The Principal Features of Buddhism as Reflected in Early West Tibetan Art

September 2000 to August 2003 I received a three-year research grant by the Austrian Programme for Advanced Research and Technology (APART) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The aim of the project is summarised below; relevant publications are listed at the end.

Introduction

The ‘later spread of Buddhism’ in Tibet (phyi dar), as the period from the late 10th–13th centuries is called in Tibetan historical literature, was decisive for the development of Tibetan Buddhism. This formative period was distinguished by extensive translation work in close co-operation with Indian Buddhist scholars, by an adoption of the ideas of late Indian Buddhism, and the formulation of distinctively Tibetan interpretations of Buddhism. Although the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism have their roots in this period, relatively little is known about the Buddhism of that time.

The art-historical evidence preserved in monuments and artefacts attributable to the phyi dar in Tibet and present-day Northwest India demonstrates a variety of unique stages and interpretations of Buddhism within the context of the formation of Tibetan Buddhism. Because the information on early stages of Tibetan Buddhism in the indigenous historical literature (chos ’byung) and the hagiographies (rnam thar) of eminent Buddhist teachers and hierarchs is somewhat vague, the preserved monuments and artefacts are the most important source for the religious and cultural history of early Tibetan Buddhism.

The aim of this research is to elaborate a more detailed account of the specific character of the main themes of early West Tibetan Buddhism by studying its principal themes, the Vajradhātu mandala and the Dharmadhātuvāgīśvaramañjuśrī mandala, on the basis of the surviving art and the literature for which a direct relationship to the art can be established.

Outcomes

The APART project facilitated the establishment of an immense body of material from the analysis of the iconographic and formal characteristics of the most relevant themes — the Vajradhātu and Dharmadhātuvāgīśvaramañjuśrī mandalas — in textual sources as well as in the arts. The history of the main topics and the interrelationship of text and depiction often turned out not to be as clearly definable as had been expected, and working out this relationship in detail has required far more effort than originally foreseen. Furthermore, as these topics have turned out to be relevant to later Tibetan art as well, they have been followed far beyond the original scope of early western Himalayan art. The APART grant still forms the basis for my ongoing work on western Himalayan art, most notably the book Buddhist Sculpture in Clay. Early Western Himalayan Art, late 10th to early 13th centuries (Serindia, Chicago).

Related Publications

  • “Methodological Comments Regarding Recent Research on Tibetan Art.” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 45 (2001): 125–45. (Review article of Amy Heller, Tibetan Art.)
  • “The Wanla bKra-shis-gsum-brtsegs.” In Buddhist Art and Tibetan Patronage Ninth to Fourteenth Centuries, edited by Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter and Eva Allinger. PIATS 2000, vol. 2. Leiden: Brill, 2002: 115–25.
  • “The 12th Century Buddhist Monuments of Nako.” Orientations 34, no. 5 (2003): 46–53.
  • “Art-Historical Aspects of Dating Tibetan Art.” In Dating Tibetan Art. Essays on the Possibilities and Impossibilities of Chronology from the Lempertz Symposium, Cologne, edited by Ingrid Kreide-Damani. Contributions to Tibetan Studies, 3. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2003: 25–57.
  • Buddhist Sculpture in Clay: Early Western Himalayan Art, late 10th to early 13th centuries. Serindia, Chicago, 2004.
  • “The Eight Great Siddhas in Early Tibetan Painting from c. 1200 to c. 1350.” In Holy Madness. Portraits of Tantric Siddhas, edited by Robert N. Linrothe. New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2006: 76–91.
  • “The Early Buddhist Heritage of Ladakh Reconsidered.” In Ladakhi Histories. Local and Regional Perspectives, edited by John Bray. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library, 9. Leiden: Brill, 2005: 65–96.
  • “Alchi Sumtsek Reconsidered.” In Recent Research on Ladakh 2007, edited by John Bray and Nawang Tsering Shakspo. Leh, Ladakh: J&K Academy for Art, Culture & Languages – International Association for Ladakh Studies, 2007: 61–72.
  • “The Depiction of Hindu and Pan-Indian Deities in the Lo tsa ba lHa khang at Nako.” In South Asian Archaeology 1999. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, held at the Universiteit Leiden, 5–9 July 1999, edited by Ellen M. Raven. Gonda Indological Studies XV. Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 2008: 493–506.
  • “Alchi and the Drigungpa School of Tibetan Buddhism: the Teacher Depiction in the Small Chörten at Alchi.” In Mei shou wan nian – Long Life Without End. Festschrift in Honor of Roger Goepper, edited by Jeong-hee Lee-Kalisch, Antje Papist-Matsuo, and Willibald Veit. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006: 181–96.
  • “A First Glance at Early Drigungpa Painting.” In Studies in Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Art. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Tibetan Archaeology & Art, Beijing, September 3–6, 2004, edited by Xie Jisheng, Shen Weirong, and Liao Yang. Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House, 2006: 459–88.
  • “On the Iconography of Tibetan Scroll Paintings (thang ka) Dedicated to the Five Tathāgatas.” In Art in Tibet. Issues in Traditional Tibetan Art from the Seventh to the Twentieth Century. PIATS 2003: Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford 2003, edited by Erberto F. Lo Bue. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2011: 37–51 + pls. 6–12.
  • With Holger Neuwirth. “The Development of the Alchi Temple Complex. An Interdisciplinary Approach.” In Heritage Conservation and Research in India. 60 years of Indo-Austrian collaboration, edited by Gabriela Krist and Tatjana Bayerová. Konservierungswissenschaft, Restaurierung, Technologie, 6. Wien, Weimar: Böhlau, 2010: 79–84.
  • “The Many Faces of Buddha Vairocana.” In The All-Knowing Buddha: A Secret Guide, edited by Jan van Alphen. New York and Antwerp: Rubin Museum of Art and BAI, MAS Books, 2014: 12–23.
  • Heller, Amy. Tibetan Art. Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet 600–2000 A.D. Milan: Jaca Book, 1999. (Reviewed in “Methodological Comments” above.)

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