Page 47 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Notes

1. One authority who classified temples as sku rten
was Bo-dong Pal).-chen. See -his Rten gsum bzhengs
tshul bstan bcos lugs bshad pa, Collected Works,
vo1.2, p.332.5.
2. See also Gerasimova, "Compositional Structure",
pA8.

3. The classifications "refuge tree" and "assembly
field" are not mutually exclusive. Here they have
been distinguished merely on formal grounds.
Refuge trees can function as assembly fields, and
vice versa. Refuge trees for instance are "assembly
fields to which one goes for refuge" (skyabs su 'gro
ba'i tshogs zhing).

4. We have seen a photograph of a rare Sa-skya-pa
tshogs zhing, painted by the father of Legdrup
Gyatsho at 'Phen-po Nalendra. The central figure
was Sa-skya Pal).~ita. Refuge-tree paintings were
also relatively uncommon among the Sa-skya-pa in
Tibet, although the visualization itself was standard.

5. The term 'dod lha ("desired deity" or "chosen
deity") for deities placed in a thangka according
to individual preference is also attested in Tibetan
literature. See for example Zhu-chen Tshul-khrims-
rin-chen, Chos smra ba'i bande tshul khrims rin
chen du bod pa'i skye ba phal pa 'i rkang 'thung dge
sdig 'dres ma'i las kyi yal ga phan tshun du 'dzings
par bde sdug gi 10 'dab dus kyi rgyal mos res mos su
bsgyur ba. The Autobiography of Tshul-khrims-
r.in-chen of Sde-dge and Other of His Selected
Writings (New Delhi, 1971), pp.331.4.; 546.2.

6. An early thangka that was not in exact agreement
with the hierarchical ordering outlined above is
described in a biographical sketch of Nag-tsho
10-tsa-ba Tshul-khrims-rgyal-ba (fl. lIth century).
See Khetsun Sangpo, Biographical Dictionary of
Tibet (Dharamsa1a, 1973-), vo1.5, p.9. The story
is related of how Nag-tsho lo-tsa-ba commissioned
an Indian master painter named Kr~l).a to paint a
large thangka with Jo-bo-rje Atisa as its main figure.
According to this account, at the top of the thangka
the yi-dams of Atisa were portrayed, and beneath
them were painted Atisa's twelve main gurus. The
image of Atisa himself was in the center, with an
attendant depicted both to his right and to his left.
On the outer right and left edges the painter por-
trayed the main events in Atisa's life. Beneath the
great master were painted the major Tibetan
disciples of Atisa, including Khu, 'Brom and Rngog,
all shown as if studying in a religious school.
Finally, beneath all of them, Nag-tsho 10-tsa-ba
himself was pictured in a pose of reverent, suppli-
cation.
7. The description of this design given in our English
caption in Chogay Trichen, Thubten Legshay
Gyatsho, Gateway to the Temple (Kathmandu,
1979) p.53, contained some mistakes, here
corrected.

NOTES CHAPTER 3 43