Takeuchi: TSMn units of the thousand-districts
TLTD = Thomas, EW. 1935,1951. Tibetan Literary Texts and Documents
. .
concerning Chinese Turkestan. vols. 1, 2, London.
Toyo Bunko 1977-88. Stein shyiishii Chibetto-go Bunken Katdm Mokuroku (A
Catalogue oft/ze Tibetan Manuscripts collected by Sir Aurel Stem) parts 1-12, Tokyo.
Tucci G. 1949. Tibetan Painted Scrolls, Rome.
,h~abeU
H. 1992. "Notes on the Section of Law and State in the Chos-'byung of
IDe'u," S.lhara & Z.Yamaguchi (eds.) Tibetan Studies! Narila 1989 (Narita) 823-832.
Uray, G. 1%1. "Notes on a Tibetan Military Document from Tun-huang" AOH 12:
223-230.
. . , .
,. d '
Uray, G. 1972. "The narrative of legISlatIOn and orgamzatlOn of the. Mkhas-pa I gaston: The origins of the traditions concerning Sron-brean sgam-po as fIrst legIslator and
organizer of Tibet," AOH26-1: 11-68.
Uray, G. 1979. "KHROM: Administrativeunits of the Tibetan Empire in the 7th-9th
Centuries," in M.Aris & Aung San Suu Kyl (eds.) TIbetan Studzes m Honour of Hugh
Richardson (Warminster) 310-18.
Uray, G. 1983. "Notes on the thousand-districts of the Tibetan Empire in the first half
of the ninth century," AOH36: 545-548.
.
Yamaguchi, Z. 1981. "Kanjin oyobi Tsilky6jin niyoru Sashil Tobangundan hense! no
jiki," Tokyo-daigaku bungakllbu bunkakoryiishisetsll kiyo 5 (Tokyo Umverslty). 1-21.
Yamaguchi, Z. 1983. Toban-okaku Seiritsushi Kenkyii (A Study on the EstablIshment
of the I'll-fan Kingdom), Tokyo.
.
Yarnamoto,T. and Dohi, Y. eds. 1985. Tlln-hllang alld Tllrfan Docllments concerning
Social and Economical History ll, Tokyo (Toyo Bunko).
Yang J. 1986. "Tufan shiqi shazhou shekuai jingji yanjiu," Dunhuang Tulufan chutu
jingji wenshu yangjiu, (Xiamen daxue) 357-413.
Zhang G. and Rong X. 1987. "Un manuscrit chinois decouvert il. Cira pres de
Khotan," Cahiers d'Extreme-A'iie 3 (Kyoto) 77-92
862
THE BUDDHIST SITES OFTHOLING MONASTERY AND THE "WHITE TEMPLE"
AT TSAPARANG (WESTERN TIBET): THEIR PRESENT CONDITION
AND AN ANALYSIS OF THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE YOGA TANTRAS.
Kimiaki TANAKA (Tokyo)
Tholing Monastery and Tsaparang, a ruined citadel with Buddhist temples, are both located
in Tsanda (rTsa mda') county in Western Tibet (mNga' lis). After the expeditioflS led by
several European Tibetologists, including those led by Dr. G.Tucci in the 1930's, the sites
had been closed to foreign scholars for several deeades. Then in late July and August 1991
I and a photographer visited these two monumental historic spots. My visit was the first by a
specialist in Tibetan Buddhist art since their unfortunate devastation during the Cultural
Revolution in the 1960's_
This paper consists of two parts. In the first part I shall attempt to compare the present
conditions of the ruins with their state during the 1930's, while in the second part I shall
undertake an iconographical analysis of the wall paintings of deities of the Yoga Tantras
(rNaI-'byor rgyud) at Tholing Monastery and the temples at Tsaparang.
Tholing Monastery is located in the town of Tsanda (rTsa mda'). When we visited there,
only two temples - namely, the 'Du-khang or Assembly Hall and the IHa-khang dkar-po or
White Temple - remained. The rGya-ser-khang,which had existed when Lama Anagarika
Govinda and his wife Li Gotami Govinda visited it in the 1940's, had been completely
destroyed and only ruins of the temple remained. The IHa-khang dkar-po, on the other hand,
remains in rather good condition. Although the statues inside the temple have been all
destroyed and only the pedestals and haloes remain,the wall paintings are in a comparatively
good state of preservation.
