Page 97 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

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Although the Tibetans emulated these authentic Indian styles, much of these
iconographic and stylistic adaptions were employed as support for a growing
monastic culture where the hierarch and his lineage were of dominating
importance. Such a period included the founding of many, potentially hundreds
of monasteries of great diversity at the time. All these nascent institutions were
simultaneously putting emphasis on the role of the teacher as a point of reference
for their ability to convey the authentic Buddhist teachings. Thus, depictions of
great lamas portrayed in a hieratic scale of proportions alongside their spiritual
lineages, as depicted here, “...illustrate the link between a teacher and an unbroken
line of respected spiritual authorities, whose roots, ideally derived from the
much revered Indian masters (ibid, 1998, p. 14).” Such empowering imagery of
monumentally sized lamas painted with emblems of their spiritual enlightenment in
conflation with those of the Buddha, not only detail an emerging Buddhist culture
linked to their Indian lineage, but also one where the Tibetan master manifests as
the source of enlightenment itself.

IMAGES OF DEVOTION | 95
THE RICHARD C. BLUM AND SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN COLLECTION OF HIMALA Y AN AR T | 95