Portrait of the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje (1555–1603); central Tibet (possibly Tsurpu Monastery); ca. 1590; pigments on cloth; 50 × 33½ in. (127 × 85.1 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; purchase from the Collection of Navin Kumar, New York; C2005.20.2 (HAR 90005)
Portrait of the Ninth Karmapa
Central Tibet (possibly Tsurpu Monastery)ca. 1590
Portrait of the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje (1555–1603); central Tibet (possibly Tsurpu Monastery); ca. 1590; pigments on cloth; 50 × 33½ in. (127 × 85.1 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; purchase from the Collection of Navin Kumar, New York; C2005.20.2 (HAR 90005)
Summary
The Karmapas were the first institutionalized lineage of reincarnated lamas in Tibet. By the sixteenth century, these powerful hierarchs held court in a traveling tent monastery called the Great Encampment. Art historian Karl Debreczeny examines a portrait of the Ninth Karmapa, showing how artists thought to be emanations of the high lama merged Indian figural models with Chinese aesthetics to create the Encampment style.
In Buddhist context, donor is a person who contributes to or commissions a religious work of art. This act is intended to increase merit on behalf of the benefactor and is dedicated to the benefit of all. It is also usually done for a specific purpose, such as longevity, prosperity, or well-being; to advance religious practice; or to ensure a good rebirth of a deceased relative, teacher, or friend. A similar practice is also known in Hinduism and Bon.
The Encampment tradition is an artistic tradition associated with the court of the Karmapas, who traveled in large monastic tent encampments. The painting tradition was established by the artist Namkha Tashi (active ca. 1568–1599). No extant painting by the hand of Namkha Tashi has yet been reliably identified, but religious masters of the Karma Kagyu are said to have urged Namkha Tashi to follow Indian Buddhist models for the figures and Chinese painting for coloring and shading, naming models from the Yuan and Ming courts. The style was revived by Situ Panchen (1700–1774). Sometimes called the “New Encampment” style, these paintings are characterized by open airy landscapes of soft blue and green. The Encampment tradition also included a lesser-known sculptural tradition, founded by the artist Karma Sidrel (d. 1591/92).
The Kagyu are a major Later Diffusion tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu trace their lineages back to the Mahasiddhas, the great tantric masters of medieval India. The Kagyu are known for their yogic practices, as well as the teaching of Mahamudra, or the “Great Seal.” The Kagyu tradition includes many different branches, such as the Karma, Drukpa, Drigung, Tselpa, Pakmodru, and others. The most influential leaders of the Karma Kagyu are the Karmapas, a tulku lineage associated with that Kagyu branch. In Bhutan, the Drukpa Kagyu tradition serves as the state religion. A follower of the Kagyu is called a Kagyupa.
In Buddhism, merit is accumulated positive karma, or positive actions, that lead to positive results, such as better rebirths. Buddhists gain merit by reciting mantras, donating to monasteries and those in need, performing pilgrimages, commissioning artworks, reproducing and reciting Buddhist texts, and other deeds with good intentions. It is believed that merit can also be transferred to others through rituals performed to gain merit for deceased family members help them achieve a better rebirth. Merit making is an important motivation for positive ritual action, and is a prerequisite for success of religious and even secular activity.
Historically, Tibetan Buddhism refers to those Buddhist traditions that use Tibetan as a ritual language. It is practiced in Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Ladakh, and among certain groups in Nepal, China, and Russia and has an international following. Buddhism was introduced to Tibet in two waves, first when rulers of the Tibetan Empire (seventh to ninth centuries CE), embraced the Buddhist faith as their state religion, and during the second diffusion (late tenth through thirteenth centuries), when monks and translators brought in Buddhist culture from India, Nepal, and Central Asia. As a result, the entire Buddhist canon was translated into Tibetan, and monasteries grew to become centers of intellectual, cultural, and political power. From the end of the twelfth century, Tibetans were exporting their own Buddhist traditions abroad. Tibetan Buddhism integrates Mahayana teachings with the esoteric practices of Vajrayana, and includes those developed in Tibet, such as Dzogchen, as well as indigenous Tibetan religious practices focused on local gods. Historically major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism are Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Geluk.
