Art Institute of Chicago

Two Lamas in the Sakya Lamdre Teaching Lineage

Tibet

Date

c. 16th century

Medium

Opaque watercolor with gold on cotton

Culture

Tibet

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This thangka depicts two lamas, most likely from the Sakya Lamdre (Margapala) teaching lineage. The two main figures, in monastic dress, appear seated next two each other, each with their hands raised in distinct hand positions (mudras), while the other lineage holders surround them. Lineage is an important concept in Tibetan Buddhism, since it is believed that Buddhist texts cannot be properly understood without the guidance of a living teacher, who in turn must also have learned directly from a teacher. For this reason, Tibetan Buddhist traditions preserve lists of the sequence of teachers and students who have learned and then passed on a particular Buddhist text and its associated practices. This painting, in the Ngor style of Western Tibet, with strong reds and golds, and figures arranged in registers, may have once been a part of the set of lineage holders from the Sakya school. In this case, the figure on the left would have been the teacher of the figure on the right. The remaining figures around them are earlier members of the lineage.

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