A Ming Dynasty Monastery at the Sino-Tibetan Frontier

Aurelia Campbell

Aerial wide view of building complex in square shape; dozens of constituent structures with sloping, tiled roofs

Qutansi (Gautama Monastery), arial view; Drotsang, Tsongkha, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu county, Qinghai Province, China); 1393–1427; photograph by Xie Jisheng

Qutan Monastery (Drotsang Dorje Chang)

Drotsang, Tsongkha, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu county, Qinghai Province, China) 1392–1427

Qutansi (Gautama Monastery), arial view; Drotsang, Tsongkha, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu county, Qinghai Province, China); 1393–1427; photograph by Xie Jisheng

Summary

To maintain good relations with Tibetan and Mongolian neighbors on its turbulent frontiers, the Ming dynasty supported Tibetan monasteries. Architectural historian Aurelia Campbell explores Qutan Monastery in the region where Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese populations intersect. Founded by a Tibetan monk, it was built by imperial artisans following Chinese palatial architecture. Inside the halls Tibetan Buddhist murals form a mandala, and outside Chinese depictions illustrate the lives of the Buddha.

Key Terms

bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a being who has made a vow to become a buddha or awakened. In the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, many bodhisattvas are understood as deities with enormous powers who delay their final enlightenment, remaining in the phenomenal world to help suffering beings. Among such great bodhisattvas are Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Vajrapani, and Maitreya.

Kagyu

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.

patronage

A practice of hiring and commissioning artists to create works of art. In religious context patrons were often rulers, religious leaders, as well as ordinary people. (see also donor)

Sakya

Sakya is the name of a monastery and of a major tradition of Tibetan Buddhism that originated there during the Later Diffusion of Buddhism. Sakya Monastery was the seat of power during Sakya-Mongol rule in Tibet (1260–1350s), founded on the priest-patron relationship. Notable Sakya figures include Sakya Pandita (1182–1251), who played an instrumental role in establishing Tibetan relations with the Mongols; Drogon Chogyel Pakpa (1234-1280), who served as Qubilai Khan’s imperial preceptor and invented the Pakpa Script; and Buton (1290–1364), who compiled the Tibetan Canon. The Sakya are particularly known for their Lamdre teachings. In the 1350s, Pakmodru replaced the Sakya political prominence.

Tibetan Buddhism

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.

Vajravali

The Vajravali is a collection of esoteric teachings on mandala construction written by the Indian monk Abhayakaragupta (eleventh to twelfth centuries). The Vajravali was the first attempt to systematize and provide iconographic guides for the mandalas used in various Vajrayana tantras, which were widely transmitted in Tibet.

Ming Dynasty

The Ming dynasty was a Chinese state that existed from 1368 to 1644 CE. The Ming founder, Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398), led an army that defeated the Yuan dynasty of the Mongol Empire and restored ethnic Chinese rule in China. Unlike the Mongols before them or the Qing dynasty after them the Ming never seriously attempted to rule the Tibetan regions, preferring instead to manage border affairs by granting titles and trading rights to friendly Tibetan monks and secular leaders. Nevertheless, several early Ming emperors had close personal relations with Tibetan lamas, and relations of trade and cultural interchange flourished between Chinese and Tibetan regions.

Qutansi (Gautama Monastery) is a well-preserved Tibetan Buddhist located near in Qinghai, China, and , Tibet, a borderland region where Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese populations intersect. The monastery’s name in Tibetan, Drotsang Dorje Chang, refers to Buddha Vajradhara, to whom the temple was dedicated. Founded by a Tibetan in about 1392, Qutansi was constructed over a period of approximately thirty-five years with support from three powerful early  emperors, Hongwu (r. 1368–1398), Yongle (r. 1402–1424), and Xuande (r. 1425–1435). These emperors sent artisans from the imperial court to manage the construction and decoration of the monastery’s sumptuous halls, along with numerous luxurious objects created in the imperial workshops to furnish them. They also had carvings made on stone stele of several edicts, in Chinese and Tibetan, outlining the terms of their support and reasons for their , which still stand at the monastery. Their main motivations for supporting Qutansi were to bring peace to and help control the politically unstable Sino-Tibetan borderlands, as well as to use it as an imperial lineage temple in which the resident lamas could pray for the long life of the dynastic line. Qutansi was just one of several temples supported by the Ming court in the northern Amdo Sino-Tibetan frontier. Taken as a whole, the buildings, objects, and murals at Qutansi constitute our most comprehensive surviving record of imperial Tibetan Buddhist art from the early Ming dynasty.  

