Abounding Visions of Eminent Lives

Nancy G. Lin
Side-by-side depictions of robed figure amid landscape and figures in roundels: at left, black and white outline of image; at right, full color

(left) Fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662), after Choying Gyatso’s (act. 17th century) set of preincarnations of the Panchen Lamas; Eleventh portrait in xylographic series of the Panchen rebirth lineage; Nartang printing house, Tsang region, central Tibet; second quarter of 18th century; woodblock print, ink on paper; printed area: 26 3/16 × 16 1/8 in. (66.5 × 40.9 cm); Tucci Collection of the “Biblioteca IsIAO” – Sala delle collezioni africane e orientali, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale “Vittorio Emanuele II” di Roma; inv. no. 8155/92; photograph by Nancy G. Lin
(right) Fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662), after Choying Gyatso’s (act. 17th century) set of preincarnations of the Panchen Lamas; eleventh portrait in series of the Panchen rebirth lineage, copied from Nartang xylographic design; Tsang region, central Tibet; 18th century; pigments on cloth; 27 × 15½ in. (68.6 × 39.4 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; Gift of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; F1996.21.2 (HAR 477)

Nartang Woodblock Prints and Their Painted Copies: Previous Lives of the Panchen Lamas

Nartang printing house, Tsang region, central Tibet second quarter of 18th century (and a painted copy)

(left) Fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662), after Choying Gyatso’s (act. 17th century) set of preincarnations of the Panchen Lamas; Eleventh portrait in xylographic series of the Panchen rebirth lineage; Nartang printing house, Tsang region, central Tibet; second quarter of 18th century; woodblock print, ink on paper; printed area: 26 3/16 × 16 1/8 in. (66.5 × 40.9 cm); Tucci Collection of the “Biblioteca IsIAO” – Sala delle collezioni africane e orientali, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale “Vittorio Emanuele II” di Roma; inv. no. 8155/92; photograph by Nancy G. Lin
(right) Fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662), after Choying Gyatso’s (act. 17th century) set of preincarnations of the Panchen Lamas; eleventh portrait in series of the Panchen rebirth lineage, copied from Nartang xylographic design; Tsang region, central Tibet; 18th century; pigments on cloth; 27 × 15½ in. (68.6 × 39.4 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; Gift of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; F1996.21.2 (HAR 477)

Summary

Two kinds of “replicating” practices date to the twelfth century in Tibet—the establishment of lineages of lamas via the succession mechanism of reincarnation and woodblock printing. Religious historian Nancy G. Lin studies how images of the past lives of the Panchen Lamas were produced and reproduced by this powerful media technology. Printing allowed copies and adaptations of the original compositions made by a master painter to spread across the Tibetan Buddhist world.

Key Terms

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lamas are a tulku lineage that has played a central role in Tibetan history for the last five hundred years. In 1577 a Mongol khan gave the Geluk monk Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588) the title “Dalai Lama,” combining the Mongolian word for ocean, dalai (a reference to the depth of his knowledge), and the Tibetan word for guru, lama. Later, two previous incarnations were retroactively identified. The fifth incarnation, Ngawang Gyatso (1617–1682), allied with another Mongol khan to unite most of the Tibetan Plateau, forming the Ganden Podrang government that would govern Tibet until 1959. Since the Communist takeover, the current Fourteenth Dalai Lama has lived in exile at Dharamshala in India. The Dalai Lamas are understood to be emanations of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

engraving

Engraving is the process of incising lines, patterns, or writing into the surface of an object, such as a metal or wooden sculpture, or natural surface, such a stone.

