An Architectural Representation of Complete Tantric Knowledge

The Kumbum of Pelkhor Chode Monastery (ca. 1427–1442) is located in the heart of Gyantse County in upper Nyangchu Valley of the Tsang region (fig. 2). The name kumbum is commonly interpreted as “a hundred thousand images,” denoting the great number of deities depicted inside. It is one of the biggest chortens in Tibet and the best-preserved example of its kind. The artistic splendor of the Kumbum, built during a time of political turbulence after the fall of the Sakya Yuan polity (1244–1354), attests to the peak of the Gyantse dynasty as a burgeoning new power in central Tibet. The statues and painted deities it houses provide a nearly complete representation of the Buddhist pantheon as it was understood in the fifteenth century. A grand construction project that lasted for decades, the Kumbum preserves rich visual evidence for an emerging era of indigenous artistic creation.

Structure, Prototype, and Symbolism

The overall structure of the Kumbum displays some of the essential elements of a Tibetan chorten, including a four-tiered base, a cylindrical vase called a bumpa, a spire base harmika, and a conical spire on top. Yet the seventy-three chapels spanning eight stories (fig. 3), with more than twenty thousand deities represented,1 make it stand out as a unique edifice, as chortens in the Himalayas are normally solid and can only be approached by circumambulating the outside. The exterior decoration shows a remarkably eclectic style, revealing cultural exchanges with neighboring regions, as exemplified by the painted eyes on the harmika that are typical for stupas in the Kathmandu Valley, as well as the corbel brackets under the roof (fig. 4), an element from the Chinese architectural tradition.

The four-tiered terrace is designed in a twenty-corner plan (fig. 5). On each tier there are doors opening to individual chapels. Visitors enter these chapels via the open-air path surrounding each floor before reaching the bumpa, a round story with four main temples. Staircases lead further up into the harmika, where one can walk a two-story inner circumambulation path around the Central Pillar before climbing up to the topmost chapel inside the gigantic spire.

The Kumbum of Gyantse takes the form of an Auspicious Stupa of Many Doors, or tashi gomang, one of the eight chortens in Tibetan Buddhist tradition commemorating the Eight Great Events in Buddha Shakyamuni’s life. Tashi gomang, in particular, is a remembrance of the Buddha’s exposition of dharma.2 As explained by the third patriarch of Sakya, Khon Drakpa Gyeltsen (1147–1216), the numerous openings that adorn the four tiers symbolize the myriad doorways of the Buddhist teachings.3 Tashi gomang became popular in western Tibet during the tenth to twelfth centuries and were found in much simpler designs on many tsatsa clay tablets, or as architectural units(figs. 6 and 7).4

Immense tashi gomang like the Gyantse Kumbum emerged as early as the thirteenth century in central Tibet. Decorative niches of early tashi gomang were turned into actual entrances to chapels devoted to different tantras.5 These large chortens likely evoke Buddha’s third turning of the wheel, an occasion when tantras were first taught at the Glorious Stupa of Dhanyakataka in South India, as widely believed in the Tibetan tradition.6

Iconographic Program, Style, and Artist Collective

From the lowest level to the top, chapels of the Gyantse Kumbum are arranged in a hierarchical order in accordance with the Four Classes of Tantras, as systemized by Buton Rinchen Drub (1290–1364). This fourfold scheme of categorizing tantric teachings belongs to the New Transmission Period traditions. The bottom two stories are mainly devoted to Kriya Tantra and the Charya Tantra, the two lower classes of the system, while the chapels of the third story are mostly associated with Yogatantra. On the fourth story, various lineages of masters who contributed to the introduction of these tantric cycles to Tibet are represented (fig. 8), connecting the terrace to the bumpa, where devotion to Yogatantra continues in the four temples dedicated to Vairochana, Vajrasana (the diamond throne in Bodhgaya), Shakyamuni, and Prajnaparamita respectively. The double-story harmika is a space for the two aspects of the Anuttarayoga Tantra, the Father and Mother tantras. In the top chapel sits Vajradhara, the Adibuddha embodying the ultimate origin of the universes,7 surrounded by masters of Kalachakra, representing the third aspect: the nondual tantras.8

Although they were repainted over the centuries, almost all the large sculptures in the main chapels are the fifteenth-century originals. The sculptures are predominantly made of clay over an internal wooden structure.9 The Vajradhara inside the top chapel and the Vairochana in the east temple of the bumpa are the only gilded-copper exceptions (fig. 9), underlining their higher status in the whole tantric system.

Encircling the sculptures are mural paintings of features drawn from both Indic and Chinese sources, showing a diversity that echos the designs of the Kumbum’s outer structure. The prevalence of sumptuous vegetal curls and floral motifs suggests a dominance of Nepalese style in the overall rendering. Meanwhile, Chinese elements permeate in the stylistic design of clouds and a naturalistic treatment of the figures.

The grand project attracted a galaxy of talents, whose work was overseen by Rinchen Peldrub, the abbot of Nenying Monastery, a then prosperous teaching center near Gyantse. Inscriptions in different chapels document the names of at least thirty-nine painters from different regions of the Tsang region, which may explain the diverse styles coexisting in the Kumbum. The inscriptions also indicate that in most chapels the master artists worked in teams with their students instead of on their own.10 Their work demonstrates the wide range of modes and styles available to the artists, and potentially how different ideas might have circulated among them.

Many scholars are of the opinion that the Gyantse Kumbum represents the maturation of a Tibetan style,11 while some maintain that the art of the Kumbum still stands at a transitional point.12 What is clear is that the art contained in the Kumbum is closely related to two major later Tibetan art schools. According to an artist manual attributed to the founder of the Menri style, Menla Dondrub, he once studied with Peljor Rinchen and Sonam Peljor, the master artists from Nenying who led the decoration at the Gyantse Kumbum.13 Recent studies further propose that Khyentse Chenmo, the founder of the Khyenri style, might have once worked with Menla Dondrub as apprentices at Gyantse or Nenying. This means that the project at Gyantse may have played a direct part in the development of their own styles.14

Patronage and Related Projects

Rabten Kunzang (1389–1442, r. 1414–1442), the prince of Gyantse, was the main donor of the Kumbum and the entire monastic complex.15 During his reign, the principality thrived at an unprecedented level, so it was able to compete with other major powers like the Rinpungpa or even the Pakmodrupa establishment that superseded Sakya rule in the mid-fourteenth century.16

The ruler embraced a nonsectarian attitude toward Buddhist teachings and sponsored a great number of other artistic and building projects. Besides the magnificent chorten, he famously commissioned a set of three giant appliqué thangkas (fig. 10), depicting the Buddhas of the Three Times,17 which are the earliest large-scale cloth thangkas that have survived to this date. The weaving of the Maitreya image, in particular, was based on sketches made by one of the Nenying master artists mentioned above, Sonam Peljor.18 These thangkas were likely shown consecutively over three days during the Sagadawa festival, commemorating the enlightenment of the Buddha, similarly to how this is practiced at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse.19 Considered as Liberation through Seeing images, they render the display an important occasion for viewing.20 The wall specially designated for their exhibition sits on the mountain ridge above the monastic complex and is visible from miles away (fig. 2).

The Kumbum witnessed Gyantse’s own grandeur as a local dominion and a high point in the history of Tibetan art. Even after the fall of the principality at the end of the sixteenth century, it has remained one of the most important pilgrimage sites of the Tibetan Buddhist world. The idea of opening doors to pictorial depictions of the Buddhist divinities continued in the portable tashi gomang shrines used by traveling monks, a Bhutanese cultural heritage dating to the seventeenth century.