Ming Imperial Patronage

Qutansi was founded shortly before 1393, when a Tibetan Buddhist lama named Sanggye Tashi (d. 1414) traveled from Amdo to the first Ming capital in , bearing horses as tribute, in order to request imperial protection for his newly established Buddhist temple. Earlier, Sanggye Tashi had persuaded the disbanded followers of a Mongol  loyalist in to submit to the Ming, thereby helping to stabilize the politically turbulent borderland area. Recognizing the lama’s important role as a peacekeeper in the northwest, Hongwu granted him protection of the temple along with its name, Qutansi, which was carved in the emperor’s calligraphy on a signboard that still hangs from the front eaves of the temple’s founding hall, Qutandian (Gautama Hall) (fig. 2). Hongwu’s support of Qutansi constitutes one of the earliest signs of the Ming court’s interest in and reveals an awareness of potential for exercising political control in the Tibetan frontier.

Panel featuring three Chinese characters in gold against red background, flanked by two deity portraits
Fig. 2. Signboard hanging from the front eaves of Qutandian (Gautama Hall) with the name of the monastery, Qutansi, written in the Hongwu emperor’s calligraphy; China; 1393; wood, paint, and lacquer; photograph by Aurelia Campbell, 2009
Fig 3

The location of Qutan Monastery relative to important locations and regions in the Sino-Tibetan borderlands during the Ming dynasty

Ming imperial patronage of Qutansi reached its height in the reign of Yongle, a fervent supporter of Tibetan Buddhism. Yongle invited three of the highest-ranking Tibetan hierarchs from Tibet to the Ming capitals in Nanjing and Beijing to serve as his personal Buddhist masters and perform for him powerful esoteric rituals and . He also hosted hundreds of lesser-ranking Tibetan lamas in Beijing, including Sanggye Tashi’s eldest nephew, Pelden Zangpo, whom he appointed to the position of abbot of Qutansi in 1408. Yongle seems to have developed a particular affinity for Pelden Zangpo, bestowing illustrious titles and lavishing high praise on him in three edicts that he sent to Qutansi. In the third edict, dated 1418, Yongle gifted Pelden Zangpo with a (now destroyed) “” golden Buddha image created for a newly completed hall, Baoguangdian (Hall of Jewel Light), at the monastery. 

Imperial construction at Qutansi culminated in the reign of Xuande, Yongle’s grandson, with the completion of the monastery’s largest hall, Longguodian (Hall of Dynastic Prosperity), in 1427. This hall had been part of Yongle’s vision for the temple, but he died before it was finished. To furnish the hall, Xuande sent a magnificent tablet inscribed with the words “Long Live the Emperor” in Chinese, Tibetan, and on the front and the names of three eunuchs who supervised the building project on the back (fig. 4). Textual records indicate that he also sent a large statue of Buddha Vajradhara (no longer extant) to be installed as the hall’s central image. Xuande was completing the architectural project according to his grandfather’s wishes.

Black panel featuring inscription in Tibetan, Chinese, and Sanskrit; supported by polycrome gilt frame and stone base
Fig. 4.

“Long Live the Emperor” Tablet; China; 1427; nanmu wood, lacquer, and stone; height 78 3/4 in. (200 cm); Longguodian (Hall of Dynastic Prospertity), Quantsi; Drotsang, Tsongka, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu county, Qinghai Province, China); image after Qinghai sheng wenhua ting, Qutansi, 195

Monastery Layout, Decorative Program, and Significant Objects

Qutansi follows a traditional Chinese architectural style, with timber- frame halls capped with ceramic tile roofs aligned along an axis. The first hall along the main axis, Jingangdian ( Hall), formed the monastery’s entrance for most of its history; in the twentieth century, a new main gate, along with two stele pavilions, was added in front of it. Aligned behind Jingangdian are Qutandian, Baoguangdian, and Longguodian. Longguodian is a magnificent structure of the highest order within the Ming architectural system, possessing a massive hipped roof, complex bracket sets, and corridors on both sides that connect to bell and drum towers (fig. 5). This form was generally used only in imperial palace halls, including Fengtiandian (Hall of Revering Heaven; later known as Taihedian, Hall of Supreme Harmony), the largest hall in the Ming Forbidden City. The monastic complex is enclosed by a covered arcade and, until modern times, was surrounded with a thick earthen fortification to prevent attacks. 