Here 1 shall focus on the iconography of the deities based on the Yoga Tanlra cycles
which are enshrined in the 'Du-khang. This 'Du-khang is the largest building at Tholing
Monastery and probably also the largest building in Western Tibet. The hall faces east and
consists of two parts, namely, an 18-pillared front hall and a 12-pillared rear hall. The main
statues in the front hall represent the Buddhas of the past, present and future or Dus-gsum
sangs-rgyas, and they have been restored recently. The main statue in the rear hall is an old
statue of Slikyamuni locally called Tshe-ring nyi-ma-mgon. According to my informant, this
statue had been enshrined in a temple on top of a mountain near the monastery, but after the
destruction of this temple during the Cultural Revolution the statue had been moved to its
present si te.
In spite of their poor condition, the wall paintings are beautiful to behold. The entire
surface of the walls is covered with paintings of Buddhist deities. At a glance I recognized
some of these deities as belonging to the Vajradhiitu-maJ)c;Jala, an exarnple of which is also
found in the mChod-khang dkar-po or White Temple at Tsaparang. After a more extensive
investigation it became clear that almost all the deities belong to the Vairadh,jlu-maJ)c;Jala,
Dharmadhatu-vaglsvara-maJ)c;Jala and other maJ)c;Jalas of the Yoga Tanlra cycles.
In these wall paintings one may distinguish three series of deities, all representing the
Vairadhiitu-maJ)c;Jala. For convenience' sake I shall refer to them as manc;Jalas A, Band C
(see diagrams).
863
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Man<;lalas A and B in the front hall consist of 5 Buddhas and 48 Bodhisattvas, making a
total of 53 deities. To be more precise. they consist of 5 Buddhas, 16 Great Bodhisattvas, 4
Paramitiis, 8 offering goddesses, 4 gatekeepers, and 16 Bodhisattvas of the Bhadrakalpa.
Man<;lala C in the rear hall, on the other hand, consists of 5 Buddhas and 44 Bodhisattvas,
making a total of 49 deities. They similarly consist of 5 Buddhas, 16 Great Bodhisattvas,
8 offering goddesses, 4 gatekeepers, and 16 Bodhisattvas of the Bhadrakalpa. It will be
noticed that the 4 Paramitiis are absent from this mandala. Thus there are some differences in
the iconography of these three maQ<;lalas.
..
Man<;lala C depicted on the south wall of the rear hall, has been preserved in the best
condition. The arrangement of the deities on the left side is shown in the accompanying
diagram. On this wall the same icons. of Vajrasattva and Vajraratna appear five times. This
means that in this man<;lala the 16 Bodhisattvas of the Bhadrakalpa have been depicted in the
same style as the main Bodhisattva of the corresponding direction among the 16 Great
Bodhisattvas. For example Maitreya, the first of the 16 BodhisatlVas of the Bhadrakalpa, has
been depicted with the same iconographical features as Vajrasattva. the main Bodhisattva of
the eastern quarter among the 16 Great Bodhisattvas.
As already noted, in maQ<;lala A on the north side of the main entrance and man<;lala B on
the south side of the main entrance the 4 Pararnitiis are also depicted. Their iconography is
identical to that of the four main Bodhisattvas of the corresponding directions among the 16
Great Bodhisattvas. with the difference that they are depicted as female deities. Sattvavajr!,
for example, the first of the 4 Paramitiis, is depicted with the same iconographical features as
Vajrasattva except for the difference of sex.
Apart from the presence of the 4 P-ararnitiis, there are no differences in the iconography of
man<;lalas B and C. The iconography of maQ<;lala A, however, is different. In this maQ<;lala
A. the arrangement of the deities is exactly the same as that in man<;lala B, but the
iconographical features of the 16 Bodhisattvas of the Bhadrakalpa are quite different from
those of man<;lalas Band C. The 16 Bodhisattvas of the Bhadrakalpa in man<;lala A are,
namely, each depicted in a different style. No similar examples are found in the iconography
of the VajradhalU-man<;lala in Central Tibet, and so this maQ<;lala is most unusual.
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Next let us turn our attention to the ruins of Tsaparang. Tsaparang is situated on the banks of
the gLang-chen kha- 'hab River several kil~metrs
downstream from the town of Tsanda.
There exist several temples among these rums. As has already heen POinted out by T~CI,
there is a Manc;lala Temple on top of the hill, while the mChod-khang dkar-po or White
Temple and mChod-khang dmar-po or Red Temple are located at the foot ofthe hill. Because
of limited space, I cannot deal here with all aspects and mottfs of the wall palntmgs on thIS
site, and I shall accordingly focus on the iconography of the dellles based on the Yoga Tantra
cycles in the White Temple.
..,
. .
.
