Item: Teacher (Lama) - Taglung Tangpa Chenpo

Taglung Tangpa Chenpo, Tashi Pel (1142-1210): founder of Taglung Monastery (1180), central Tibet - north of Lhasa, the head monastery for the Taglungpa sub-lineage of the Marpa Kagyu School. There is an inscription and blessing sanctification on the back of the painting attributed to Onpo Rinpoche. These dedications are currently dated to circa 1272.

Biographical Details

At the top center is the Tibetan Lama Pagmodrupa, the teacher of Tashi Pel. At the left are blue Vajradhara, followed by Tilopa and Naropa in the appearance of mahasiddhas. At the right side are Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa.

Descending at the left are Shakyamuni Buddha, Sahaja Chakrasamvara, a lama figure performing the teaching gesture with the hands, followed by white Vajrasattva with the right leg pendant.

Descending at the right side are white Chaturbhuja Avalokiteshvara, red Vajravarahi, a lama figure with the two hands placed in the meditation gesture in the lap, followed by white Ushnishavijaya.

At the bottom left is a donor figure in the appearance of a monk and seated before an elaborate shrine. Following from the left is a blue heruka figure holding a vajra upraised in the right hand, blue-black Chaturbhuja Mahakala, white Aparajita, red sow-faced four-armed Vajaravarahi, red Kurukulla with four-arms and red Vajravarahi.

Numbered List:
1. Vajradhara
2. Tilopa
3. Naropa
4. Marpa
5. Milarepa
6. Gampopa
7. Pagmodrubpa
8. Taglung Tangpa Chenpo
9. Indian Siddha figure
10. Indian Pandita figure
11. Shakyamuni Buddha
12. Chaturbhuja Avalokiteshvara
13. Sahaja Heruka Chakrasamvara
14. Vajravarahi
15. Lama figure
16. Lama figure
17. Vajrasattva
18. Ushnishavijaya
19. Heruka (?)
20. Chaturbhuja Mahakala
21. Aparajita
22. Arta Siddhi Varaha
23. Kurukulla
24. Vajravarahi
Donor Figure

Jeff Watt 4-2001

(For additional information see Notes on a Taglung Portrait by Jane Casey Singer).

Thematic Sets
Tradition: Kagyu Teachers (Paintings)
Collection: Private 1
Painting Style: Indian Style Painting (In Tibet)
Buddhist Deity: Aparajita (Secondary Figure)
Teacher: Taglung Tangpa Chenpo Page
Tradition: Taglung Kagyu Main Page
Tibet: Taglung Monastery
Subject: Lineage Composition (Greyscale)
Teachers: Early Paintings of Teachers (Indian Style)
Teachers: Early Teachers (Front Facing)
Exhibition: Mandalas, Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet (Teachers)
Subject: Lineage Paintings - Asymmetrical
Teachers: Early Teachers (Single Figures)