Theme and Content of Tangka (figure)

Diphon Tangka, 61x57 cm mandala (Tancheng); book shadow of Tangka ye Xingsheng

Beijing ye Xingsheng

This article is excerpted from the book Tang Ka, edited by Liao Ben, the book ye Xingsheng of the Chinese National Quintessence art book, published by the China Federation publishing house in January 2012. Mr. Ye Xingsheng is a famous Tibetan scholar and collector. He has been living and working in Tibet for a long time. He has studied Tibetan painting with the ten-class Zen artist and has made profound research on Tangka. This article involves part of Mr. Ye Xingsheng's book "Tangka" and mainly introduces the Theme and Content of Tangka. We hope readers can have a deep understanding of Tangka art.

Tangka, a special art that is mounted on Brocade Fabric, is widely used in Tibet. It has a history of thousands of years and is the essence of Tibetan art. Thangka has a rich set of theme content. In the early days, thangka began to be a religious subject. Later, with the development of Buddhism, the emergence of various sects and the needs of society, it gave thangka more missions, in addition to the dominant position of various Buddhist themes, there are also many historical figures, biography stories, architectural monuments and fate-related blessings and blessings, sacrifice willingness and astronomical experience, and Tibetan medicine Tangka. It covers religion, history, politics, humanities, science and technology, and forms a huge and complete Tibetan culture system, it has become an "Encyclopedia" for interpreting everything in the world with religious theories and Painting Art ". Its main content is as follows:

I. San Xiang Tangka

This kind of thangka is based on the theme of various Buddhist, Bodhisattva, Buddhist mother, Luo Han, FA Wang, Ben Zun, Fa and various high monk virtues and historical figures. There are two main manifestations: one is based on the above content as the main body, the holy image occupies the central position, the back of the Halo and the arch of the Buddha, the bottom of the double-layer lotus platform and King Kong throne, the two sides serve as a Bodhisattva or disciple. The Wrath shield is backed by a red flame of wisdom without a halo. Luo Han, Tianwang, and his ancestors lined with Halo and sat in luxury cushions and chairs. As they did not enter the holy one's position, there was no king kong throne. The backlight is surrounded by Xiangyun, flowers and plants. In addition to the above content, the other common forms are arranged in a symmetric and balanced manner in the surrounding area, including the genus, Monk, and supporter of the gods and buddhas. On the top are various Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and monks, the following sections mainly cover various methods of protection, the goddess of Heaven, the god of the world, and the support.

All kinds of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas In the Tangka must be drawn in strict accordance with the standards of the Buddhist statue measurement Sutra. the symbol of the instrument must be accurate and in place according to the instrument track. Historical Figures focus on movements and attitudes, facial demeanor, and character characteristics. There is no fixed pattern. They are designed and drawn based on historical records and under the guidance of the guru. The traditional method is the ghost image. After the Ming Dynasty, there were many background-less portraits, such as Genghis Khan and Emperor Qianlong, drawn by court painters in a realistic manner, he even used the dark and shade painting of western painting to show the Tangka of various monk images.

This kind of thangka is large in quantity and widely spread. It is the most important object for the temples and the people to support and worship.

2. Buddha's story Tangka

This kind of thangka shows the life stories of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that are dominated by Sakyamuni. They are divided into two types: one-frame painting and One-frame painting. The main focus of the exclusive painting is the Buddhist statue, which is divided into four groups to show the life stories and biography stories of the Buddha. The other category is composed of multiple sets, including 12, 36, and 108. For example, Sakyamuni bensheng uploads 12 sets of pictures, in order, the following types of features are shown: Bodhisattva xianling, white elephant reincarnation, rib descent, sezun earth, Shili Prince, departure from the customs, meditation, King Kong Bodhi, destruction of magic, achievement of righteousness, wide conversion of magic wheel, gwangne? 12 major achievements.