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a lineage of reincarnated lamas. Buddhists believe that sentient beings pass through infinite lives in samsara, reborn in new bodies after each death. Certain highly advanced practitioners are able to control this process, choosing their reincarnation. From the thirteenth century onward, this process became institutionalized in Tibet as a formal means of succession. When a tulku dies, a special team of monks and close disciples performs divinations and other tests to locate a child, who is then enthroned as the new incarnation of the lineage. Over the centuries, many of these lineages amassed immense estates (labrang), and became extremely powerful and prestigious within Tibetan and Mongol society. Important tulku lineages include the Karmapas, the Dalai Lamas, the Panchen Lamas, and the Jibzundambas.
This portrait depicts the Ninth , Wangchuk Dorje (1555–1603), head of the Karma tradition of , with his seat, Tsurpu Monastery (fig. 2), in the distance behind him. The long-life vase in his lap and the long-life floating in the top-left corner represent wishes for the Karmapa’s longevity, suggesting this painting was created during his lifetime. The winding river and soft washes of blue and green create a sense of open, receding space, illustrating a new style that arose in the court of the Karmapas, inspired in part by Chinese court painting.
Fig. 2.
Portrait of the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje (1555–1603), detail of upper right showing monumental silk appliqué of Buddha Shakyamuni (1585) and Tsurpu Monastery; pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Art; C2005.20.2 (HAR90005)
The Karmapas
Traditions of Tibetan Buddhism trace their origins through a lineage of teachers going back to India, the birthplace of . Beginning in the twelfth century, the Karmapas were the first lineage to institutionalize succession through the mechanism of reincarnation. Each Karmapa is thought to be an emanation of the of compassion Avalokiteshvara, the patron deity of Tibet. Karmapas wear distinctive black hats that serve as both a crown and a badge of office. The hat depicted here, bearing a golden crossed in front and a golden cloud motif called garuda wings on the sides, was a gift from the Chinese Yongle emperor (r. 1402–1424) in the fifteenth century.
While most Tibetan artists were historically laymen, monastics were also trained in the arts. The Ninth Karmapa painted, including murals at Sungrab Ling Monastery, and made sketches for murals that other artists copied. Yet he was not known for being particularly talented and was chided for his lack of skill, motivating him to predict that in his next life he would put those who criticized him to shame. This underdeveloped ability is evident in one extant work of musical notations featuring charmingly naive marginalia (Figs. 3 and 4).
Starting in the fourteenth century, the Karmapas traveled in large monastic tent encampments, much like a prince’s traveling court, consisting of portable temples, a community of monks, and skilled artists and artisans. This mobile court, known as the Great Karmapa Encampment (Karma garchen), produced its own distinctive painting tradition called the Karma Gardri, or “the style of the Karmapa Encampment.”
According to Tibetan sources, the Encampment style was established—or more likely codified—in Central Tibet by the painter Namkha Tashi (act. ca. 1568–1599) in the court of the Ninth Karmapa in the second half of the sixteenth century. An early description of the Encampment style by the art theorist Deumar Geshe (b. 1665/72) in his Manual of Brilliant Colors characterizes the style as having color similar to Chinese painting, with dilute washes and soft shading, and layouts mostly conforming with Chinese paintings.
Portrait of the Ninth Karmapa
No extant painting by the hand of Namkha Tashi has yet been reliably identified. But this painting of the Ninth Karmapa is a promising representative example of this early court style. A partially effaced inscription indicates that the composition was executed during the Karmapa’s lifetime:
This painting of [Wangchuk] Dorje, which was accomplished under the instructions of the Gyelwa [Karmapa] himself, by the nephew, the monk from Kong[po] in the east. Because of great fortune established [. . .], by this , may all beings be established in the level of Buddhahood!
The inscription identifies the patron of the work as a monk, called “nephew,” from Kongpo in the east. The Ninth Karmapa had two important patrons with this title, and their life dates place the creation of this work in the 1590s. One of these nephews, Won Gushri Karma Chogyel (d. 1602), is recorded as a sponsor of works by Namkha Tashi, founder of the Encampment style.
