Page 65 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art IRVING collection Sept 24 2020 NYC

lotus-style hats, particular to Nyingma convention. Padmasambhava, one of It is, therefore, likely that the meditation script associated with the present five
the original progenitors of Vajrayana in Tibet, and Yeshe Tsogyel, considered images is embedded somewhere within the great compendium of Nyingma
the Mother of Tibetan Buddhism, are depicted in the upper right and bottom teachings known as the Rinchen Terdzo. The invaluable compendium
left corners of the Vairochana composition (Padmasambhava is identified contains thousands of teachings, mostly terma, passed down by Nyingma
by the vulture feather atop his hat and Yeshe Tsogyel, merely by her female teachers over the course of centuries. Tibetan polymath Jamgon Kongtrul
identity). The two other Nyingma teachers depicted herein hold vessels that Lodro Thaye (1813-1899) assembled the collection near the end of the
indicate their status as treasure revealers: the figure in the upper right holds a 19th century. Figures depicted in the compositions of Ratnasambhava,
vessel in the Akshobhya composition and one of the figures along the bottom Amoghasiddhi, and Amitayus—such as the muni or sages in the upper
register holds one within the painting of Ratnasambhava. corners, the offering goddesses and bodhisattvas floating within their
The teachings depicted here are, therefore, a 'discovered treasure' or terma. rainbow aureoles, and the wrathful protectors along the bottom register—
Terma, some of which were literally said to have been buried in the ground, can be found within existing sets of initiation cards for the Rinchen Terdzo,
were discovered by the most advanced teachers. Many are believed to have by which practitioners are introduced to all of the aspects of the tantras and
been buried by Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyel in an effort to protect the meditation manuals within.
Dharma for posterity. Each terma text recounts the history of its discovery.
While some are found in physical form, others are discovered or directly
transmitted to advanced practitioners in a state of meditation. The terma
may also be held in the mind of the terton, only to be revealed by a future
incarnation or trul-ku.

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