Comprehensive view of courtyard dominated by multi-story building featuring woodwork balustrade and sloping roofline
Fig. 5.

Longguodian (Hall of Dynastic Prosperity), flanked by bell and drum towers, Qutansi; Drotsang, Tsongkha, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu County, Qinghai Province, China); 1427; photograph by Aurelia Campbell, 2017

One of Qutansi’s most remarkable features is its more than five thousand square feet (five hundred square meters) of original wall paintings. The murals in the three main halls were mainly executed in a Sino-Tibetan style popular during the Mongol Yuan period (1271–1368) and depict deities belonging to the and traditions. Of particular importance is a complete set of the forty-three deities of the Manjuvajra from the eleventh-century collection of esoteric teachings Vajravali(Diamond Garland) in Qutandian—our earliest example of imagery related to this text in Amdo. Baoguangdian contains the first ring of ten deities from the forty-three-deity Manjuvajra mandala, as well as rare portraits of the Second , Khacho Wangpo (1350–1405); the Fifth , Dezhin Shekpa (1384–1415); and Pelden Zangpo, who by painting himself alongside these two important hierarchs was claiming to belong to their illustrious lineage (figs. 6, 7, and 8). The walls of the arcade surrounding the monastic complex are covered in murals of the Buddha’s life and past lives, done in the Chinese blue-and-green landscape style, which date to the Ming and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties (fig. 9). 

Detail of water-stained mural featuring yellow-robed figure seated above field with floral motif
Fig. 6

Paintings of the Second Zharmapa, Khacho Wangpo; Pelden Zangpo; and the Fifth Karmapa, Dezhin Shekpa, in Baoguangdian (Hall of Jewel Light), Qutansi; Drotsang, Tsongkha, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu County, Qinghai Province, China); 1418; wall painting; photograph by Chung Tzu-yin

Detail of mural featuring yellow-robed figure crossing hands holding vajras at chest, seated on lotus
Fig. 7

Paintings of the Second Zharmapa, Khacho Wangpo; Pelden Zangpo; and the Fifth Karmapa, Dezhin Shekpa, in Baoguangdian (Hall of Jewel Light), Qutansi; Drotsang, Tsongkha, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu County, Qinghai Province, China); 1418; wall painting; photograph by Chung Tzu-yin

Detail of mural in subdued tones featuring orange-robed figure seated above field with floral motif
Fig. 8

Paintings of the Second Zharmapa, Khacho Wangpo; Pelden Zangpo; and the Fifth Karmapa, Dezhin Shekpa, in Baoguangdian (Hall of Jewel Light), Qutansi; Drotsang, Tsongkha, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu County, Qinghai Province, China); 1418; wall painting; photograph by Chung Tzu-yin

Figures crowd around bed supporting red-robed figure in center of landscape featuring duos conversing and floating on clouds
Fig. 9

Detail of blue-and-green landscape-style paintings of the life of the Buddha in the covered corridors that surround the monastic complex of Qutansi; Drotsang, Tsongkha, Amdo region, eastern Tibet (present-day Ledu County, Qinghai Province, China); Ming and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties; photograph by Aurelia Campbell, 2009

Unfortunately, nearly all of the monastery’s original statuary program—including the “self-arisen” Buddha image gifted by Yongle and the large image of bestowed by Xuande—were destroyed during the (1966–1976). The only exception is an exquisite gilt-bronze statue of a inscribed on the lotus base with the words, “Donated in the reign of Yongle of the great Ming dynasty” in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese (fig. 10). Several objects inscribed with the reign dates of later Ming emperors reveal that imperial patronage continued throughout the rest of the dynasty, though it never again reached the glory of the early fifteenth century. 

Qutansi after the Ming

By the , Qutansi had fallen into significant decline, primarily suffering from the growing competition from the monasteries of Tsongkhapa’s (1357–1419) tradition beginning in the sixteenth century. At its height in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the monastery housed more than five hundred monks; by the Qing, this number had been reduced to about three hundred; and in 1915 only sixty or so monks resided at the monastery. It was not until the 1980s that Qutansi’s buildings and furnishings were restored and the monastery was opened for tourism.

Footnotes
1

Hongxi 洪熙 (r. 1424–1425) also sent an edict to the monastery during his short reign. The stele inscriptions are all transcribed in Wu Jingshan 吳景山, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi Jianzhu Yanjiu青海樂都瞿曇寺建築研究 [Research on the Architecture of Qinghai Ledu Qutan Monastery],” Zhongguo Zangxue 中国藏学 / China Tibetology 1, no. 95 (2011): 106–21.

2

Aurelia Campbell, “From Mandala to Palace: Transforming Space and Site at Gautama Monastery,” in What the Emperor Built: Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020), 142–44, 159–63. 

3

For instance, Xuande constructed a grand monastery called Dachongjiaosi 大崇教寺 (no longer extant) in Minzhou, Gansu Province, not far from Qutansi. See Aurelia Campbell, “From Mandala to Palace: Transforming Space and Site at Gautama Monastery,” in What the Emperor Built: Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020), 161–62; Debreczeny 2003, 57–58. The Chenghua emperor (r. 1447–1487) patronized Honghuasi 弘化寺in Minhe, Qinghai Province. According to Otosaka Tomoko, this monastery served as a local power base to defend against the Mongols, who were gaining power in the region. 

4

Ming Taizu Gao Huangdi shilu 明太祖高皇帝實錄, juan 卷225. See Xie Zuo 謝佐, Qutansi 瞿曇寺 [Qutan Monastery] (Xining: Qinghai renmin chubanshe, 1998), 10–12, for more on Sanggye Tashi.

5

Elliot Sperling, “Tibetan Buddhism, Perceived and Imagined, along the Ming-Era Sino-Tibetan Frontier,” in Buddhism Between Tibet and China, ed. Matthew T. Kapstein (Boston: Wisdom, 2009), 156.

6

The first was the Fifth Karmapa, Dezhin Shekpa (1384–1415), who stayed in Nanjing from 1407 to 1408; the second was Kunga Tashi (1349–1425), who stayed from 1413 to 1414; and the third was Shakya Yeshe (1354–1435), who stayed from 1415 to 1416. See Chen Qingying 陈庆英, “Lun Ming Chao Dui Zang Chuan Fo Jiao de Guan Li 論明朝對藏傳佛教的管理 [Discussing the Ming Court’s Management of Tibetan Buddhism],” Zhongguo Zangxue 中国藏学 / China Tibetology 3 (2000): 57–74; Elliot Sperling, “Early Ming Policy toward Tibet: An Examination of the Proposition That the Early Ming Emperors Adopted a ‘Divide and Rule’ Policy toward Tibet” (PhD diss., Indiana University, 1983).

7

“Qutansi Yongle liunian huangdi chiyu bei” 瞿曇寺永樂六年皇帝敕諭碑 (1408). Transcribed in Wu Jingshan 吳景山, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi Jianzhu Yanjiu青海樂都瞿曇寺建築研究 [Research on the Architecture of Qinghai Ledu Qutan Monastery],” Zhongguo Zangxue 中国藏学 / China Tibetology 1, no. 95 (2011): 108.

8

“Yuzhi Qutan si jin foxiang bei 御制瞿曇寺金佛像碑” (1418). Transcribed in Wu Jingshan 吳景山, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi Jianzhu Yanjiu青海樂都瞿曇寺建築研究 [Research on the Architecture of Qinghai Ledu Qutan Monastery],” Zhongguo Zangxue 中国藏学 / China Tibetology 1, no. 95 (2011): 110. See also Aurelia Campbell, “From Mandala to Palace: Transforming Space and Site at Gautama Monastery,” in What the Emperor Built: Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020), 140–42.

9

In an edict Xuande sent to the monastery, he states that he built the hall in order to “fulfill the wishes of his grandfather.” Xie Zuo 謝佐, Qutansi 瞿曇寺 [Qutan Monastery] (Xining: Qinghai renmin chubanshe, 1998), 96–100.

10

Xie Zuo 謝佐, “Qutansi Bukao 瞿曇寺補考 [Supplementary Investigation of Qutan Monastery],” Qinghai Minzu Daxue Xuebao 1 (1981): 56. 

11

Wu Jun 吳均 and Mao Jizu 毛繼祖, Anduo Zheng Jiao Shi 安多正教史 [History of the Dharma in Amdo], trans. Ma Shilin 馬世林 (Lanzhou: Gansu minzu chubanshe, 1989), 168.