Another internal clue to the dating of the painting is found in the background landscape, where a monumental is unfurled on a mountainside adjacent to the Karmapa’s seat, Tsurpu Monastery. This is a famous silk appliqué of called Beautiful Ornament of the World (fig. 2). The artist Karma Sidrel made this appliqué at Tsurpu for the Ninth Karmapa in 1585, and its inclusion here provides the earliest possible date for this painting.
(Below is a trailer for a movie about the recreation of this famous appliqué thangka (figs. 5))
Trace Foundation, "The Giant Appliqués trailer," Vimeo, October 17, 2016, 2:41, https://vimeo.com/187663701
Founding of the Encampment Style
The founder of the Encampment style, Namkha Tashi, appears several times in the Ninth Karmapa’s biography as an important artist. He painted murals of the sixteen , inspired by Chinese models at the Karmapa’s seat of Tsurpu, in 1582, shortly before this painting was made. However, traditional accounts of this art history often begin with the previous Eighth Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje (1507–1554), who is remembered as a master of great scholastic learning and is said to have been influential in the founding of the Encampment style. The Eighth Karmapa wrote a treatise on art, The Great Sun of Drawing Proportions, but little is known about his role in founding this artistic tradition, with no mention of painting in his available biographies (fig. 6). At the end of the Eighth Karmapa’s biography, two artists are named as emanations of the Karmapa who manifested in order to continue his work:
Regarding the extraordinary artist () Namkha Tashi, he was born in Yartong. From the time he was a little child he admitted that he was an emanation of the [Eighth] Lord [Karmapa]. He was prophesied as the doer of actions of [the Karmapa’s] religious activities in the sphere of religious images and, instructed by the Fifth Zhamar, he established the [painting] tradition of the Encampment style.
As for the one known as Karma Sidrel also known as Gonyon, the head-man of Dakpo, he is [also] an emanation of the body of the Lord [Karmapa] himself and is the one who founded the practice of sculpting in the Encampment manner.
Fig. 6.
“Cloud Faced” Black-Cloaked Mahakala, either painted or inscribed by the Eighth Karmapa (1507–1554); Tibet; 16th century; ink and gold line on cloth; 10 × 8½ in. (25.5 × 21.7 cm); Private collection
A prominent court painter within this tradition, Tangla Tsewang (1902–1989), followed this traditional narrative in his history of Tibetan painting, written in the 1950s, but he pushed the initial founding of the Encampment style back to the time of the Seventh Karmapa (1454–1506). He suggests that already in the late fifteenth century Encampment artists were taking the figural forms of the Old Menri painting tradition of Menla Dondrub as their models (fig. 7), while drawing inspiration from the color and drawing of Chinese painting.
Namkha Tashi’s painting teacher was Konchok Pende of E, a master of the Menri painting tradition and an important artist active in the Ninth Karmapa’s court, whose works are primarily known to us through later copies (fig. 8). These compositions reveal that Konchok Pende was already looking to Chinese models before the Encampment style was formally established.
Two of the main religious masters of the Karma Kagyu, the Fifth Zhamar (1526–1583) and the Fourth Gyeltsab (1550–1617), played a significant advisory role, offering guidance for the creation of a new visual idiom for the Karmapa’s court. They instructed Namkha Tashi to take famous Chinese paintings in Tibet as models, including products of the late and early courts, to which the Karmapas had historical ties. The only surviving named model is a monumental 163-foot-long handscroll, Delivering the Soul of Ming Taizu (fig. 9), made in the court of the Ming Yongle emperor in 1407. These religious masters urged Namkha Tashi to follow Indian Buddhist art, including sculpture, for the shape of the sacred figures, and to look to Chinese art for the coloring and shading. Lineage figure depictions from this tradition feature clear adaptations of visual conventions of Ming court arhat paintings (figs. 10 and 11), while other works are more loosely inspired (fig. 12).
