A Review of The Art of Tibetan Buddhism

Transcription

1 1 Mongolian and Tibetan Quarterly, Vol.18, No.2 A Review of The Art of Tibetan Buddhism Jiunn-yih Chang Associate Professor, Department of Ethnology, National Chengchi University Book Title: Tibetan Buddhist Art Author: Amy Heller (Switzerland) Length: Copperplate printing, 258 pages Translators: Zhao Neng, Liao Yang Publication Date (Mandarin Chinese Translation): January 2008 Publisher: Culture and Art Publishing House (Beijing) Dr. Amy Heller, the author of this book, is a Swiss citizen currently working at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). She is one of the greatest authorities in the field of Tibetan art history in Europe. She earned her PhD from the École pratique des hautes études in 1992 with a doctoral dissertation titled Etude sur le développement de l iconographie et du culte de Beg-tse, divinité protectrice tibétaine. Since mid-1990s, she has been much devoted to research work surrounding cliffside statues of Vairocana and the Eight Bodhisattvas with ancient Tibetan language inscriptions. These cliffside statues date back to the eighth and ninth centuries and are located in the Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Sichuan, where Han Chinese people mix with Tibetan people. Dr. Heller s works were presented in almost every academic conference on the topic of Tibetan Buddhist statue art held in Mainland China in recent years, including the highest-standard International Academic Conference on Tibetan Archeology and Art. Most of her works involve case studies of ancient Buddhist statues and historical relics found in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Ü-Tsang, including the Jokhang Monastery, the Drathang Monastery, and Shalu Monastery. The book is divided into four chapters and provides a linear account of Tibetan Buddhist history. The first chapter covers the era of Tibetan Empire ( ) based on archeological findings in places like Ü-Tsang, Nepal, Sogdiana, Dunhuang, and a number of Han Chinese settlements. This chapter provides an introduction to Tibetan Buddhist art in the Tibetan Empire era. What s special about this chapter is that the author includes a large number of pictures featuring Tibet s natural landscape, historical sites of ancient times, and many works of art to construct art history of the period. At the end of this chapter, the author provides an analysis of the aesthetics of

2 A Review of The Art of Tibetan Buddhism 2 Tibetan Buddhist art of the period based on her research of Vairocana over the years. However, like many in the west, Dr. Heller attaches too much importance to the influence of India and Nepal on Tibetan Empire and too little importance on China s influence over Tibetan Empire. The second chapter of this book deals with the rise of Buddhism in Tibet ( ). This chapter is relatively more extensive in content compared to other chapters, as it deals with a 50-year period. This chapter begins with a fairly long discussion of Buddhism in the ancient Guge Kingdom and Amdo after the fall of the Tibetan Empire. According to the author, by this time the worship of Vairocana had pretty much become the most important religious ritual in the region, and Vairocana had been seen as the center of the universe by the people in the region, more revered than any other Buddha. The author argues that the Guge rulers were deliberately leading the people to worship Vairocana to cement their legal claim to ruling power in Guge. She also pointed out the Tabo Monastery built in 996 as a case in point, remarking that the making of Guge Buddha statues in this period was influenced by Kashmir s sense of beauty, favoring almond-shaped eyes, decorations on both sides of the Buddha s crown, and the use of precious metal to make the statues appear more valuable. The author went on to discuss the spiritual and art heritage left behind by the great Indian Buddhist teacher Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna. She is of the opinion that by arriving at Tibet, Atiśa, a monk from India s Vikramasila Monastery, brought with him not only Buddhist theories in eastern India but also a sense of aesthetics different from that of mainstream Tibet. An interesting discovery made by the author is that Atiśa himself was an outstanding calligraphist and artist. He worshipped Tara more than any other Buddha, and it was probably because of his worship of Tara that led the Tibetan people to worship Guanyin bodhisattva. By the 11 th century, Ü-Tsang aesthetics developed an international side. Take the Shalu Monastery, for example, the wall paintings there have a great diversity of faces, skin colors, clothing, and decorations. This means that Tibet s sense of beauty at this time is similar to the outside world s sense of beauty. A similar trait can be found in the wall paintings found in Ajanta Caves of India. In the late development period of Buddhism, various sects went all out in building monasteries. The author, citing her familiar Drathang Monastery and Shalu Monastery as examples, demonstrated how Tibetan Buddhist art of this period was influenced by Indian sense of beauty, which favored 3/4 silhouettes, multiple-layered crowns, round-shaped ear pendants, a small-sized ring on the upper part of the ear, eyeballs drawn on the upper eyelids, and an egg-shaped aura. A striking feature of these Buddha statues is that the eyes are seen as protruding from the silhouette. Dr. Heller has ample proof for her arguments. It is