This kind of thangka is significantly different from the holy statue thangka. The holy statue thangka is centered on various types of Buddhas and monks, while the Buddha's original thangka is still placed in the center of the screen in a large volume, but the theme to be presented is around the Buddha statue. The former has symmetric composition and rigorous style, and each group of content is relatively independent. The latter is arranged and combined creatively Based on the plot development to form a whole.

3. mandala Tangka

This kind of thangka represents the center of the energy of Tibetan Buddhism, symbolizing the Dharma of the deity, and shows the Buddhist Concept of the universe. In ancient India, the place where all sentient beings were converted to worship Buddhas and profound education was called Mandala. Its Sanskrit language is mandala, which is the Manda of the "essence" of the "Heart marrow, it is also composed of LA, which means "de. Therefore, the word mandala means "acquiring essence ".

With its rigorous structure, rich and dazzling colors, unique and exquisite skills, and extraordinary visual experience, mandala Tangka harmoniously forms a complete world of Buddha, in terms of form, various cdns are basically external vertices (also square ). The outer layer forms a circular wall with Prajna flame, corpse torlin, diamond valley, and moat, which indicates the rejection of the dust and the suppression of evil spirits, rather than entering the place where King Kong is located in tin. The inner city is square, with doors on all sides and a ladder at the door. The building stands and there are 16 guards in it, with 4 people on each side. In the palace, the inner lives in King Kong. The top floor of the temple is circular, with a small temple in it. The Buddha statues and decorations are different in different content. Each mandala center has its own statue and becomes the name of all kinds of tankas.

Mandala Tangka serves as a form of practice and an important concept in Tibetan mi. It allows practitioners to gain the blessing of their deity through practice and combine the "external universe" and "Internal universe" into one.

Iv. Biography Tang Ka

The biography of thangka is mainly used to present the historical and real-life biography of an important historical real person, such as the monk and the father of the FA Wang. It is characterized by design and creation based on the records in the scriptures and the teachings of the guru, and is lined with natural scenery and human environment, thus recreating the truth of history. The form is also composed of one or more images. For example, the Ming Dynasty thangka "ba SIBA pictorial Biography", which is collected in Sakya Temple, has a total of 25 axes. The group shows the life stories of the fifth generation ancestor, ba siba, from birth to Yuji, in the diagram, the central position is still reserved for the Buddha or the ancestor, and the surrounding area is like a comic picture. The plot is successively expanded by time, and the natural scenery such as hillstone xiangcloud and pavilions are interspersed. This not only enhances the decorative effect of the screen, but also plays a role in grouping and linking the plots. Another characteristic is that there are common Tibetan Characters below each group of stories to briefly comment on the image content. The order is generally clockwise from the top left to the top right.

V. Tangka of Religious Ethics

This kind of thangka expresses abstract concepts such as religious doctrine, philosophical thoughts, moral concepts, and causal reincarnation in an image. For example, the ten phase free chart symbolizing the highest doctrine and the holy thought; the "world pattern map" indicating the concept of the universe; the "six turns back" showing the human mind and behavior. The biggest characteristic of this kind of thangka is that it often does not express it directly, but uses symbolic forms and symbolic techniques to clarify thoughts, express doctrine, and reveal themes. For example, the "Ten-phase free map", which is often called "Nan JIU wangdan" in murals and Tangka, is composed of seven Sanskrit Letters and three graphic characters, creates a symbol for the Base, Tao, and fruit in the highest doctrine of the time wheel, in addition, the four colors of red, white, yellow, and blue represent the four elements of the universe: wind, fire, water, earth, and the sun and moon. At the same time, it represents the body, language, and meaning of the gods, from the three circles of the album all the emotions in the Ten-phase free graph, its energy is huge, incomparable. While "six turns back" represents the Buddhist outlook on life, values, and twelve karma in the form of the wheel rotation art to characterize fate rotation and never stop.

6. Pray for the willingness of Tangka

This kind of thangka is mainly for the purpose of eliminating evil spirits, praying for wealth, adjusting the weather, and flourishing people and animals. It is also used for the secular thangka of life, death, redemption and sacrifice etiquette. For example, the "mengren Xiaohu figure" is used for the evil spirits of the town and the plague avoidance; the "Azar xiangtu" is used to attract wealth to the treasure; the fate of the guardian and the secret map of the 9 th Palace of the undead, chimney obstacle light installation, http://www.66gk?com/product-137.html ;. Here, the four pictures show how to use Ancient Indian Folk Stories to educate elders, love children, and unite and harmony with elephants, monkeys, rabbits, trees, and trees. There is also the "LUMA tu", which is used to worship the gods and pray for blessings. It is composed of the white horse in the center of the screen, the auspicious prints and texts of the surrounding lions, tigers, Peng, dragon, and seven treasures and eight Swiss. It is said that it was the earliest instrument used by phec In The Sacrifice Ceremony, and then added new contents and secrets to serve as the marker of the fate of blessing and good luck. It may be placed outside the door, or hung in the holy lake of shenshan. It is also called a "fengma ".

Religious Ethics Tangka 116x77 cm

This kind of thangka mainly comes from the creation of the people, which is carried out by teacher and creates different versions in different regions. For example, the thurui figure of the Qing Dynasty from Inner Mongolia is made into a picture with the Zodiac map, and the traditional rabbit on the back of the monkey is transformed into a dog with rabbit ears, draw a yak from a traditional home ox. At the same time, I drew on the expression of animals in the wind and Horse painting. The lions and dragons were painted on the left, and Phoenix and elephants were painted on the right, in this way, we have made bold reforms and innovations in the traditional "siruitu" Tangka in Weizang (Weizang, formerly known as Tibet) to create a new form of expression.

VII. Architectural St. thangka

This kind of thangka is mainly based on the famous ancient palace fort, garden and temple buildings. For example, Lazarus Palace, roblinka, and Dazhao Temple in Lhasa, important temple buildings and Buddhist towers of various sects in various regions, such as yabacang in the south of the mountain, SanYe Temple, sanguoto, zashrenbu temple in the Shigatse, Sakya Temple, qamdu wuki Temple, and qiangbain Temple. A temple can be a single-axis Tangka, or multiple temples can be combined into one. The biggest characteristic of this kind of thangka is the scatter plot method, which disconnects and disconnects the buildings and re-arranges the combination to comprehensively display the overall temple and highlight the key points, without the limitations of perspective and space. The second is to link the building with the construction process and celebration activities. For example, the "Kuala Lumpur Palace" thangka shows that various craftsmen are busy with land and water transportation and various craftsman construction processes, it even shows the details of the giant rock rolling down and hurting the craftsman. It also shows the magnificent scenes of the Buddha on the white house wall after the completion of the palace. On the display screen of the SanYe temple, it is painted together with the dramatic song and dance and other celebrations. on the screen that depicts the temple of labhu in Gansu, it shows the whole picture of the temple in a similar way, in addition, in the courtyard square and around the courtyard, draw a vivid picture of dianchu, Chao fo, and even set up tents, horse transportation, and business activities.

There is also a kind of expression "big fingerprint, big footprint", "eight Buddhist towers" and other holy thangka, mostly made of gold and cinnabar, and write a Tibetan or Sanskrit secret mantra. This kind of thangka is generally a holy thing that the Guru secretly transmits to his disciples or temples for spiritual support, so it is rare and precious.

8. Tibetan medical history calculation Tangka

The Tibetan medicine Tangka is called the "Men Tang". It is a theme of Tibetan medicine and Tibetan medicine. The main content is from yutuo, founder of Tibetan medicine? In the October, Yundan Kambo, a masterpiece of Tibetan medicine, was drawn in the form of a picture as early as the 13th century. What is most influential and still used so far is the famous painter Roza of the Tang Dynasty in the 17th century? Dan zengrobo according to Division? What is the four medical books compiled by sangjiacuo? The series of Tibetan medicine wall charts drawn by the Tibetan medical theory and drug knowledge in the blue glaze are 79 in total, with clever ideas and realistic techniques, it accurately and vividly visualizes Tibetan medicine knowledge and has the teaching function and aesthetic value. It has become a valuable teaching material for teaching Tibetan medicine comprehensively and systematically.