Kagyu Lama with Four Lineage Gurus (displaying a composition identical to Arhat Ajita’s in following image); Tibet; ca. late 16th century; 27½ × 19-5/8 in. (70 × 50 cm); current location unknown
Fig. 11
Arhat Ajita; China; Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1402–1424); mineral pigments on silk; 30 × 19 in. (78 × 50 cm); Collection of Robert Rosenkranz and Alexandra Munroe
Fig. 12
Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje (1555–1603); central Tibet; late 16th century; 49 × 32½ in. (124.5 × 82.55 cm); Collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin; P1994.27.1 (HAR 163); photograph by Adam Reich, courtesy of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection
Encampment Sculptural Tradition
The arts of the Karmapa’s court also included a lesser-known sculptural tradition, founded by the artist Karma Sidrel (d. 1591/92) who, like Namkha Tashi, was also considered to be an emanation of the Eighth Karmapa. A talented sculptor, he also made murals, masks, and monumental appliqués, like the one depicted in this painting. A portrait sculpture of the Ninth Karmapa with realistic physiognomy bears an inscription on the back of its base (figs. 13 and 14); it states that the artist Karma Rinchen made this sculpture when the Karmapa was forty-four years old (ca. 1598). This is one of the few datable statues of the Karma Kagyu tradition that are contemporaneous with the founding of the Encampment artistic tradition. It reveals several distinctive features, including an intense interest in the layering of the robes, which gives a sense of weight and plasticity of form. The medium of silver itself also appears to be characteristic of these early portraits.
Karma Rinchen (act. late 16th century); Portrait Sculpture of the Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje (1555–1603); central Tibet; 1598; silver with pigment; 7½ × 8 × 5½ in. (19.1 × 20.3 × 14 cm); Private collection
Forty years after the establishment of the Encampment style, bitter sectarian warfare came to a head in central Tibet, and in 1645 the Karmapa’s court, the Great Encampment, was obliterated, placing the Karmapa’s religious and artistic traditions in danger of extinction. Thus, most of what we know about the Encampment tradition is from its eighteenth-century revival engineered by Situ Panchen.
Footnotes
1
Karma Nges don bstan rgyas, Chos Rje Karma Pa Sku ’phreng Rim Byon Gyi Rnam Thar Mdor Bsdus Dpag Bsam ’khri Shing (Reprint, Delhi: Topden Tsering, 1891), 343, lines 3–4 https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:WA1KG3830; KaH thog Si tu Chos kyi rgya mtsho, Gangs Ljongs Dbus Gtsang Gnas Bskor Lam Yig nor Bu Zla Shel Gyi Se Mo Do / An Account of a Pilgrimage to Central Tibet during the Years 1918 to 1920 (Chengdu: Sichuan minzu chubanshe, 1918), 103, line 5, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/WA21611; David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, Exhibition catalog, Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 1 (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2009), 264n312, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/patron_and_patron_96.
2
Karma Nges don bstan rgyas, Chos Rje Karma Pa Sku ’phreng Rim Byon Gyi Rnam Thar Mdor Bsdus Dpag Bsam ’khri Shing (Reprint, Delhi: Topden Tsering, 1891), 333–34 https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:WA1KG3830.
3
A paraphrase of David P. Jackson, A History of Tibetan Painting: The Great Tibetan Painters and Their Traditions, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 42 (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996), 50, 173–74, 387–90, who quotes the Kun gsal tshon gyi las rim me tog mdangs ster ja’ ’od ’bum byin, chap. 10, verses 33–34.
4
Some attributions have been made; see Kang Gesang Yixi 康 格桑益希, Zang Chuan Gama Gazi Huapai Tangka Yishu 藏传噶玛嘎孜画派唐卡艺术 [Tibetan Karma Gadri Painting School Thangka Art] (Chengdu: Sichuan meishu chubanshe, 2015), 21–31.
5
This essay largely follows text developed together with David Jackson for the 2009 exhibition Patron and Painter.
6
[effaced] . . . rdo rje’i sku thang ’di/ rgyal ba nyid kyis ljags bkod pa[s?] grub pa’i/ dbon shar phyogs kong btsun gyis// skal ba bzang phyir u btsug [effaced] dge ’dis ’gro kun sangs rgyas sa dgod shog//. Similarly translated in David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, Exhibition catalog, Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 1 (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2009), 101, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/patron_and_patron_96.
