Item: Refuge Field (Buddhist) - Sakya Lineage

Sakya (Lamdre) Field of Accumulation (Tibetan: Tsog shing). See the Identification Key Page and the Refuge Field Outline Page.

At the center of the Field of Accumulation is the Primordial Buddha Vajradhara with the Lamdre Lineage directly above and the Vajrayogini Lineage descending from the upper right and the Mahakala Lineage descending from the upper left. Below Vajradhara are the Meditational Deities (Tib.: yi dam), Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Protector Deities and Wealth Deities. At the bottom of the composition are the Sixteen Offering Goddesses.

Sakya Field of Accumulation paintings, or Refuge Field, are not that common to the Sakya Tradition and really only appear to date from the 19th or 20th century. The reason for this is because the Sakyas do not have a standard generic visualization for the Field of Accumulation as is more common to the Nyingma Longchen Nyintig, Kagyu and Gelugpa Traditions. In the Sakya system of practice a Field of Accumulation is customized for each and every practice, such as Hevajra, Chakrasamvara, Vajrabhairava, etc., and therefore no generic Field of Accumulation image as a support for visualization was ever required.

Yellow (1): the Lamdre (Margapala) Lineage of teachers including the teachers for all Nine Cycles of Lamdre (lamkor Gu).

Blue (2): the Panjarnata Mahakala Lineage descending from Dramse Chogse, Vararuchi and Lochen Rinchen Zangpo, etc.

Red (3): the Vajrayogini Lineage of Naropa.

Green (4): (in descending order) beneath Vajradhara are Hevajra and retinue Goddesses, four rows of meditational deities, the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas, the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, miscellaneous deities, the Sixteen Great Arhats, protector deities and below that the wealth deities.

A - Orange - Amitabha Buddha in the Sukhavati Pureland.
B - Orange - Akshobhya Buddha in Abhirati Pureland.
C - Purple - The Six Ornaments & Two Excellent Ones
D - Purple - The Six Ornaments & Two Excellent Ones
E - Violet - Six Ornaments of Sakya
F - Violet - Six Ornaments of Sakya
G - Turquoise - Sakya Scholars
H - Turquoise - Sakya Scholars
I - Grey - Sixteen Offering Goddesses

Jeff Watt 12-2009

Front of Painting
English Translation of Inscription: Name inscriptions for all figures and donor statement at the bottom.