Kham region, eastern Tibet
19th century
A skull cup is an attribute of tantric deities and is usually paired with a curved knife. It can symbolize a mind filled with the bliss of realizing the true nature of reality.
Kham region, eastern Tibet
19th century
Eight Indian masters of tantric practices (mahasiddhas) surround a ninth central figure, Padmasambhava, a founding saint of Buddhism in Tibet and a great tantric magician whom Tibetans considered the mahasiddhas’ equal. He is shown here as a scholar.
In 1726, the great patron and artist Situ Panchen (1700–1774) painted one of his most famous sets of paintings, the Eight Great Tantric Adepts (Mahasiddhas). It is the first set he is recorded to have painted and marks the beginning of his public life as an artistic and religious leader. He offered this set of paintings to the tenth king of Derge, Tenpa Tsering (1678–1738) when he formally requested permission to build his new monastic seat at Pelpung.
In his autobiography, Situ reports that he painted this set “in a manner like the Encampment style” and did the sketching, coloring, and shading himself. While the status of these original paintings is unknown, Situ’s depictions of these eight great adepts have been widely copied and variously arranged and combined in nine, five, and three painting sets, as well as in single paintings, and continue to serve as models in this living tradition.
Here in a virtuoso display of synthesizing the Menri and Encampment traditions, the artist quotes from many different painting styles. The artist simultaneously employs several Encampment style features, such as a thin application of color opening to unpigmented sky, also employed much richer opaque colors which are common to Menri painting. The colorful, dramatic, twisting rainbow light is a hallmark of the local Khamri idiom.
A skull cup is an attribute of tantric deities and is usually paired with a curved knife. It can symbolize a mind filled with the bliss of realizing the true nature of reality.
A religious movement that originated in India around the fifth to seventh century with sacred writings and esoteric teachings and practices transmitted from teacher to student through initiation. These remain an important part of Hinduism and Buddhism today.
Buddhists believe identity is not fixed but is variable and dependent on causes and conditions. It is a temporary, transitional, and ever-changing interplay of mental and physical elements.
The passing down of authentic Buddhist teachings from a teacher to a disciple or student, often in the form of a text in a ritualistic context.
The transmission of teachings from one generation to the next, from teacher to student, traced all the way back to the Buddha without interruption. A complete lineage is essential in Tantric Buddhist practices as it makes the blessings of the teaching more powerful.
Himalayan art includes portraits of legendary and historical humans, including accomplished religious teachers (lamas), the Buddha’s original disciples (arhats), and spiritually accomplished tantric masters (mahasiddhas).
Today, Tibetans primarily inhabit the Tibetan Plateau, situated between the Himalayan mountain range and the Indian subcontinent to the west, Chinese cultural regions to the east, and Mongolian cultural regions to the northeast. During the 7th to 9th century, Tibetan rulers expanded their empire across Central Asia, and established Buddhism as the state religion.
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