7
David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, Exhibition catalog, Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 1 (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2009), 101–2, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/patron_and_patron_96.
8
David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, Exhibition catalog, Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 1 (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2009), 101–2, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/patron_and_patron_96.
9
David P. Jackson quoting the biography of the Ninth Karmapa in Si tu and ’Be lo 1775, 182, line 2. David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, Exhibition catalog, Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 1 (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2009), 176, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/patron_and_patron_96.
10
One painting has been attributed to the Eighth Karmapa; see Henk Blezer, “Notes on an Unidentified Thangka of the Black-Cloak Mahākāla,” in From Bhakti to Bon: Festschrift for Per Kvaerne, ed. Hannah Havnevik and Charles Ramble (Oslo: Novus Press, 2015), 113–31.
11
Tulku (sprul sku), literally “magical emanation body,” refers to spiritual masters who reincarnate, but it can also be a figurative reference to artists of extraordinary talent. Here it seems to function both ways.
12
Si tu and ’Be lo = Si tu Paṇ chen Chos kyi ’byung gnas and ’Be lo Tshe dbang kun khyab, [Unpublished Biography of Chos Dbyings Rdo Rje]. Originally Part of Bsgrub Rgyud Karma Kam Tshang Brgyud Pa Rin Po Che’i Rnam Par Thar Pa Rab ’byams nor Bu Zla Ba Chu Shel Gyi Phreng Ba. Republished in Rgyal Dbang Karma-Pa Sku Phreng Bcu Pa Chos-Dbyings-Rdo-Rjeʼi Rnam Thar Dang Gar-Dbang Chos-Kyi-Dbang-Phyug Gi Rnam Thar Rtogs Brjod ʼdod ʼjoʼi Ba Mo (Sarnath, Varanasi: Wā-ṇa Badzra-bidyā Dpe-mdzod-khang, (1775) 2012), 399-468, fol. 65. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW4CZ294918.
13
Dkon mchog bstan ’dzin, Yon tan tshe ring and Rdo dril, eds., Thang bla tshe dbang phyag bris gces bsgrigs bzo rig mig rgyan (Chengdu: Sichuan minzu chubanshe, 2006), 217–18 http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW1PD82465; for a translation, see Karl Debreczeny, The Black Hat Eccentric: Artistic Visions of the Tenth Karmapa, Exhibition catalog (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2012),250–52, 308n786, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/6._black_hat_eccentric_96.
14
See Elliot Sperling, “Karma Rol-Pa’i Rdo-Rje and the Re-Establishment of Karma-Pa Political Influence in the 14th Century,” in The Relationship between Religion and State (Chos Srid Zung ’brel) in Traditional Tibet: Proceedings of a Seminar Held in Lumbini, Nepal, March 2000, ed. Christoph Cüppers (Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, 2004), 229–44; David P. Jackson, A History of Tibetan Painting: The Great Tibetan Painters and Their Traditions, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 42 (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996), 173.
15
David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, Exhibition catalog, Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 1 (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2009), 107–8, figs 5.17, 5.18, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/patron_and_patron_96.
16
Dkon mchog bstan ’dzin, Yon tan tshe ring and Rdo dril, eds., Thang bla tshe dbang phyag bris gces bsgrigs bzo rig mig rgyan (Chengdu: Sichuan minzu chubanshe, 2006), 217–18, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW1PD82465; David P. Jackson, A History of Tibetan Painting: The Great Tibetan Painters and Their Traditions, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 42 (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996), 176–77.
17
Amy Heller, Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet, 600–2000 A.D (Milan: Jaca Book, 1999), 188; Heather Stoddard, “Fourteen Centuries of Tibetan Portraiture,” in Portraits of the Masters: Bronze Sculptures of the Tibetan Buddhist Lineages, ed. Donald Dinwiddie (Chicago: Serindia, 2003), 16–61, 33–34; David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, Exhibition catalog, Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 1 (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2009), 109, 265n329, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/patron_and_patron_96.
Further Reading
Jackson, David P. 1996. A History of Tibetan Painting: The Great Painters and Their Traditions 169–80.Beitrage zur Kultur- und GeistesgeschichteAsiens 15. Vienna: Verlag der OsterreichischenAkademie der Wissenschaften.
