Page 151 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

the widespread 125-sor tantric system described 3. Sde-srid, vol. I, p.621. An earlier Tibetan to describe
above. 29 The main iconometric system of Tibetan a Buddha proportion of other than 125 sor was
authors thus agreed with the tantras and their commen- Bo-dong Pa~-chen. See below, note 17. For Bo-dong
the other proportion was not prescribed, but only a
taries, and not with the four iconometric treatises in
possible alternative to the systems of the Kiilacakra
the Tanjur.
and Samvarodaya.
4. For an 18th-century example of a 120-sor Buddha
Non-Scriptural Sources on Iconometry see the illustration in the iconometric treatise of
Mgon-po-skyabs, Chinese Tripi!aka, Taisho no.1419,
Finally, it is worth noting that some later Tibetan p.939. More recent examples of 120-sor Buddhas
writers on iconometry stressed that a number of are found in Pallis, following p.334, and B. C.
proportional classes had no demonstrable origins in the Olschak, Mystic Art of Ancient Tibet (New York,
tantras themselves. The more recent Khams-pa scholar 1973), p.13.
Rong-tha Blo-bzang-dam-chos-rgya-mtsho (1863-1917),
for instance, asserted in his text on iconometry that the 5. Zhu-chen, Chos smra [Autobiography}, p.347.4.
classes of wrathful deities whose proportions measured
three and six spans had actually originated from the 6. Zhu-chen, chos smra, p.348.
explanations of previous learned and spiritually accom-
plished Tibetan masters who had themselves arrived at 7. Sman-thang-pa's classic has recently been published.
these proportions based on the measures of old, See above, Chapter 4, notes 7 and 8.
3
correctly proportioned images from India. 0 Rong-tha
also stated that the five-span proportional class derived 8. 'Phreng-kha-ba's famous text was carved onto
from the artistic tradition of such learned Newar masters blocks at Lhasa Zhol, and this became the basis for
as Ratnarak~ita. 31 As we have seen, Zhu-chen did cite the new edition printed in Dharamsala in 1978.
certain texts as the basis for at least the fifth class, the
9. We have not been able to locate in the Collected
five-span proportion. But he could not cite any tantra,
Works of Bu-ston any separate work on the subject
and instead mentioned only secondary texts, one being
of proportions. Such a work would be the earliest
a work by Ratnarak~ita, the commentary on the
surviving text on this topic, and it would be of great
Samvarodaya Tantra. 32
importance for students of this subject. Rong-tha,
p.134, presents a synopsis of Bu-ston's system.
Notes
10. Stag-tshang lo-tsa-ba's text, Rten gsum bzhengs
1. The most valuable scholarly work on Tibetan tshul dpal 'byor rgya mtsho, is known to survive
iconometry to date has been done by K. M. in the library of Otani University, Kyoto.
Gerasimova. Unfortunately only a fraction of her
writings are available in English. From among these II. This author was a distant ancestor of Zhu-chen
see for example her "Compositional Structure" and Tshul-khrims-rin-chen. His work, entitled Skor
"The Anthropometric Foundation of the Tibetan thig gi 'grel pa, does not survive and was probably
Canon of Proportions," VlIIth Congress ofAnthro- rare in Tibet.
pological and Ethnological Sciences, pp.325-327.
For a list of the related studies by scholars who 12. 'Phreng-kha-ba, p.llf: sgril bas mtho beu sor
preceded her, see her "Compositional Structure," brgya ('bur sku'i dbang du byas/ bris sku la brgya
pAO and p.50 n.5. nyi shu) nyer lngar 'gyurj. A similar insertion is
found on p.IO, to the effect that the heightof the
For a brief review of studies on Buddhist icono-
cranium (thod pa'i dpangs) should be only four sor
metry by Gerasimova and other recent Soviet
for a painted Buddha, but four and one-half for a
scholars see S. Frye (transl.), "Study and sculpted Buddha.
Publication of Indian and Tibetan Monuments
Curiously, the same notes ('bur sku'i dbang du byas,
on the Theory of Art," The Tibet Journal, vol.6 etc.) are found in the recently published manuscript
(1981), pp.3-5.
of Sman-thang-pa's work. See p.IOf. But on p.68
Recently K. W. Peterson has also discussed some Sman-thang-pa specifically states that the image of
aspects of the problem of the different Buddha the Buddha should measure 125 sor whether it is
proportions in her "Sources of Variation in Tibetan drawn (or painted), cast, carved or modelled, Le.,
Canons of Iconometry," Tibetan Studies in Honour no matter what medium is used.
of Hugh Richardson (Warminster, 1980), pp.
239-248. 13. Sde-srid, voU, p.621.1.

2. Sde-srid, voU, p.621. In the reprint based on the 14. Ratnaraksita, Sri samvarodaya mahatantrariija pad-
Lhasa Zhol prints (New Delhi, 1971) the relevant mini niim'a panjika. Tib.: Dpal sdom pa 'byung ba'i
passage is found in vol.2, pp.645-677. However, one rgyud kyi rgyal po chen po'i dka' 'grel padma can
should also compare the detailed proportions that (Peking no.2173; Derge no.1420). Peking Tibetan
the Sde-srid proposed. See Peterson, pp.247. Tripitaka, voUI, p.113.2.1.

NOTES APPENDIX A 147