3 3 Mongolian and Tibetan Quarterly, Vol.18, No.2 generally believed that upon the fall of the Tibetan Empire, the Newah artists and craftsmen settled in Tibet opted to stay there instead of returning to their homeland in the south. Their descendants, who inherited the Para artistic style from their fathers, were responsible for making the Para-style Buddha statues in Tibetan monasteries in the 11 th century, when various sects of Tibetan Buddhism flourished. The Drathang Monastery was built in the early days of the late development period of Buddhism, so the images of Bodhisattva as appeared in the monastery s wall paintings are seen as wearing distinctively Tibetan style clothing: long robes decorated with drawings of clustered flowers like the ones worn by the kings of the ancient Tibetan Empire, and tapestry bags on the top of double-layered crowns, which were usually found on the crowns of the Tibetan kings as well. This emphasis on ancient tradition is probably meant to establish Buddhism s legitimacy and authority, and is prevalent in 11 th -century Buddhist art. Yuan-Dynasty Buddhist art was still dominated by the Newah art school, mainly because in December 1260, the Khan ordered the Sakya Monastery to build a golden Buddhist tower for the worship of Sakya Pandita. The Sakya Monastery hired 100 Newah artists to complete this mission, a decision which gave the Tibetan Buddhist art work a distinctive Newah artistic style. The third chapter of Amy Heller s book deals with the Renaissance period of Tibet ( ). A heavyweight figure of this period is Buton, the abbot of Shalu Monastery. While he was in charge, Shalu Monastery was beginning the second phase of a project to expand the monastery s architecture. Buton opted for the Newah architectural style, a style that was popular back then. This was because Buton, with the help of monks in Natang Monastry, divided esoteric tantric Buddhist texts into the classifications of the Anuttarayoga Tantra, the Kriya Tantra, the Charya Tantra, and the Yoga Tantra. The Newah artists applied their good sense of color combinations and proportion and scale to depict the concept of Mandala as described in the Anuttarayoga Tantra. One of the problems with this book is that Amy Heller seemed to have overestimated the influence of Newah artists over Tibetan Buddhist art. In the third chapter of the book, she cited many examples to demonstrate that the descendants of Newah men and Tibetan women (known as Katsara) continued to have influence over Tibetan Buddhist art until the 14 th or even the 15 th century. She argued that the Newah style continued to dominate Tibetan Buddhist art after the fall of the Sakya regime, which was replaced by the Pamozhuba regime. What she failed to recognize is the contribution and influence coming from generations of Mainland Chinese artists and craftsmen since Yuan Dynasty. One example would be the many gold-copper Buddha statues made at the request of Yongle Emperor of Ming Dynasty,