12

Aurelia Campbell, “From Mandala to Palace: Transforming Space and Site at Gautama Monastery,” in What the Emperor Built: Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020), 156–58.

13

Following the completion of the monastery in the Xuande period, fifty-two soldiers were sent to guard it. In this respect, the monastery functioned as a kind of military garrison. Xie Zuo 謝佐, Qutansi 瞿曇寺 [Qutan Monastery] (Xining: Qinghai renmin chubanshe, 1998), 105.

14

Chung Tzu-yin 鍾子寅, “Chongtan Qinghai Qutansi Zhi Qutandian (Yi): ‘Pilu Huanhua Wangxu’ ‘Wenshu Jingang 43 Mantula’ Wanzheng Zuo Li de Xin Faxian Ji Qi Yishu Shi Zhi Yiyi” 重探青海瞿曇寺之瞿曇殿 (一):《毗盧幻化網續》‘文殊金剛43尊曼荼羅’ 完整作例的新發現及其藝術史之意義 [Reassessing the Gautama Hall in Gautama Monastery, Qinghai, Part One: The Discovery of a Complete 43-Deity Mañjuvajra Mandala Derived from the Māyājāla-Tantra (RNam Snag Sgyu Dra’i Rgyud) and Its Significance in Tibetan Art],” Meishu Xue 29 (2014): 161–244; Chung Tzu-yin 鍾子寅, “Chongtan Qinghai Qutansi Zhi Qutandian (Er): Zangchuan Fojiao ‘Jingangman’ Jiaofa Zai Mingchu Anduo Diqu Chuanbo de Xin Faxian” 重探青海瞿曇寺之瞿曇殿 (二): 藏傳佛教《金剛鬘》教法在明初安多地區傳播的新發現 [Reassessing the Qutan Hall in Qutan Monastery, Qinghai, Part Two: The Visual Evidence of Vajrāvali (RDo Rje Phreng b) in Early-Ming Amdo],” The National Palace Museum Research Quarterly 32, no. 4 (2015): 143–218.

15

Pelden Zangpo visited the Ming court in Nanjing in 1407, when the Fifth Karmapa was temporarily residing there at the invitation of the Yongle emperor. It is possible that he received teachings of the Vajravali from the Fifth Karmapa at this time. The Fifth Karmapa had, in turn, studied the Vajravali with the Second Zhamarpa since the age of four. Chung Tzu-yin 鍾子寅, “Chongtan Qinghai Qutansi Zhi Qutandian (Yi): ‘Pilu Huanhua Wangxu’ ‘Wenshu Jingang 43 Mantula’ Wanzheng Zuo Li de Xin Faxian Ji Qi Yishu Shi Zhi Yiyi” 重探青海瞿曇寺之瞿曇殿 (一):《毗盧幻化網續》‘文殊金剛43尊曼荼羅’ 完整作例的新發現及其藝術史之意義 [Reassessing the Gautama Hall in Gautama Monastery, Qinghai, Part One: The Discovery of a Complete 43-Deity Mañjuvajra Mandala Derived from the Māyājāla-Tantra (RNam Snag Sgyu Dra’i Rgyud) and Its Significance in Tibetan Art],” Meishu Xue 29 (2014):  193. See George N. Roerich, The Blue Annals, 2 vols. (Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1949), 507, for the record of the Fifth Karmapa being taught by the Second Zhamarpa.

16

The covered arcade around the second courtyard was probably constructed in the fifteenth year of the Yongle period (1418), alongside Baoguangdian, while the corridors around the rear courtyard were probably constructed in the second year of the Xuande period (1427), alongside Longguodian. Xie Jisheng 謝繼勝 and Liao Yang 廖旸, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi Baoguangdian Yu Longguodian Bihua Neirong Bianshi 青海樂都瞿曇寺寶光殿與隆國殿壁畫內容辨識 [Identifying the Content of the Wall Paintings in Baoguang Hall and Longguo Hall of Qutan Monastery],” Meishu Shi Yanjiu 3 (2006): 23–30; Qian Zhengkun 錢正坤, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi Bihua Yanjiu 青海樂都瞿曇寺壁畫研究 [Research on the Wall Paintings of Qutan Monastery in Ledu, Qinghai],” Meishu Shi Yanjiu 美術史研究4, no. 80 (1995): 57–62; Karl Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power: Negotiating the Sino-Tibetan Synthesis in Ming Buddhist Painting” (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2007), 191–205.

