A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y, Z.

B

Baiya (Pewar) Monastery, Tibet: .

Bakula, Arhat: .

Balri Painting Style: inspired by the Newar Artists of Kathmandu Valley, using bright colours, detailed ornamentation and making full use of the entire canvas. This style was popular in Southern Tibet especially with the Sakya and Ngor monasteries.

Bamo, Sakya: a classification of Tibetan witch, subjugated, and employed as worldly religious protectors. There are three famous witches: Mamo Rikye, Namka Drolma and Shangmo.

Bardo (Tibetan): the state between death and rebirth.

Begtse Chen: an enlightened protector deity of Tibetan Buddhism, associated with the Yangsang (Very Secret) Tradition of the meditational deity Hayagriva.

Beihai Stupa, Beijing, China: .

Bernag Chen, Mahakala: .

Bhairava (Sanskrit): a wrathful form of the great god Shiva.

Bhavaviveka: Indian Buddhist scholar.

Bhimarata (Sanskrit): Chariot Ritual.

Bhurkumkuta: a Tantric Buddhist deity employed as a defense and cure against various types of sickness and disease.

Bhutan:

Black Ground Painting: paintings that have a black back ground and the figures generally drawn in gold outline.

Binder: the medium in which pigments are suspended in a solution in order to be applied (as paint) to a surface.

Blockprints: a woodcut image in a relief technique where the image is left raised and what is not carved is printed.

Blue Vaidurya (Beryl) Medical Paintings: a set of more than eighty paintings illustrating the famous medical text known as the Four Tantras (Tib.: gyu shi), designed and commissioned by Desi Sanggye Gyatso (1653-1705), regent of the 5th Dalai Lama. (See Vaidurya Texts).

Bodhisattva (Tib.: jang chub sem pa): idealized beings in the appearance of youthful heavenly gods, generally male and richly attired in silks and jewels. They represent the principal students of the Buddha according to the Mahayana literature (sutras) of Northern Buddhism. Full definition.

Bon Religion: the indigenous religion of Tibet and the Himalayan regions, founded by Tonpa Shenrab of Tazik, Central Asia.

Book Cover: wooden boards, often decoratively carved and painted, serving as the top and bottom protective covers for folio manuscripts and block printed books from India to Siberia.

Book Illustration: commonly referred to as illuminated manuscript pages.

Brocade: silk textiles of Indian or Chinese origin, often with elaborate design, used to frame the borders of cloth paintings and create applique artworks (tangkas).

Bronze Sculpture: made from an alloy with 90 per cent copper and 10 per cent tin. This term is often used to refer to all metal three dimensional objects even though other metals may be present such as lead and zinc along with silver, gold and coppwe inlay.

Buddha: most often referring to the historical Shakyamuni Buddha, however in the Mahayana Sutras (religious texts) there are many other buddhas. The Tantric texts describe in detail the various appearances of these other buddhas.

Buddhist Religion: the philosophy, or way of life, taught in India by Gautama Siddhartha in the 5th century B.C. Buddhism has been a major influence on the creation of art throughout asia.

Butter Sculpture: molded into a variety of shapes and carefully coloured, they can stand 10 to 15 feet tall, and serve as elaborate ritual food offerings during religious and harvest festivals. The most elaborate of these are found in Amdo, northeastern Tibet.

C

Carving: (stone and wood)

Chaitya (Sanskrit): a Buddhist architectural form intended as a funerary mound made of stone, a reliquary made of metal or clay, or a ritual object or painting symbolically representing the mind of complete enlightenment.

Chart: technical paintings, drawings and blockprints dealing with the subjects of protection, astrology and medicine.

China:

Chorten (Tibetan): a Buddhist architectural form intended as a funerary mound made of stone, a reliquary made of metal or clay, or a ritual object or painting symbolically representing the mind of complete enlightenment.

Choying Dorje, 10th Karmapa (1604-1674): a famous painter, sculptor and religious leader influenced by Chinese styles of the time and Indian and Kashmiri styles of the previous millenium. Examples of his work exist today (see examples).