4 A Review of The Art of Tibetan Buddhism 4 who gave them away to Living Buddha reincarnations of various Tibetan Buddhist sects as rewards. These were Tibetan Buddhist statues displaying a good number of Mainland Chinese artistic elements. However, for some reason Amy Heller failed to acknowledge the influence on Tibetan Buddhist art from Mainland Chinese artists. Amy Heller believes that one of the key factors affecting Tibetan Buddhist art in this period is a type of Tibetan Buddhist teaching known as terma, which gave rise to many different images of Buddha and some new Tibetan Buddhist thinking. Another important factor, according to Amy Heller, is the birth of Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. Unfortunately, much of the discussion in the book focuses only on the religious reform and spiritual development of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Geluk school, leaving out the influence of Tsongkhapa s religious reform on the development of Tibetan Buddhist art. In fact, both Tsongkhapa and the Geluk school had much to do with the rise of Yamāntaka worship. Amy Heller probably dubbed this period the Renaissance of Tibet because Mianla Dunzhu created images of Buddha based on Buton s classifications of Buddhist texts. Inspired by the works of patch-work embroidery made by craftsmen using Mainland Chinese textiles, Mianla Dunzhu invented a new style of painting Thangka known among later generations of painters as menbris. Mkhyen Rtse Chen Mo, who was slightly younger than Mianla Dunzhu, created another Thangka painting style known among later generations of painters as mkhyen bris. The fourth chapter of Amy Heller s book deals with the era of Dalai Lama (1500-). Gendun Gyatso is the first Dalai Lama to exercise any influence on Tibetan Buddhist art. Despite being a Geluk reincarnation, he worshipped Palden Lhamo and Sitabrahma, the patron deities of his family. Therefore, after he became the abbot of several major Geluk monasteries including Tashilhunpo Monastery, Sera Monastery, and Drepung Monastery, Palden Lhamo and Sitabrahma also became Geluk deities. By the 18 th century, many Tibetan people had become worshippers of Sitabrahma. Amy Heller believes that Gendun Gyatso was trying to establish his legitimacy as the religious leader of Tibet in non-geluk regions by making Palden Lhamo and Sitabrahma Geluk deities, as such legitimacy could bring in moral and financial support for his monasteries and the Geluk school. In the early days of the Dalai Lama era, politics in Ü-Tsang was controlled by the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism for the most time. The Geluk school reacted by building monasteries in places far away from Ü-Tsang, such as Qamdo, Litang, and Amdo, which explained the appearance of many menbris and mkhyen bris paintings in these places. Besides menbris and mkhyen bris, another Thangka painting style known as gahe was born in the second half of the 16 th century. Nanka Zhaxi created gahe

5 5 Mongolian and Tibetan Quarterly, Vol.18, No.2 by making some changes to the old menbris painting style, adopting the ancient Indian or possibly Para concept of proportion and size and the technique of light sketch used in some Mainland Chinese landscape paintings. He also used diluted colors on the faces of Buddha statues to create a translucent, smooth, and layered visual effect. In addition, the gahe style also adopted the blank space technique found in some Mainland Chinese ink wash paintings. These characteristics differentiated gahe from other styles of Tibetan Buddhist art. The menbris sama style is the last Thangka painting style emerged in the Dalai Lama era. In the menbris sama style wall paintings found in Tashilhunpo Monastery, there were many elements of Chinese ink wash landscape paintings, including the use of rolling waves of clouds and buildings as dividing lines on the painting. In early Thangka paintings, the most important figure in the painting is almost always surrounded by less important figures, and all figures in the painting are given adequate space. In a menbris sama style Thangka, however, the most important figure consumes the lion s share of spaces, while the less important figures are more like clusters of people surrounding the most important figure. The menbris sama style has received strong criticism from experts on Tibetan art history for being too showy and too artificial. Experts generally disapprove the frequent use of golden color in sketching and the use of shading to create a blurred effect on clouds and flowers in Thangkas. However, there are some who hold the view that the sophisticated drawing and the use of warm-shaded colors often make menbris sama Thangkas vivacious and solemn at the same time. While Thangka painters of this period generally were allowed to experiment with different styles of artistic expression, they still had to adhere to certain rules in Thangka painting, probably because Tibetan people back then attached great importance to the worship of Dharmapala. The mkhyen bris school, which specialized in the painting of mandala and wrath deities, was favored by the fifth Dalai Lama. Thangkas with black base colors were very popular among Tibetans of this period. In fact, in as early as the 12 th century, there were Thangka manuscripts showing golden and silver color sketches on a black field. However, this kind of Thangka did not become really common until the 17 th century. According to Buddhist rituals, white-based Thangkas were reserved for depiction of peace-loving deities, yellow-based Thangkas were used to depict deities symbolizing prosperity or wealth, red-based Thangkas were used to present demon-conquering deities, and black or dark blue-based Thangkas are used to present fierce Dharmapala. The major driving force behind Tibetan Buddhist art s long-term prosperity in this period is the fifth Dalai Lama. He and his successors had the full backing of the

