Tibetan Thangka

Every piece of Thangka, every statue of Buddha is beautiful and mysterious. It is charming and makes you awe. It is painting, also story; it is art, also religion.

History of Tibetan Thangka

There are many different ideas about the origin of Thangka. There is a story about it: in ancient, when a corydon was herding sheep on a mountain, he saw a beautiful girl standing on rainbow, but quickly disappeared. The corydon waited for the girl for several days, but the girl didn't appear. In order to remember the image of the girl, corydon used the carbon draw the image of the girl on a stone which used to cover the roof. people asked the boy what it is. Boy answered:"ri gang gei pu mu" (a girl on the mountain). Later, people spread it as "ri mu" (painting). That's the origin of the word "painting" in ancient Tibet. This is a beautiful love story, just like Maji ami (a beautiful dream in ancient Tibet). All the beautiful things started from beautiful love story.

The Tibetan painting art has a long history. In Karuo new Stone Age ruins of Qamdo discovered the ancient painted pottery. In 7th century, Sontzen Gampo united Tibet which brought the history into a new stage. Sontzen Gampo ever married with the Nepal princess and Tang Dynasty princess. Each of them brought large amount of Buddhist scriptures, building craft, calendar and large quantities of workman from Nepal and center plains which actively promoted the development of Tibetan culture. The Tibetan painting art also get a large degree development in this period. It was recorded in the book which was wrote by the 5th Dalai that Sontzen Gampo ever use his nosebleed to paint the angry auspice Tien Mou. That proved there wasThangka in Tibet in thousand years ago. At that time, there were no permanent temples in Tibet, early Tibetans in horde form and without permanent residence. In order to coordinate with the nomady, and get out of the time and space restriction, the painting art which is easy to carry, hang, collect and propaganda religion arisen. Thangka art at that time based on the traditional painting art and actively absorbed other nations' painting skills to make it perfect.

Thangka is the indication of believers, and believers get good qualities by worshiping the Thangka. So, it is reasonable to paint the images of Buddha and Bodhisattva in the right size and proportion as the sutra required. That's also the important thing in painting Thangka. Therefore, there are some treatises strictly required the proportion of painting Buddha and Bodhisattva. In order to paint the perfect images of Buddha and Bodhisattva, it also requires to paint based on the images recorded in sutra.

Development of Thangka

The art of Tibetan Thangka arisen after the Buddhism introduced into Tibet, it gets constant development with the development of Buddhism, culture and art of Buddhism. Thangka art inherited and renewed the original art features, and absorbed the art marrows of India, Nepal and central land and became a unique art form in Tibetan art. As time went by, there arisen many different painting styles, and make the Tibetan painting art become more mature day by day. Among the different painting styles, some of them named after the people who created it, some are named after the place.