Thangka's Painting Skills and Historical Development

Thangka, which reflects religious rituals, is commonly known as Tancheng Map, Karma Wheel's Six Division Maps, Complete Freedom Map, Gelugpa Discipline Table, Nine Palaces and Eight Pagodas, Eight Pagodas and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The most common are "Eight Auspicious Pictures" (treasure umbrella, goldfish, Aquarius, Miaolian, right-handed conch, auspicious knot, rattan village and golden wheel) and "Eight mascots" (mirror, cheese, longevity thatch, papaya, right-handed conch, bezoar, spring Dan and white mustard). There are also seven treasures, all kinds of patterns. In some Thangkas, in addition to drawing magnificent buildings, they also depict temples, their construction reasons, construction scenes, and mythical stories of demonization in the process of building temples, and some also depict grand celebration scenes after the completion of temples. Thangka is a Tibetan group, with Tibet-related content as its theme. Including their historical geography, myths and legends, Tibetan medicine, astronomical calendar, etc. It also includes maps of four continents, wind and fire, water and soil, Mount Sumi, the origin map of Tibetans, and the map of Princess Jincheng's visit to Tibet. Auspicious Siruitu is also the favorite theme of Tangka among Tibetan monks and customs. Some Thangkas that reflect Tibet and its history often take the form of scattered perspective or serial maps, and each page is marked with a small amount of words. For example, the medical Thangka in the Biography of Basiba is divided into human anatomy chart, medical chart, instrument chart, urine chart, pulse chart and food hygiene and disease prevention chart, which is drawn according to the contents of the book Four Medical Codes written by the famous medical scientist Yutong Ningma Yun Dan Kampot, with a total of 79 pictures. There are also 80 pictures of 1 Zhang Xiyang breaking the calendar to find famous doctors. The most famous one in astronomy is the Running Diagram of the Celestial Body, Sun, Moon and Stars, in which 12 kinds of animals (cattle, sheep, horses, fish, etc. ) each represents a planet. Each running in a specific orbit. This is completely consistent with the ancient division of celestial bodies into twelve palaces in Han Dynasty. Calendar Thangka was further developed by Tibetan calendar mathematicians on the basis of calendar books and charts brought by Princess Wencheng. This Tibetan calendar deduction algorithm is called "black calculation".

Staging of Thangka

In terms of time, we can roughly divide Thangka art into four periods. The first period is the threshold period of the 7th-9th century, which is the initial stage of sculpture and the beginning of Tibetan Buddhism. The composition is concise, drawn in four basic colors: blue, yellow, red and white. The figures are almost naked, only Brahma rope and Babel are solemn, and the main image is drawn with large and straight lines. The second period is around 12 century, which is the post-macro period of Tibetan Buddhism. In Gyangze, Tibet, a local artistic style school, namely Gyangze Painting School, has been formed, which combines the artistic styles of Indian Candeira, Nepali, Han and Tibet. It is characterized by realistic techniques with appropriate modeling proportion, emphasizing psychological expression and highlighting personality characteristics. The third period is from 15 to 16 century, that is, the flourishing period of Tibetan Buddhist art. The religious elites participated in Thangka's creative activities, resulting in the famous "door painting school", "Mensa painting school" and "Gamagong painting school". The fourth period is from 18 to 19 century, which is the heyday of Thangka painting. The artistic style of this period was mainly influenced by the meticulous and colorful techniques in Han Dynasty. Its development is divided into two stages. The first stage is represented by Duo Tiaojue, a monk in Babang Temple in the18th century and the "New Gamagong" painting school founded by Qin Niu in Qu Ji. This painting school learned the tradition of Korean meticulous painting, emphasizing light and shade, contrast and sketching. Art is no longer satisfied with the original simple and clear style, but is replaced by a so-called "twenty-four light and dark rendering" method to enrich the picture effect. The second stage is the "Chinese-style" period formed at the beginning of19th century. On the basis of the gorgeous and rich painting style in the first stage, the "New Gammagong" painting school began to pursue the elegant and fresh style of Han painting, and drew some auspicious characters such as "Fu" and "Shou" commonly used in Han, forming today's artistic style.

The color of thangka

Thangka has a unique emphasis on the use of color. Heavy color background can be divided into red, black, blue, gold and silver. Red Tang Kaduo painted the original story of Buddha, with strong painting style. Black Tangkaduo is painted with the contents of protecting gods, King Kong and other town demons, and painted with golden lines, and the picture is dignified and solemn. Blue Thangkado is painted with themes such as happiness of Buddha and victory of King Kong, which is auspicious and festive. Gold and silver thangka pictures are rich and elegant, and the colors are pure and brilliant. Sometimes the background color of the picture will change with the change of the content from "boundary" to "sky". For example, The Guardian of the Law depicts hell, and the background color is mainly red; With the appearance of Buddha in the middle, the color gradually turns blue; When you get to heaven, it's a blue background. In addition, white is a means to express the appearance and character of the Buddha, so white is often used to express calmness, kindness and kindness; Red and dark blue are tough, aggressive and fierce (angry), and large pieces of red, green, cyan and blue are skillfully used side by side; Gold represents many colors, showing a sacred atmosphere.

The origin of thangka

Due to natural and historical reasons, the origin of Thangka cannot be verified. It is said that Tubo Zampa (Avatar of Avalokitesvara) Songzan Gambu painted a portrait of Balaam with his nose and blood after the signing of the gods. This is the first Thangka: it is said that this Thangka was hidden in the belly of Balaam statue by the living Buddha of Guozhuxi. As a scientific research, these legends may not be enough. However, as far as painting art is concerned, it can be traced back to the Neolithic Age in Karo, and it has been perfected by the Tubo Dynasty. Thangka, as a pavilion exhibition of murals, appeared before the middle of the seventh century at the latest. The early Thangka was destroyed by Rondama, and there is no trace to be found: except for a few works in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, most of the existing Thangka are the collective works of the Fifth Dalai Lama Lausanne Gyatso.

Next, please enjoy a group of Thangka Bodhisattvas numbered 138-459635: