Three-Storeyed Temple
The Three-Storeyed Temple, or Sumtsek (གསུམ་བརྩེགས་), as its name indicates, is a three-storey building dedicated to a triad of Bodhisattvas and their secondary deities, each housed in a niche. The ground-floor interior measures 5.4 x 5.8 metres, and the niches are 2.1 to 2.7 metres wide and more than four metres high, with the niche in the main wall wider and higher than those in the side walls. Based on an inscribed lineage depicted on the temple’s top floor, which ends with the representation of Drigungpa, who died in 1217, the Sumtsek can safely be dated to around 1220.
Sculptures
The largest Bodhisattva on the back wall, Maitreya, is flanked by Avalokiteśvara (to his right) and Mañjuśrī. In addition to these celebrated large standing Bodhisattvas, each niche contains four secondary deities and two flying goddesses. Many of the secondary deities have been so extensively repaired and altered that their original appearance can no longer be reconstructed, but they can be identified from the information in the temple's foundation inscription.
Each of the Bodhisattvas is dressed in a beautifully decorated dhoti. These dhotis do not display the usual textile patterns but are dedicated to different themes. The dhoti of Avalokiteśvara is decorated with holy places of Kashmir, the one of Maitreya with the Life of the Buddha (see below), and Mañjuśrī with the eighty-plus mahāsiddha. The latter are discussed in an article by Rob Linrothe:
- Linrothe, Rob. “Group Portrait: Mahāsiddhas in the Alchi Sumtsek.” In Embodying Wisdom. Art, Text and Interpretation in the History of Esoteric Buddhism, edited by Rob Linrothe, and Henrik H. Sørensen, 6, 185-208. Copenhagen: The Seminar for Buddhist Studies, 2001.
Photo by Jaroslav Poncar.
Life of the Buddha
The dhoti of the Bodhisattva Maitreya features a painted cycle depicting the life of a Buddha. The scenes are set within a textile pattern of red circular medallions, each 15 centimetres in diameter, on a blue background.
Principally, the scenes of the Buddha’s life are arranged in the opposite direction across the horizontal groups of medallions. The chronological sequence on the dhoti begins below the belt of Maitreya’s right leg and moves downward, while it continues in the opposite direction on the left leg, where it ends at the top. The scenes in the space between the legs are to be read from top to bottom and precede the two final scenes on the left leg.
The majority of the 48 identified scenes are devoted to the events between the last sojourn in Tuṣita heaven and the first sermon in Sarnath. To these 41 episodes, five teaching scenes and two parinirvāṇa scenes are added. While the teaching scenes are prominently located, the parinirvāṇa scenes are almost hidden at the side of Maitreya's left leg (◊ Maitreya's Dhoti).
The depiction of the legend on Maitreya’s dhoti is a unique interpretation of the Buddha’s life that not only incorporates the various authoritative traditions but also hints at the Buddha's true nature in Mahāyāna. The life of a Buddha is nothing but the marvellous dress of a super-human, namely Maitreya, who himself is an emanation of the true nature of a Buddha, represented as Vairocana in his crown.
Pictures
Unique Arrangement
The Sumtsek is the only monument I have come across so far in which the hierarchy of the side panels has been reversed. For example, in the Avalokiteśvara niche, the panel on the left is dedicated to Mahāśānti Tārā, and that on the right to Buddha Amitābha. This reversal can be explained by circumambulation. A circumambulating visitor will first encounter Buddha Amitābha, as he is opposite the direction of circumambulation, and will only see Tārā when turning towards the niche. The other niches in the Sumtsek work the same way, which influences the interpretation of the donor depiction in the Mañjuśrī niche.
Misleading Inscription?
An inscription in the main niche of the temple (Inscription 6 in Denwood 1980) credits its founder, Tsultrim Ö, for commissioning representations of the awakened body, speech, and mind. It associates Mañjuśrī with the nirmāṇakāya and the awakened body, Avalokiteśvara with the saṃbhogakāya and the awakened speech and Maitreya with the dharmakāya and the awakened mind.
However, these associations are difficult to reconcile with the iconographic programme depicted on and around the three main sculptures, which should rather be understood as representing increasingly secret practices within the order of circumambulation. The topics in Avalokiteśvara’s niche reference secular practice, those around Maitreya rebirth, and those around Mañjuśrī highest esoteric practice.