The White Temple is a 34-pillared bUIlding and IS the largest edIfIce among these rUIns, .
although it is rather smaller than the 'Du-khang of Tholtng Monastery (see dIagram). The
arrangement of the wall paintings is shown in the accompanYing dIagram. As has been
pointed out by Tucci, all the deities belong to. the Vatrocana cycle, that IS say, the Yoga
Tantras. Formerly this temple had 22 wall patntmgs, and for conventence sake I shall refer
to them by the letters A through V, moving in a clockwise direction around the temple. At
present, almost all the statues have been destroyed or severely dam~e.
These statues
rcpresented the principal deities of different manc;lalas, while the dellles depIcted on the walls
represent the retinues of these princIpal deItIes,
..,
.
Wall paintings E, F, Hand P are of the VaJradhiitu-manc;lala, whIle wall pamtlng 0 IS of
the DharrnadhatuvaglSvara-manc;lala and wall painting 0 IS of the an~hdosplgruD
Sarvavid-Vairocana-manc;lala, which both belong to the same cycle as the VaJradhatumandala.
'Mandalas E F and P consist of 5 Buddhas (the main deity being represented by a statue),
16 Oreai Bodhi;attvas, 4 P1iramit1is, 8 offering goddesses, 4 gatekeepers, and 16
Bodhisattvas of the Bhadrakalpa, making a total of 53 deities.
Not only the iconography, but also the artistic style is strikingly similar to that of the wall
paintings of Tholing Monastery.
. .
There are no differences in the iconography of wall patntmgs E and P, but the
iconography of wall painting P differs from these two. In this latter manc;lala the arran.gement
of the deities is nearly the same as in E and F, IconographIcal features of the 16 Bodhlsallvas
of the Bhadrakalpa are completely different from the other manc;lalas at Tsaparang, and they
are each depicted in a different style. This coincides with the difference between manc;lalas A
.
.
and B of the 'Du-khang at Tholing Monastery.
Mandala H on the other hand, consists of 5 Buddhas, 16 Bodhlsaltvas, 80ffenng
goddesses, and '4 gatekeepers. The 4 gatekeepers, however, appear twice and the 1,000
Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa are depicted instead of the 16 Bodhisattvas of the Bhadrakalpa.
In Central Tibet, there exist many specimens of the Vajradhatu-manc;laIa WIth the 1,000
Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa. In such cases, owing to the large increase in the number of
deities, the painter usually preferred a double celestial mansion (~al-yskhn&>
and .
depicted the 1,000 Buddhas in the outer mansion. In this wall patntmg the celesllal mansIon
that there had
is not depicted, but the double occurrence of the gatekeepers would ~ugest
existed the prototype of a Vairadhatu-manc;lala enshnnmg all the dellles In proper order
within the celestial mansion as usual.
Concerrting the detailed iconographic analysis of these wall paintings we have already
written an article entitled "On the Wall paintings of the Deities of Vajradhatu-manc;lalaat
Tholing Monastery and Tsaparang" in the Mikky6 Zuz6 (The Journal ofBuddhist
Iconography) Vo1.11,1992.
Firstly, in present day Tibet the depiction. of deities of the Yoga Tantra cycles is not very
popular. But until the 16th century the depIction of deities from the Yoga Tantras was
is confirmed by the very frequent occurrence of
extremely popular throughout Tibet. T~is
deitIes from the Yoga Tantras at dPal- khor chos-sde, Zha-Iu and Sa skya Monastery in
Central TIbet. At that time, the deities of the Highest Yoga Tantras were kept secret and
shown only to dISCIples who had already received initiation, and therefore they could not be
depicted openly. I consider the wall paintings of Tholing and Tsaparang to be the best
examples of this type of mystic art in Tibet.
Secondly, there are two different opinions on the origins of the wall paintings of the
White Temple at Tsaparang.
In his monumental InckJ-Tibetica III, Tucci writes in regard to the paintings of the White
Temple that "the influence of the Indian tradition is still felt." Compared with the artistic style
of the Red Temple, which Tucei considers to represent the latest work among that remaining
at Tsaparang and Tholing, the wall paintings in the White Temple are thus held to have been
executed earlier than those in the Red Temple.
Dr. Yamaguchi Zuiho, on the other hand, basing himself on sDe-srid Sangsrgyas
rgya-mtsho' s Vai(!iirya ser-po, concluded that the White Temple was constructed in the 16th
century while the Red Temple was constructcd in thc 15th century. This is quite the opposite
of TUCCI'S VieW.
