The Spiritual Life of Tsongkhapa (Primary Title)
thanka (Object Name)
Unknown (Artist)
An extraordinarily capable scholar, Tsongkhapa possessed equally impressive visionary and magical capabilities. Small vignettes of events—many miraculous—from the Gelug founder’s spiritual journey toward enlightenment surround the reformer’s large portrait. Believed to be one of the oldest surviving depictions of Tsongkhapa, it was perhaps painted within a generation of his death and before a definitive iconographic distinction was drawn between the red-hatted Sakya and the new yellow-hatted Gelug. Eventually, the monasteries Tsongkhapa founded became the largest in Tibet, and the ascendant Gelug order grew so powerful that its ruling Dalai and Panchen Lamas came to dominate Tibet’s secular authority.
Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Paul Mellon
Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey toward Enlightenment, VMFA, Richmond, April 20-August 14, 2019; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, January 17 – November 29, 2020
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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