Thangka of Shakya
Yeshe
Silk
China, Ming Dynasty, Xuande reign (1426-1435)
H: 108 cm; W: 63.5 cm
Norbulingka Palace Collection
Published: Precious Deposits, vol. 3, pp. 150-151, no. 55
TIBET: TREASURES
FROM THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
Travelers trekked
thousands of miles to see them. Emperors presented
them as gifts. We will see the same sacred treasures for the first time
in the Western World in the groundbreaking exhibition, Tibet: Treasures
From The Roof Of The World. Exquisitely created sacred objects, all
with great cultural significance, are making their first journey to the
Western World. Tibet: Treasures From The Roof Of The World offers a
rare glimpse into a culture both opulent and deeply spiritual. The
exhibition features objects drawn exclusively from collections from the
Dalai Lama's magnificent residence at the Potala Palace, as well as the
recently established Tibet Museum in the magical Tibetan capital of
Lhasa.
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(above:
detail of artwork)
Shown
here is an imperially-commissioned portrait of the prominent Lama
Shakya Yeshe (1354-1435), one of the eight greatest disciples of
Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug order. In 1408, Emperor Yongle, of
the Ming Dynasty, sent an invitation to Tsongkhapa to visit the Ming
capital. Tsongkhapa refused the invitation, so in 1413, Yongle sent a
second invitation. This time, Tsongkhapa delegated Shakya Yeshe, who
arrived in Nanjing the next year. There, he built temples, initiated
monks and, in 1415, was given the title Da Ci Fawang (Tibetan: Byams
chen chos rje, "Dharma King of Great Loving Kindness"), one of several
princely religious titles given by Yongle to great Tibetan Lamas.
Shakya Yeshe, renowned for his fund-raising abilities, used the gifts
he brought back from China to help found Sera Monastery in 1419.
In 1429, Shakya Yeshe returned to China, during the reign of Emperor
Xuande (1426-1435), this time to the new northern capital at Beijing,
where he demonstrated his abilities as a healer by curing the emperor's
ills. He also toured the sacred mountain Wutaishan, Mongolia, and Amdo
(present-day Qinghai province). In 1434, the emperor granted him
another, even more exalted title (consisting of thirty-eight Chinese
characters). The next year, in 1435, he died on his way home to Tibet.
The earlier of these two images (shown here) is embroidered silk and
shows the Lama as a younger man, seated in meditation on a lotus
throne, with his hands in a gesture of preaching, carrying two lotuses
at shoulder level, which support the bell and vajra. His hair is
knotted into a chignon and he wears a three-leaf crown. He is
surrounded by an elaborate "throne of glory," surmounted by Garuda (the
mount of the Indian deity Vishnu and enemy of the nagas). In the upper
corners of the embroidered portrait are images of White Tara and
Vajradhara. The portrait was apparently remounted with embroidered silk
that was once part of a Qing Dynasty imperial robe.
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