6 A Review of The Art of Tibetan Buddhism 6 Khoshut Mongol s and the Qing Dynasty court. The fifth Dalai Lama himself also pushed for the development of Tibetan Buddhist art by hiring skilled painters from India to assist in the training of painters. In short, Amy Heller s book is one of the more comprehensive books in recent years about the history of Tibetan Buddhist art. It provides a clearly illustrated and easy-to-understand introduction to the complex concepts of Tibetan Buddhist art. One could not have written such a masterpiece without being fluent in the theories of Tibetan Buddhist art and art history. I would like to make a few brief observations regarding the history of artistic exchanges between Han Chinese and Tibetan people, a subject which is not discussed in Amy Heller s book. Interactions between Tibet and Mainland China have been frequent since ancient times. In fact, there are Mandarin language historical records about the things on the Tibetan Plateau dating back at least to the Chinese Sui Dynasty. The interactions became intensive and extensive in the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty and Emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty arranged for the marriages of Princess Wencheng and Princess Jincheng to Tibetan kings. The marriages not only led to peaceful and friendly coexistence between China and Tibet but also brought about a certain extent of cultural exchanges. According to history, Princess Wencheng brought from China a pile of books on codes of law, medicine, and agriculture, almanacs, painters, chefs, and other experts to Tibet. The Tibetan-language A Guide to Thangka Painting made note of the artistic style of Han Chinese silk Thangkas, which were popular in Tibet in the 8 th century. The book is out of print, but still provides evidence of artistic exchanges between Han Chinese and Tibetan people. Many research works on the subject of Tibetan paintings mentioned the influence of Han Chinese landscape paintings on Tibetan Buddhist art, which many believe dates back to as early as Tang Dynasty. Such influence may be roughly classified into three waves: The first wave began in Yuan Dynasty. Kublai Khan, the founder of Yuan Dynasty, was a devout follower of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. After Yuan Dynasty was founded, Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, a Sakya teacher, became Kublai Khan s teacher. And it was considered a fashionable thing for the Mongol royalties to support lamas. Historical records show that mutual visits between eminent Tibetan Buddhist monks of various schools and the Mongol royalties sometimes traffic jams in post roads. The Mongol royalties supported monks by giving them gold, silver, silk fabrics, butter, and tealeaf bricks, as well as religious items such as gold-copper Buddha statues, silk Thangkas, painting scrolls, and musical instruments. This shows that Han Chinese artistic styles had direct influence over Tibetan craftsmen, painters, and their works. The second wave took place in Ming Dynasty, especially in the reign of Yongle

7 7 Mongolian and Tibetan Quarterly, Vol.18, No.2 Emperor, when Han Chinese landscape paintings given by the Emperor as gifts to Tibet exercised considerable influence over the structure, deployment, and drawing techniques of Thangkas. Lamas, craftsmen, and painters who traveled between Mainland China and Tibet also made some contribution to the artistic exchanges. The third wave occurred in Qing Dynasty, or more accurately when the fifth Dalai Lama of the Geluk school was in charge of Tibet. In fact, in as early as the 1940s, the first generation of researchers of Tibetan Buddhist art in the West believed that Tibetan Buddhist art took in many Han Chinese artistic elements since the fifth Dalai Lama rose to power in Tibet. In other words, a major turning point in the history of Tibetan Buddhist art, when a strong influence of Han Chinese artistic style was introduced, came about in the same time when the fifth Dalai Lama was the political and religious leader of Tibet.