Derge Printing House, Derge, Kham Region, Eastern Tibet
2000
This gesture is that of embracing a consort and is symbolic of bringing together two aspects of enlightenment: wisdom and method.
Derge Printing House, Derge, Kham Region, Eastern Tibet
2000
The longevity goddess White Tara is shown in union with her consort (yab-yum). Here the female deity is dominant, which is rare.
This woodblock print was printed at the Derge Printing House in the Kham region of Southeastern Tibet (modern day Ganzi, Sichuan Province, PRC). Founded in 1729, it is one of the largest and most important producers of traditional Tibetan woodblock prints. The drawing/painting model (par tsa) for this set is attributed to the painter Tangla Tsewang (1902–1989), a Karma Gardri painting master and scholar from nearby Pelpung Monastery, as well as scribe and court painter to the Eleventh Situ incarnation.
This gesture is that of embracing a consort and is symbolic of bringing together two aspects of enlightenment: wisdom and method.
Female bodhisattvas and tantric deities embody specific enlightened qualities such as wisdom, power, and protection, and can be peaceful or wrathful in appearance.
Tantric deities personify various enlightened qualities and are the focus of esoteric religious practices (tantras) that aim to swiftly and radically transform one’s understanding of reality.
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.
Woodblock printing became an important technology of production, propagation, and cross-cultural exchange of both text and image in Tibetan, Himalayan, and Inner Asian regions from the 12th century on.
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