Antique Atisha Thangka, Tibet Important lineage holder for Dalai Lama Gelugpa

Description

This is the most unusual thangka in my collection, and because of its past ownership, spiritually, the most valuable.
I obtained this thangka from Craig "Indiana" Watson in 2001. According to him, he received this thangka as a gift from the Dalai Lama's brother,
the Venerable Thubten Jigme Norbu, when he was a student at the University of Indiana, Bloomington.
The great tantric teacher Atisha is seated holding a mala in the position of debate.
Atisha was a renowned scholar and teacher and brought Buddhism teachings to Tibet in the 11th C.
Over the centuries after the Buddha taught, his teachings spread throughout Asia, eventually reaching the remote country of Tibet.  There, the teachings flourished until the 9th century, when a new Tibetan emperor closed his country’s Buddhist temples and monasteries—the great centers of Buddhist learning. In time, the people of the country were left with little correct understanding of the teachings. So in the 11th century, a new king invited the great Indian master Atisha to bring the pure lineage of the Buddha’s teachings once again from India, where they were still flourishing, to Tibet.
In order to clarify the popular misunderstandings he encountered in Tibet, Atisha organized the Buddha’s teachings into a complete presentation of the steps on the path to enlightenment. In his text
A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
, Atisha put the Buddha’s direct teachings in order, according to the sequence in which they are to be implemented by each practitioner who aspires to enlightenment. This model proved extremely useful, and there have since been many presentations of what came to be known as the
lam-rim
(Tibetan for “stages of the path”), all based on Atisha’s root text.
One especially influential and expansive commentary on Atisha’s text, was composed by Lama Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), the founder of the Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism (the tradition followed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama).
Polychrome (tson-tang) style
The
thangka
, a Tibetan painting using ground mineral pigment on cotton or silk, functions as one of the principle meditational tools in Buddhist practice. Also known as a Tibetan Painted Scroll, a
thangka
usually depicts a central Buddhist deity or teacher surrounded by associated gods and lineage figures, describes events or myths attributed to important religious teachers, or outlines the blueprint of a particular deity’s realm as a
mandala.
The sacred art of thangka painting dates back to the 7
th
Century. Originating in Nepal, or by Newari artisans, it has evolved into several schools of painting, often using formalized images depicted in strict geometrical proportions.
Thangkas are generally classified as the following:
·
Wrathful Guardian/Protector
·
Beneficial Deity/Protector
·
Deity & Consort (
Yab Yum)/
Meditational Deity
·
Historical Figure/Teacher
·
Mandala