Geluk

The Geluk are the most recent of the major “Later Diffusion” traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Founded on the teachings of Tsongkhapa (1357–1419 CE) and his students, the Geluk are known for their emphasis on monastic discipline and the scholastic study of Mahayana philosophy, especially Madhyamaka. In the seventeenth century the Geluk supporting the Dalai Lamas became the largest and most powerful Buddhist tradition in both Tibet and Mongolia, where city-sized Geluk monasteries and their satellites proliferated widely. For long periods, Geluk monks effectively ruled both countries in dual-rulership or priest-patron political systems. A follower of the Geluk is called a Gelukpa.

incarnation

Hindus and Buddhist believe that all beings die and are reborn in new bodies, or “incarnations.” While reincarnation is recognized across the Buddhist world, in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, some important teachers (lamas) are thought to be able to control this process. Their successive incarnations, known as tulkus (emanation bodies), formed incarnation lineages such as Dalai Lamas, Panchen Lamas, Karmapas, and others.

thangka

A thangka is a Tibetan hanging scroll, usually painted on cotton, and then mounted in a silk brocade mount. Thangkas can also be textiles woven or assembled in the appliqué technique. Thangkas are often kept rolled up around a wooden dowel affixed to the bottom end of the silk mounting, which also helps keep the scroll flat when hung. Almost all thangkas show religious subjects. Similar paintings produced in Nepal are called “paubha.”

tulku

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.

During the second quarter of the eighteenth century, the Nartang printing house began issuing a series of block print portraits of the  rebirth lineage (fig. 1). Painstakingly carved in relief on large wooden blocks, then inked and applied to paper or cloth, the xylographic  designs enabled the creation of portrait copies and adaptations in painting or other media. The use of woodblock printing technology to make Buddhist texts and images had begun much earlier, with Tibetan-language texts printed by the mid-twelfth century in Khara-Khoto. Among Tibetans, the practice of recognizing the rebirth lineage (trungrab) or chain of  (kutreng) of an eminent  was nothing new either. Dating to the twelfth century, it was roughly as old as the practice of identifying reincarnating lamas, or , itself. Yet it was not until the golden age of woodblock printing in Tibet in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that rebirth lineage portraits appear to have been adapted into serial xylographic designs, thereby tapping the potential for proliferation, iteration, and authoritative ordering that the technology affords. The Nartang series of Panchen Lama portraits thus abounded in current and older senses of “abounding,” by prevailing widely through circulated copies, bearing a plenitude of magnificent lives and qualities, and setting limits on how those lives were represented.

Iterating through Rebirth and Portraiture

As one of the most eminent and powerful tulkus of the monastic order, the Panchen Lama was a prime subject for a rebirth lineage portrait series. The Panchens are considered emanations of  ; their lineage has been widely regarded as second in importance only to the , and their sphere of authority has extended from Tsang region to the Qing imperial court and beyond. The Fourth Panchen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662), was recognized at an early age as the rebirth of the accomplished scholar Wensapa Lobzang Dondrub. After achieving scholarly fame, he served as abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery, tutored the Fourth and Fifth Dalai Lamas, and was the first in his rebirth lineage to receive the title of Panchen (“greatly learned one”). The Nartang portrait of the Fourth Panchen emphasizes his scholarly accomplishments (fig. 2): he wears a  hat, his right hand performing the gesture () of explication and his left cradling a book. It also attests to key figures in his life, such as his root teacher (lama) Khedrub Chenpo Sanggye Yeshe at his upper left, along with three deities—white , Begtse Chen, and —who are praised in the verse inscription below, together with the Panchen himself. The Maitreya, whom the Panchen reportedly encountered in a vision, floats in a sphere just above his line of sight.

Fig. 2.

Fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662), after Choying Gyatso’s (act. 17th century) set of preincarnations of the Panchen Lamas; eleventh portrait in series of the Panchen rebirth lineage, copied from Nartang xylographic design; Tsang region, central Tibet; 18th century; pigments on cloth; 27 × 15½ in. (68.6 × 39.4 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; Gift of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; F1996.21.2 (HAR 477)

A painted copy in the Rubin Museum collection retains the block print’s figures and design details while skillfully executing line, pattern, color, and shading for a vivid and legible effect (fig. 3). Other copies demonstrate that the Nartang designs were accepted as authoritative visual representations of the Panchen’s lives and their social networks. In some cases, painters applied color directly to the xylographic design printed onto the prepared cotton ground of a thangka; in others a combination of tracing, stenciling, and pouncing techniques may have been employed in order to preserve the xylograph print.

Fig. 3.

Fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662), after Choying Gyatso’s (act. 17th century) set of preincarnations of the Panchen Lamas; eleventh portrait in xylographic series of the Panchen rebirth lineage; Nartang printing house, Tsang region, central Tibet; second quarter of 18th century; woodblock print, ink on paper; printed area: 26 3/16 × 16 1/8 in. (66.5 × 40.9 cm); Tucci Collection of the “Biblioteca IsIAO” – Sala delle collezioni africane e orientali, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale “Vittorio Emanuele II” di Roma; inv. no. 8155/92; photograph by Nancy G. Lin

While spiritually advanced tulkus were considered capable of emanating in myriad forms, rebirth lineages highlighted and fixed their most noteworthy past lives. A lineage could emphasize aspects of the tulku’s personality, physical appearance, abilities, and fields of activity, as well as networks and relations with human and nonhuman beings. The first eleven members of the Panchen rebirth lineage portrayed in the Nartang series appear to have been set during the Fourth Panchen’s lifetime. Like other rebirth lineages, his is traced back to the time and place of , with the Subhuti as the Panchen’s earliest named preincarnation (fig. 4). Other preincarnations include Manjushriyashas, a mythical Kalki king of (fig. 5); Bhaviveka, a distinguished Indic philosopher (fig. 6); Go Lotsawa Khukpa Lhetse (ca. eleventh century), a Tibetan translator and disciple of Atisha (fig. 7); and Sakya Pandita, the eminent monastic scholar whose relations with the Mongol prince Köten (Godan, fl. 1235–1247) set the precedent for preceptor-almsgiver (choyon) relations (fig. 8). By appearing in the Panchen’s rebirth lineage, such figures resonate with elements for which the Fourth and other Panchens are renowned, including intellectual brilliance, relations with Mongols and other Buddhist patrons outside Tibet, and a predicted future rebirth as a millenarian king of Shambhala who will restore the buddhas’ teachings.

Monk seated at bank of rushing river extends right hand to serpent deities swimming in water
Fig. 4

Subhuti (Rabjor), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Monarch encircled by fluttering scarves sits in forecourt of magnificent building and addresses throng of people
Fig. 5

Manjushriyashas (Jampel Drak), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Bearded philosopher sits on riverside porch and recoils from grey-skinned figure at right
Fig. 6

Bhaviveka (Lekden Je, ca. 500–ca. 578), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Translator wearing sumptuous orange robe sits before pupils at their books beneath towering mountain range
Fig. 7

Go Lotsawa Khukpa Lhetse (11th century), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Monk seated on blue throne extends right hand to grey-skinned figure at bottom right
Fig. 8

Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen (1182–1251), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Serial Modeling and Proliferation

A golden thangka (sertang) portraying the Fourth Panchen as its main subject surrounded by smaller portraits of his ten preincarnations is attributed by handwritten inscription to Choying Gyatso (act. seventeenth century) (fig. 9), a master painter who carried out many artistic commissions on behalf of the Fourth Panchen. According to a later source, Choying Gyatso also designed a series of portraits of the Fourth Panchen’s chain of incarnations; these likely served as models for the Nartang xylographic designs (see all portraits at bottom of this page). His virtuosic work is marked by energetic and variegated displays that feature emotionally expressive and dynamically postured figures. The Nartang designs of the first eleven Panchen lineage members evince these interests, rendering most of the main portrait subjects in a three-quarters pose facing the thangka placed in the center (fig. 10). Even Sakya Pandita (fig. 11) and Yungton Dorje Pel (fig. 12), who face the viewer directly, strike dramatically animated poses.

Saffron-colored painting mounted on orange and yellow brocade depicting seated Lama surrounded by small figures
Fig. 9

Attributed by inscription to Choying Gyatso (act. 17th century); Fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662), with previous incarnations; Tsang region, central Tibet; mid-17th century; gold thangka; ground mineral pigment on cotton; 27½ ×16 1/8 in (70 × 41 cm); Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse, Tibet; image after Xizang zizhiqu wenwu guanli weiyuan hui 2007 [1985], pl. 75

 

Lama seated on throne with orange cloud-motif backrest amidst portraits of Buddha, wrathful deities, and lamas
Fig. 10

Sixth Panchen Lobzang Pelden Yeshe (1738–1780), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Monk seated on blue throne extends right hand to grey-skinned figure at bottom right
Fig. 11

Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen (1182–1251), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Disciple in tremulous saffron robe inclines head and extends right hand towards monstrous deity at right
Fig. 12

Yungton Dorje Pel (1284–1365), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

The initial set of Nartang designs most likely concluded with a stiffer en face portrait of the Fifth Panchen placed in the central position for mounted display, with the others radiating outward in an alternating right and left pattern. The set was sponsored by his students, as the inscription notes, and may have been carved either before or after his death in 1737. The next iteration of the Nartang series was produced after the Sixth Panchen’s death in Beijing in 1780, borrowing elements of imperial court portraits made during his visit to design his en face portrait, and adding a portrait of the Fifth Panchen in three-quarter pose that could be shifted to the outer edge of the arrangement (fig. 13). The process was repeated once more with the Seventh Panchen Tenpai Nyima in about 1853.

Lama enthroned outside of building complex on mountain spur, surrounded by deity and lama portraits
Fig. 13.

Fifth Panchen Lobzang Yeshe (1663–1737), one of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; cat. nos. 70.2/1216–1228; Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History

Infinitely reproducible and extendable, the Nartang Panchen series proliferated through copies and adaptations, perpetuating traditions and creating opportunities for media adaptation, display, and diplomatic and karmic relations. Many copies are painted in the Tsangri style, one of the regionally based successors of the new Menri painting tradition that Choying Gyatso founded. The Rubin thangka is a fine example (fig. 2), featuring sinuous pink clouds and distinctively shaded white clouds against a mostly dark blue sky. The Sixth Panchen sent a painted set to the Qing court in 1770, which was adapted into different media, including multiple sets of  (moke) that outfitted the walls of various sites in  and Rehe (present-day ). Another unusual adaptation of the Nartang Panchen lineage portraits in about 1780 utilized the painting and poetry format of classical Chinese album leaves. In concert with two other albums portraying rebirth lineages of the Third Changkya Rolpai Dorje (1717–1786) and the Qianlong emperor (1711–1799), the Panchen album worked to recall, articulate, and strengthen karmic affinities among these three prominent figures of  and China and their wider networks. In 1934 a Chinese Republican government representative gave a set of scrolls based on the Nartang designs, woven at a silk factory in Hangzhou, to the Ninth Panchen during one of his visits to China. This set was displayed at the controversial 1995 enthronement of Gyeltsen Norbu as the Eleventh Panchen at Tashilhunpo, alongside a photographic head shot of the Tenth Panchen.

The Panchen series was but one of numerous important projects issued by the Nartang printing house in the eighteenth century. In 1742 an edition of the Tibetan Buddhist canon was completed there, followed in 1747 by xylographic sets of the Wish-Fulfilling Vine of Bodhisattva Legends (Bodhisattvavadanakalpalata) of Kshemendra in thirty-one thangkas, the life of Tsongkhapa in fifteen thangkas, and the sixteen arhats in seven thangkas. These large-scale projects were sponsored by the family of Miwang Polhane Sonam Tobgye, who ruled central and western Tibet from 1728 to 1750. As their visual authority has only been enhanced through prodigious reproduction, circulation, and adaptation, the appeal of such woodblock prints has endured for patrons, makers, and users who wish to claim or partake in the authority, charisma, and technical and aesthetic mastery these works embody.

Prescribed arrangement for Panchen Lama rebirth lineage portraits, set of thirteen thangkas copied from Nartang xylographic designs; Tibet; 19th century; ground mineral pigment on cotton; dimensions vary, painted area of central thangka (Sixth Panchen) 26-7/8 × 16¼ in. (68.3 × 41.2 cm); American Museum of Natural History, New York; 70.2/1216–1228; photographs courtesy the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History; design courtesy Wen-shing Chou

Individual Portraits (Left to Right)

1: Fourth Panchen Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1567–1662), 2: [Second Panchen] Sonam Choklang (1439–1504), 3: Yungton Dorje Pel (1284–1365) 4: Go Lotsawa Khukpa Lhetse (11th century), 5: Bhaviveka (Lekden Je, ca. 500–ca. 578), 6: Subhuti (Rabjor), 7: Sixth Panchen Lobzang Pelden Yeshe (1738–1780), 8: Manjushriyashas (Jampel Drak), 9: Abhayakaragupta (Jigme Jungne Bapa, d. 1125), 10: Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen (1182–1251), 11: [First Panchen] Khedrubje Gelek Pelzang (1385–1438), 12: [Third Panchen] Wensapa Lobzang Dondrub (1505–1566), 13: Fifth Panchen Lobzang Yeshe (1663–1737)

Square brackets indicate retroactively applied titles.