As reg~ds
artistic style, 1 agree with Tucci. But from the existence of wall paintings at
Tholmg WIth the same style. and tconography, It hecame eVIdent to me that the artistic style of
Tsaparang was not original. It would have been a duplication of the traditional icon that had
from India, probably by Rin-chen-bzang-po, and had already been
been introd~ce
establtshed m Western Tlbat. Moreover, the frequent occurrence of yellow-halted lamas in
the wall paintings of the White Temple at Tsaparang and the 'Du-khang at Tholing also
suggests that these paintings came into existence after the establishment of the dOe-Iugs-pa
order. Dunng my expedItIon I tned to ascertam whether there was evidence of later
retouching in the depictions of these yellow-hatted lamas, but 1 was unable to find any such
eVIdence. At present, we therefore appear to have no reliable evidence that would contradict
the account in the Vakjiirya ser-po on which Yamaguchi relied.
In closing, I wish to emphasize the historical importance of these paintings and the urgent
need to preserve the cultural heritage of Western Tibet.
!"
Acknowledgement
Our expedition to Western Tibet was supported financially by the Toyota Foundation.
Next I wish to discuss several important points concerning the Buddhist art of
Western Tibet.
868
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Tanaka: Tholing and Tsaparang
Tanaka: Tholing and Tsaparimg
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A NOTE ON THE HISTORY, MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
OF TIBETAN APPLIQUE THANGKAS
YukoTANAKA
Ak~obhya
ludo Tibetica ill, Tav. LXXIV. 74. Vairocana
872
HISTORY
Acoording to the availahle reoords, an embroidered thangka of the Gung-thang
Bla-ma Zhang (1122-1193) was made during the period of the Song dynasty (9061279).1 An embroidered mandala of sPyan ras gzigs sems nyid ngal gso seemed to have
been made by 'Gro-mgon Chos-rgyal 'phags-pa (1235- 1280), and an embroidered
thangka of Guhyasamaja preserved in the oollection of the Potala Palace is dated to the
Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). These are some of the earliest examples of fabric thangkas
known to us. In 1362, during his visit to China, the 4th Karmapa Rol-pa'i rdo-rje (13401383) directed the work of making a huge applique image of the Buddha After the
oompletion of the work, Rol-pa'i rdo-Ije received this thangka as a gift from the queen
Punyedhari who had patronized the work. The thangka was then kept at Zho-kha temple
in Tibet. Later the 7th Kannapa Chos-grags rgya-mtsho (1445-1506) restored the
damaged upper part of the thangka at rTse-Iha-sgang. Thus the upper part of the thangka
remained at rTse-Iha-sgang, and the other part at Zho-kha temple. 2
In 1416 Byams-chen chos-rje (1353-1435), who was invited to China as a court
priest of Emperor Cheng-zu (1403-1424) of the Ming dynasty, returned to Tibet with a
oopy of the first xylographic edition of the Tibetan Kanjur and a tapestry of 16 Arahats
(gNas-rten beu·drug) as a gift to Tsongkhapa from the Emperor. Byams-chen chos-Ije's
disciples sNye-thang-pa Amogha and bSod-nams shes-rab who were also the oourt
priests of the Emperor Ren-zong, the son of Cheng-zu, offered the most prestigious
tapestry to dGa'-ldan gser-khang, the tomb of Tsongkhapa3 This tapestry has 23
figures,4 with the Buddha in the centre surrounded by 16 Arahats, Hwa-shang, four
guardians (rGyal chen bzhi) and Guhyasamaja. This tapestry, which is known as dGa'
ldan se'u thang or gser thang was preserved in the Gaden Monastery and was displayed
for 21 days in the sixth month of the Tibetan calendar. In 1468, the first Dalai Lama
dGe- 'dun-grub invited sMan-bla Don-grub with his students to Tashilhunpo. sMan-bla
don-grub directed the making of a great applique image of the Buddha, measuring
approximately 90 feet long and 60 feet wide. The sMan-thang-pa oontinued to work there
at Tashilhunpo in the following year, 1469, making a smaller cloth image of Tarn tbat
measured six by eight fathoms. s According to Shakhapa, the famous painter Bye'u
sgang-pa, who probably flourished in the first half of the 15th century, was the reputed
creator of the large applique thangka displayed at the Gyangtse dPaI- 'khor chos-sde
during the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar. 6
sNe-gdong Gong-ma Ngag-gi dbang-phyug bkra-shis grags-pa rgyal-mtshan
(reigned 1565-1578), then ruler of Tibet, had images made by the most skilled artists
from China with the best multiooloured silk fabrics. 7 In the same period, Rin-spungs-pa
Ngag-dbang rnam-rgyal, the most influential minister of the Phag-mo gru-pa court, also
had the most prestigious wall-hanging banner called Rigs ldan yol ha made, illustrating
the details of the Shambhala Kings. It is quite clear that most of the above-mentioned
thangkas had been made to order in China.
In 1683 sDe-srid Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho commissioned a huge gas sku (applique
thangka) acoording to the Nyingmapa tradition with Vairocana (rNam par snang mdzad)
873
公明 田中