Principles of Tibetan art: illustrations and explanations of Buddhist iconography and iconometry according to the Karma Gardri school - Volume 1

331 Pages·1983·9.15 MB·English

by  Gega Lama

PRINCIPLES OF TIBETAN ART
Illustrations and explanations of Buddhist
Iconography and iconometry
according to the Karma Gardri School
by
GEGA LAMA
master painter of the Karma Gardrl School
VOLUME I
DARJEELING, W. B.
INDIA
1983
RABSEL DAWA
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FOREWORD
Thie 1• a book on the bodily proportion• ot aacred figuree, one of the
branohee or the ..nual arte, a dlvlelon of the traditional teohnloal eoiencee
vhich for. one of the five aain flelde o! knovledse. Tbeee 1lluetrat1one are
the vork of the Llnghan& artht Gep Laaa and the7 are authoritative, having
a• their ultiaate eourcee the Sutrae, Tantrae and Practical lnetructione.
Thie !iret publication or theee dravins• 1• an aot of eervioe to the Buddhiet
Doctrine, and lt 1• certainly truwtvort~. Therefore I have vr1tten th1e
forevord, in order thftt othere aay energetically etudy and thue carry on the
tradition or artietlc practice 1n an undeteriorated etate, and eo that they
may have confidence in thie book.
With pr yere ror the lncreeee of excellent merit,
TABLE OF OOl'fTEMTS
preface
Introduction
Dedication
Chapter One 1 'l'be or1dna of the COrapbic &rh of lluddhia
Chapter ho ·I !.he oQ~tiea of Artist u4 patron
Chapter Three 1 'l'h"e cberaoterieUca DeterainiDC the Quality of Jaac••
Chapter Four 1 'l'ha proportione of Jleoeptaolea of ron - Iaagea
Chapter rtn 1 The Proportion• of Receptacles of Speech - call18J'apb;J
Chapter Six 1 The Proportiona of Recaptaclee of Mind - stipu
Chapter S8'1'8D 1 'fhe •leaeDb of Coapoaition- Gar~~enb, Bata, Geeturea,
IapleHnta
Appendb I soae contro•ereial roi.nta 1.n Paintiq
Various Dra•inc•
COlophon

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6
PREFACE
In explaining arti~tic traditions, there are physical, verbal, and mental
art forms to be conside~ed: this book is concerned with physical media,
particularly the g~aphic arts. It is also concerned with traditional standards,
rather than improvisation; and with the finest expr~ssf.on of those traditiond
forms, not the more ordinary applications. For the1e reasons, a word on tho!
sources used seems in order. The principal text used was Music to Delight a
Clear Intellect (bLo.gsal.dgyes.pa'i.rol.mo)0 which synthe~1~es ideas found in
the works of v~rious m~sters -- (th~ eighth Karmapa hierarch) M\~yG Dorje, th~
omniscient But&n (Rinchen nrup>, Menla D&ndrup of Mentang, the regent (of the
fifth Dalai Lama,) Sanqyay Gyatso, and Trengkawa LodrG Zangpo. These m~sters
elaborated on earlier sources, sutras and tantras such as the Kalacakratantra
(dPal.dus.kyi.'khor.lo'i.rqyud>, the Mahasamvarodayatantraraja (dPal.sdom.par.
'byuna.ba'i.rqyud), the(?) Kelayamatantra (gSin.rje.nag.po'i.rqyud), and the
~iriputrapariprcch!sutra (Sa.ri'i.bus.zhus.pa'i.mdo). Additional sources for
this book were the texts Beautiful Ornaments of th~ Arts (bZo.ria.mdses.pa'i.
kha.rgyan) by LobzanQ Damch& Gy~tso, and Radiant Sun (Rab.asal.fil.ma) by
Hipam Choklay Namgyal. The oral instructions of my teachers, and my own
experience, influenc~ my writing of this book as well. Althouqh the actual
text may differ slightly from the old manuals, I see no contradiction but only
harmony with the spirit of the tradition: there is no confusion or distortion
in what is presented here.
Sprinqwat•r, snowmelt, mountain stre~ms -- different, yet
All come fr~ th~ ocean ~nd flov ba~k to t~~ ocean:
Likewise, distinct traditions of knowledge derivin9 from
1~ian an~ Tibetan m&st-.~s.
Arise from the tantras a~ harmonize with the spirit of
the tantrl'ls •
• • • • • • • • •
A word on the 5ystem of datina u~ed in this book: there are numerous
different systems put forth by scholars; that adopted here for datina the
buddhist er" (B.E.) from the ye!lr of t~ Buddha's oarinirv~na follows the
widely-accepted method of the Theravad~ school of ~rt Lanka. This agrees with
the system expounded by the great scholar of Kashmir (Kha.che.pa!}.chen ~AJcydr!),
and is the same view as that expressed by the former hierarch of the Kaqyu school,
the fourteenth Karmapa (The~.mchog.rdo.rje, 1798-1868). For example, in the
calendar currently in use among Tibetans, the lenqth of time from th~ year of
the Teacher's ~ss1na until the en~ of the or~sent And sixt~th actual cycle
of sixty y~ars would comprise a total of forty-two such cycles, hypoth~ttcally,
with a su~plus of ten yeArs. Supposin~ th~ first of these cycles had begun with
the fire hare year eleven years after the Teacher's o"sslnq (acc01mt1no for-the
ten-year surplus), the iron blrd year of the nlnth cycle would correspond to the
year of the passinq of Jesus Christ; the. fire ox year of the twentieth cycle,
to the birth of Sanqtsen Gampo, the thirty-third lclng of thO! Tlbo!t:an royal dynast~~
and the fire hare year of the twenty-seventh cycle, to t~ start of the first
sixty-year cycle 1n the calendar ~lly 1n use nowadays.
Noble character lies in the 11\UIIIinatlon of the depths of
one's experience;
S1c1lfu1 transmission, 1n the continuing leqacy of pr"ecise
intelligence:
With none of these qualities, I am an insignificant PE"oduct
of flf'/ times,
Merely a follower in another's footsteps.
Geqa Lama.
8
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