Gega Lama. 1983. Principles of Tibetan Art: Illustrations and Explanations of Buddhist Iconography and Iconometry according to the Karma Gardri School. 2 vols. Translated by Karma Chochi Nyima (Richard Barron). Darjeeling: Jamyang Singe.
In Buddhist context, donor is a person who contributes to or commissions a religious work of art. This act is intended to increase merit on behalf of the benefactor and is dedicated to the benefit of all. It is also usually done for a specific purpose, such as longevity, prosperity, or well-being; to advance religious practice; or to ensure a good rebirth of a deceased relative, teacher, or friend. A similar practice is also known in Hinduism and Bon.
The Encampment tradition is an artistic tradition associated with the court of the Karmapas, who traveled in large monastic tent encampments. The painting tradition was established by the artist Namkha Tashi (active ca. 1568–1599). No extant painting by the hand of Namkha Tashi has yet been reliably identified, but religious masters of the Karma Kagyu are said to have urged Namkha Tashi to follow Indian Buddhist models for the figures and Chinese painting for coloring and shading, naming models from the Yuan and Ming courts. The style was revived by Situ Panchen (1700–1774). Sometimes called the “New Encampment” style, these paintings are characterized by open airy landscapes of soft blue and green. The Encampment tradition also included a lesser-known sculptural tradition, founded by the artist Karma Sidrel (d. 1591/92).
The Kagyu are a major Later Diffusion tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu trace their lineages back to the Mahasiddhas, the great tantric masters of medieval India. The Kagyu are known for their yogic practices, as well as the teaching of Mahamudra, or the “Great Seal.” The Kagyu tradition includes many different branches, such as the Karma, Drukpa, Drigung, Tselpa, Pakmodru, and others. The most influential leaders of the Karma Kagyu are the Karmapas, a tulku lineage associated with that Kagyu branch. In Bhutan, the Drukpa Kagyu tradition serves as the state religion. A follower of the Kagyu is called a Kagyupa.
In Buddhism, merit is accumulated positive karma, or positive actions, that lead to positive results, such as better rebirths. Buddhists gain merit by reciting mantras, donating to monasteries and those in need, performing pilgrimages, commissioning artworks, reproducing and reciting Buddhist texts, and other deeds with good intentions. It is believed that merit can also be transferred to others through rituals performed to gain merit for deceased family members help them achieve a better rebirth. Merit making is an important motivation for positive ritual action, and is a prerequisite for success of religious and even secular activity.
Historically, Tibetan Buddhism refers to those Buddhist traditions that use Tibetan as a ritual language. It is practiced in Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Ladakh, and among certain groups in Nepal, China, and Russia and has an international following. Buddhism was introduced to Tibet in two waves, first when rulers of the Tibetan Empire (seventh to ninth centuries CE), embraced the Buddhist faith as their state religion, and during the second diffusion (late tenth through thirteenth centuries), when monks and translators brought in Buddhist culture from India, Nepal, and Central Asia. As a result, the entire Buddhist canon was translated into Tibetan, and monasteries grew to become centers of intellectual, cultural, and political power. From the end of the twelfth century, Tibetans were exporting their own Buddhist traditions abroad. Tibetan Buddhism integrates Mahayana teachings with the esoteric practices of Vajrayana, and includes those developed in Tibet, such as Dzogchen, as well as indigenous Tibetan religious practices focused on local gods. Historically major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism are Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Geluk.
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a lineage of reincarnated lamas. Buddhists believe that sentient beings pass through infinite lives in samsara, reborn in new bodies after each death. Certain highly advanced practitioners are able to control this process, choosing their reincarnation. From the thirteenth century onward, this process became institutionalized in Tibet as a formal means of succession. When a tulku dies, a special team of monks and close disciples performs divinations and other tests to locate a child, who is then enthroned as the new incarnation of the lineage. Over the centuries, many of these lineages amassed immense estates (labrang), and became extremely powerful and prestigious within Tibetan and Mongol society. Important tulku lineages include the Karmapas, the Dalai Lamas, the Panchen Lamas, and the Jibzundambas.
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