Footnotes
1

Agnieszka Helman-Ważny, The Archaeology of Tibetan Books, Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 36 (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 121–23, 68, fig. 28.

2

José Ignacio Cabezón, “On Tulku Lineages,” Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines 38, no. February (2017): 4–6, 14–16.

3

Because the “Panchen” title was first applied to his tulku lineage during his lifetime, Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen is numbered as the first Panchen in an alternate system. This essay follows the numeration of Tashilhunpo, which retroactively added the Panchen title to three prior incarnations.

4

See, for example, Fabienne Jagou, “The Panchen Lamas and the Dalai Lamas: A Questionable Master-Disciple Relationship,” in The Dalai Lamas: A Visual History, ed. Martin Brauen (Chicago: Serindia, 2005), 202–11, fig. 199; Wang Jiapeng 王家鵬, Gugong Tangka Tudian 故宮唐卡圖典 [Thangka Paintings in the Collection of the Palace Museum] (Beijing: Gugong chubanshe, 2010), pl. 30; 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), 375, 378–79n853; David Jackson and Janice A. Jackson, Tibetan Thangka Painting: Methods and Materials, 2nd ed. (London: Serindia, 1988), 71–73.

5

José Ignacio Cabezón, “On Tulku Lineages,” Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines 38, no. February (2017): 9–11; Nancy G. Lin, “Recounting the Fifth Dalai Lama’s Rebirth Lineage,” Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 38 (February) (2017): 144–45; Wen-shing Chou and Nancy G. Lin, “Karmic Affinities: Rethinking Relations among Tibetan Lamas and the Qing Emperor,” in Water Moon Reflections: Essays in Honor of Patricia Berger, ed. Ellen Huang et al. (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2021).

6

Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan and Panchen IV, Paṇ Chen Blo Bzang Chos Kyi Rgyal Mtshan Gyi Gsung Rtsom, 5 vols. (Beijing: Krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2009), 1:337–39; cf. 1:428–59. http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW1PD177557. The lineage members from Khedrubje Ge to Wensapa Lobzang Dondrub may have been recognized as a chain of incarnations before the Fourth Panchen’s lifetime; see Peter Schwieger, The Dalai Lama and the Emperor of Tibet: A Political History of the Tibetan Institution of Reincarnation (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015), 24.

7

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), 233–34 pl. 45. 

8

Patricia Berger, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003), 172–76. 

9

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), 234–43; cf. Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls, 3 vols. (Reprint, Bangkok: SDI Publications, 1949) 1999, 2:416.

10

Patricia Berger, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003), pl. 16; figs. 57, 60; 176–77.

11

David P. Jackson, The Place of Provenance: Regional Styles in Tibetan Painting, Exhibition catalog, Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series 4 (New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2012), 62-64, https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/place_of_provenance_96.

12

Patricia Berger, “Reincarnation in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction: The Career of the Narthang Panchen Lama Portraits,” in Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries, ed. Monica Esposito, vol. 2, Études thématiques 22, 2008,  736; Wen-shing Chou, Mount Wutai: Visions of a Sacred Buddhist Mountain (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 82, 95–96; Wang Jiapeng 王家鵬, Gugong Tangka Tudian 故宮唐卡圖典 [Thangka Paintings in the Collection of the Palace Museum] (Beijing: Gugong chubanshe, 2010), pls. 21–30.

13

Wen-shing Chou, Mount Wutai: Visions of a Sacred Buddhist Mountain (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 94–119; Wen-shing Chou and Nancy G. Lin, “Karmic Affinities: Rethinking Relations among Tibetan Lamas and the Qing Emperor,” in Water Moon Reflections: Essays in Honor of Patricia Berger, ed. Ellen Huang et al. (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2021).

