
Milarepa with the hunter. In such paintings the main The example par excellence of the fixed com-
figure was commonly portrayed in a more realistic position involving a main figure with retinue was the
manner, placed (as far as the style permitted) within mal).~ala. The symbolism of a mal)dala is complex, but
an almost three-dimensional landscape 2 When drawing essentially the form depicts a coherent group of deities
such episodes from a saint's life the artist generally had seated symmetrically around a main central figure
a greater amount of compositional freedom. within the ground-plan of a divine mansion. The
The remaining types of rten thangkas are those mal).~ala represents the citadel of enlightenment, por-
that portray the sacred figures in their general aspect traying it as a dynamic integration of complementary
within a pure realm, and not as actors in a particular aspects and energies. Mal).~ala paintings on cloth
situation. The simplest of such compositions merely supports were sometimes made up into thangkas and
consists of a single figure placed in the middle of a framed in brocades in the usual way, but in Vajrayana
background. Here the only differences in composition consecration rituals and in certain other rituals and
between similar paintings derive from the varying meditational practices they were more commonly used
complexity of the backgrounds. But when the compo- unframed.
sition consists of many sacred figures, another
distinction has to be made. Some paintings depict figures A Main Figure in its Pure Realm
whose identities and positions are iconographically Another type of composition consisting of a chief
prescribed. But distinct from those' there are also many figure with a retinue showed the main figure in his or
paintings in which the needs or wishes of the patron her special pure realm. In general, the idealized back-
determined the selection and placement of the particular grounds of most thangkas and murals were meant to
figures. portray the physical surroundings of a Buddha field or
pure realm (dag pa'i zhing khams). However, in some
compositions the artist made a special effort to depict
Established Groupings a specific realm. Amita bha and AvalokiteSvara were
commonly painted as if in the realm of SukhavatL Pad-
Among the compositions that consisted of a fixed masambhava often appears on his famous copper-
grouping, most possessed a main figure (gtso bo) and a coloured mountain (zangs mdog dpal gyi ri), and the
"retinue" or group of lesser figures ('khor). Some kings of Sambhala are also portrayed in their own
paintings, however, depicted groups with no main special domain.
figure, showing each figure as an equal of the others.
The eighty-four siddhas, the thirty-five Buddhas of Repetitive Depictions
confession, and the sixteen "arhats" could be painted One of the most straightforward types of com-
in the latter way, although they could also be combined position also involved a large number of figures. These
with a main figure or with some other groupings. The compositions consisted 9f a central main figure
eighty-four Mahasiddhas, for example, could be painted surrounded by many smaller identical figures, although
around the central and main figure of the Buddha sometimes the surrounding figures would be another

26 COMPOSITION