The other category is the "zitang", which refers to the tiangka for astronomical computation. This is an ancient discipline popular in Tibetan areas. We mainly predict the changes in the Four Seasons by observing the operating rules of the sun, month, and stars, we will analyze and estimate the rise and fall of all things based on the earth wheel, water wheel, fire wheel, and wind wheel in the Indian time wheel calendar. Later, he absorbed the historical computing methods of the Chinese and Tibetan regions, and enriched and improved them in combination with the special natural environment of Tibet. Since the 13th century, we have compiled various types of Tibetan calendars and thangka maps to show the sky and associate them with the production, life, and folk customs of the Tibetan nation.

9. Folk rap Tangka

Rap thangka originated very early and can be traced back to the ancient Indian "Singing poet" and the ancient Tibetan fable and riddle culture. It is said that it is also a method for the spread of benzene. Its main content can be divided into "lamas" and "Gesar Wang Chuan. Lamas Tangka is also known as the "waterfall painting". because many of the rappers are Lamas, they repeatedly recite "Oh, well, hey, mi ,?" The six-character zhenyan called this rap "lamaguo" and the rap artist "ba" or "Luo Qinba ". The main content is various folk stories, biographies and literature, as well as eight Tibetan dramas. It uses vivid forms to publicize religious ideas such as ethics and karma, and pray for the disaster.

Folk rap Tangka, 157x106

The "King Gesar Chuan" thangka is also known as the "Zhong Tang", which is mainly arranged and drawn based on the Tibetan hero Gesar, which is widely used in the civil society. Gesar's legendary life and remarkable achievements come from the great creations of the people. It is said that Gesar's spirit is wandering around and enters the Xianzhi body in ways such as todream and illusion, and then spreads in the way of singing, and it never ends. Therefore, artists often follow Gesar's image when rap "Zhong Tang", wearing a square helmet, armor, waist, bow and arrows, and pin the two sides of the flag on top, his face had to be hashed into a small, squashed beard, to reproduce Gesar.

There is a big difference between the rap thangka and the religious thangka that provides for the Buddhist temple. First, the content is dominated by folk stories and myths and legends, and has a strong folk literature and secular sentiment. Second, the communication mode is mainly carried out in swimming mode. It can be carried out in lively forms such as rap, performances, and interactions in different villages or in the public. Third, there is no fixed pattern and constraint in painting, so that the artist's imagination and creativity can be fully utilized and become a unique form of Tangka art.

10. phphon Tangka

Diphon Tangka is an important part of Tangka art. Because Buddhism and benzene religion (one of the oldest religions in the world, originated in Central Asia and has been around for more than 18000 years) are mutually compatible during a long period of competition, forming an extremely consistent external form, essentially different phenomena. Although the history of phphism is much earlier than that of Tibetan Buddhism, it is from the Middle Ages in Tibet to a weak position. Therefore, it is extremely rare to pass the world of phphism Tangka. Therefore, we can only explore its characteristics and laws from the modern phphism Tangka, and compare the differences between the two.

As such a special kind of art, Tangka is extremely complex and has extremely strict requirements. Every piece of Tangka must be drawn in accordance with the etiquette specifications of the scriptures and the requirements of the guru, after thousands of years of continuous improvement, a complete set of technical procedures has been formed: 1. pre-painting ceremony; 2. create a canvas. 3. composition drafting; 4. coloring and dyeing; 5. hook line finalized; 6. 6. eye opening; 8. sealed. The exquisite thangka made in this way has gone beyond the single role of religious worship and began to meet the multi-faceted needs of the secular masses. It has become a unique work of art dominated by religious functions and supplemented by other functions, it has many functions such as solemn dojo, historical records, spiritual education, spiritual observation, password-filling, and knowledge dissemination.

Editor with responsibility

Theme and Content of Tangka (figure)