17

A similar statue survives in the Musée Cernuschi in Paris. Karl Debreczeny and Gray Tuttle, eds., The Tenth Karmapa and Tibet’s Turbulent Seventeenth Century (Chicago: Serindia, 2016), 160.

18

Chenghua 成化 (r. 1464–1487) granted a gold-plated bronze seal to the Tibetan abbot, and Wanli 萬曆 (r. 1572–1620) and Chongzhen 崇禎 (r. 1627–1644) both granted signboards to the temple. Xie Zuo 謝佐, “Qutansi Bukao 瞿曇寺補考 [Supplementary Investigation of Qutan Monastery],” Qinghai Minzu Daxue Xuebao 1 (1981): 54–55.

19

Andreas Gruschke, The Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces: The Qinghai Part of Amdo, vol. 1 (Bangkok: White Lotus, 2001), 44. 

20

Louis Schram, “The Monguors of the Kansu-Tibetan Border, Part II: Their Religious Life,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 47 (1957): 23.

Further Reading

Campbell, Aurelia. 2020. “From Mandala to Palace: Transforming Space and Site at Gautama Monastery.” In What the Emperor Built: Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming, 127–64. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Debreczeny, Karl. 2016a. “The Early Ming Imperial Atelier on the Tibetan Frontier.” In Ming China: Courts and Contacts, 1400–1450, edited by Craig Clunas, Jessica Harrison-Hall, and Yu-ping Luk, 152–62. London: British Museum Press.

Sperling, Elliot. 2009. “Tibetan Buddhism, Perceived and Imagined, along the Ming-Era Sino-Tibetan Frontier.” In Buddhism between Tibet and China, edited by Matthew Kapstein, 155–80. Boston: Wisdom. 

Citation

Aurelia Campbell, “Qutan Monastery (Drotsang Dorje Chang): A Ming Dynasty Monastery at the Sino-Tibetan Frontier,” Project Himalayan Art, Rubin Museum of Art, 2023, http://rubinmuseum.org/projecthimalayanart/essays/qutan-monastery-drotsang-dorje-chang.

bodhisattva

Language:
Sanskrit

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a being who has made a vow to become a buddha or awakened. In the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, many bodhisattvas are understood as deities with enormous powers who delay their final enlightenment, remaining in the phenomenal world to help suffering beings. Among such great bodhisattvas are Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Vajrapani, and Maitreya.

Kagyu

Language:
Tibetan

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.

patronage

A practice of hiring and commissioning artists to create works of art. In religious context patrons were often rulers, religious leaders, as well as ordinary people. (see also donor)

Sakya

Language:
Tibetan

Sakya is the name of a monastery and of a major tradition of Tibetan Buddhism that originated there during the Later Diffusion of Buddhism. Sakya Monastery was the seat of power during Sakya-Mongol rule in Tibet (1260–1350s), founded on the priest-patron relationship. Notable Sakya figures include Sakya Pandita (1182–1251), who played an instrumental role in establishing Tibetan relations with the Mongols; Drogon Chogyel Pakpa (1234-1280), who served as Qubilai Khan’s imperial preceptor and invented the Pakpa Script; and Buton (1290–1364), who compiled the Tibetan Canon. The Sakya are particularly known for their Lamdre teachings. In the 1350s, Pakmodru replaced the Sakya political prominence.

Tibetan Buddhism

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.

Vajravali

Language:
Sanskrit

The Vajravali is a collection of esoteric teachings on mandala construction written by the Indian monk Abhayakaragupta (eleventh to twelfth centuries). The Vajravali was the first attempt to systematize and provide iconographic guides for the mandalas used in various Vajrayana tantras, which were widely transmitted in Tibet.

Ming Dynasty

The Ming dynasty was a Chinese state that existed from 1368 to 1644 CE. The Ming founder, Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398), led an army that defeated the Yuan dynasty of the Mongol Empire and restored ethnic Chinese rule in China. Unlike the Mongols before them or the Qing dynasty after them the Ming never seriously attempted to rule the Tibetan regions, preferring instead to manage border affairs by granting titles and trading rights to friendly Tibetan monks and secular leaders. Nevertheless, several early Ming emperors had close personal relations with Tibetan lamas, and relations of trade and cultural interchange flourished between Chinese and Tibetan regions.