14

Patricia Berger, “Reincarnation in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction: The Career of the Narthang Panchen Lama Portraits,” in Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries, ed. Monica Esposito, vol. 2, Études thématiques 22, 2008,  738–45.

15

Nancy G. Lin, “Adapting the Buddha’s Biographies: A Cultural History of the Wish-Fulfilling Vine in Tibet, Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries” (PhD diss., Berkeley, University of California, 2011), 68–72.

Further Reading

Berger, Patricia. 2008. “Reincarnation in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction: The Career of the Narthang Panchen Lama Portraits.” In Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Monica Esposito, vol. 2, 727–45. Études thématiques 22. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient.

Chou, Wen-shing, and Nancy G. Lin. 2021. “Karmic Affinities: Rethinking Relations among Tibetan Lamas and the Qing Emperor.” In Water Moon Reflections: Essays in Honor of Patricia Berger, edited by Ellen Huang, Nancy G. Lin, Michelle McCoy, and Michelle H. Wang. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies.

Jackson, David P. 1996. “gTsang-pa Chos-dbyings-rgya-mtsho and His New sMan-ris.” In A History of Tibetan Painting: The Great Tibetan Painters and Their Traditions. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 242. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Citation

Nancy G. Lin, “Nartang Woodblock Prints and Their Painted Copies: Previous Lives of the Panchen Lamas: Abounding Visions of Eminent Lives,” Project Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art, 2023, http://rubinmuseum.org/projecthimalayanart/essays/nartang-woodblock-prints-and-their-painted-copies-previous-lives-of-the-panchen-lamas.

Dalai Lama

Language:
Mongolian,Tibetan

The Dalai Lamas are a tulku lineage that has played a central role in Tibetan history for the last five hundred years. In 1577 a Mongol khan gave the Geluk monk Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588) the title “Dalai Lama,” combining the Mongolian word for ocean, dalai (a reference to the depth of his knowledge), and the Tibetan word for guru, lama. Later, two previous incarnations were retroactively identified. The fifth incarnation, Ngawang Gyatso (1617–1682), allied with another Mongol khan to unite most of the Tibetan Plateau, forming the Ganden Podrang government that would govern Tibet until 1959. Since the Communist takeover, the current Fourteenth Dalai Lama has lived in exile at Dharamshala in India. The Dalai Lamas are understood to be emanations of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

engraving

Engraving is the process of incising lines, patterns, or writing into the surface of an object, such as a metal or wooden sculpture, or natural surface, such a stone.

Geluk

Language:
Tibetan

The Geluk are the most recent of the major “Later Diffusion” traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Founded on the teachings of Tsongkhapa (1357–1419 CE) and his students, the Geluk are known for their emphasis on monastic discipline and the scholastic study of Mahayana philosophy, especially Madhyamaka. In the seventeenth century the Geluk supporting the Dalai Lamas became the largest and most powerful Buddhist tradition in both Tibet and Mongolia, where city-sized Geluk monasteries and their satellites proliferated widely. For long periods, Geluk monks effectively ruled both countries in dual-rulership or priest-patron political systems. A follower of the Geluk is called a Gelukpa.

incarnation

Alternate terms:
reincarnation, rebirth

Hindus and Buddhist believe that all beings die and are reborn in new bodies, or “incarnations.” While reincarnation is recognized across the Buddhist world, in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, some important teachers (lamas) are thought to be able to control this process. Their successive incarnations, known as tulkus (emanation bodies), formed incarnation lineages such as Dalai Lamas, Panchen Lamas, Karmapas, and others.

thangka

Language:
Tibetan

A thangka is a Tibetan hanging scroll, usually painted on cotton, and then mounted in a silk brocade mount. Thangkas can also be textiles woven or assembled in the appliqué technique. Thangkas are often kept rolled up around a wooden dowel affixed to the bottom end of the silk mounting, which also helps keep the scroll flat when hung. Almost all thangkas show religious subjects. Similar paintings produced in Nepal are called “paubha.”

tulku

Language:
Tibetan
Alternate terms:
rebirth lineage, chain of reincarnations

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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