Composition: the arrangement of elements in a painting. In the paintings of Himalayan art there are several standard compositions: portrait, mandala, chart, landscape, narrative, etc.

Conservation: the practice of attempting to keep a work of art in its original condition by using non-interventionist methods. (See links to Conservation).

Continuous Narrative, continuous representation: a pictorial narrative device involving the representation of successive episodes from the same story within a single picture and against a unified background. The main characters are repeated in each scene and therefore need to be immediately recognizable. This device is common in Himalayan art and examples can be found in familiar painting sets such as the Avadana Stories and Milarepa biographical paintings.

D

Dakini: depending on the religious tradition and specific literature dakinis can be female nature spirits, witches, or deities assisting in spiritual development. In Tantric Buddhism a classification of meditational deity are also called dakini (Vajra Dakini, Vajrayogini, etc.).

Dalai Lama: The Dalai Lama tradition belongs to a system of recognized re-embodiments. Today, the current Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (b.1935) is the fourteenth in the line. Since the mid-seventeenth century the Dalai Lamas have ruled over Tibet.

Deity: a word commonly used in Buddhism to describe meditational deities (Sanskrit: ishtadevata) and protectors (Skt.: Dharmapala). The word deity is not generally used to designate Hindu gods, Buddhas, mountain gods, nature spirits, etc.

Dharmapala: Buddhist protectors, deities that perform the function of protection for both the religion and the followers. In Tantric Buddhism there are two classes, [1] enlightened protectors (jnanapala) and [2] worldly protectors (lokapala). The foremost example of an enlightened protector is Mahakala and for the worldly protectors the Four Guardian Kings.

Direct Carving, modelling.

Direction Guardians: the four heavenly kings residing on either the innermost ring of islands, or on the lower slopes of the four sided mythical mount Sumeru, the center of the idealized Buddhist and Hindu worlds. Vaishravana (North), Dhritarashtra (East), Virudhaka (South), Virupaksha (West).

Distemper: a water based paint.

Donor: an individual, family, or group of people responsible for commissioning an artwork. In Nepal there is a tradition of creating small donor sculptures to accompany large commissions. It is common in Nepalese and Tibetan paintings to find the donors of the painting depicted at the bottom right or left corner of a painting. Donors are sometimes named in inscriptions on the front or back of paintings. See examples of paintings commissioned by Lhachog Sengge that include both the artist and donor name.

Dough Molds, or Torma Molds (Tibetan: tor par): lengths of wood, intricately carved and used to create specific symbolic shapes when barley dough (tsampa) is pressed against the carved surface. The dough molds are used to produce large numbers of offerings for use in ritual services.

Dough Sculpture (Tibetan: torma. Sanskrit: balimta): torma are generally cone shaped ritual food offerings hand sculpted in a variety of shapes and sizes, coloured and then adorned with flat circular 'buttons' made from butter. Sometimes wooden dough molds are used to create the intricate shapes required for specific rituals.

Drawing, Drawing Book: (see Sketchbook).

Dunhuang: a location in Western China famous for cave temples, murals, Buddhist images and rare texts dating back to the 8th century. (See International Dunhuang Project).

E

Embroidery: ornamental stichwork applied to any fabric using any kind of thread.

Enlightened Protector: a Buddhist term, the first and more important of the two types of Dharmapala: Enlightened and Worldly. The Enlightened Protectors are wrathful emanations of the buddhas, fully enlightened beings. Examples: Mahakala and Shri Devi).

Epigraphy: the study of inscriptions. Many stone and metal sculptures have inscriptions written along the base. Tibetan paintings often have verses of blessing written on the back and very occaissionally they will have names of donors or the person an artwork was intended for. Narrative and portrait paintings often have name inscriptions on the front written beneath each figure. Nepalese paintings typically place inscriptions in a bottom register and also include a date for the work. Example: back of a painting.

F

Foot and Handprint Paintings: paintings containing the hand or foot prints of notable religious teachers. This is commonly found in the Kagyu Schools and based on a text written by Pagmodrupa in the 12th century explaining the technique and efficacy of creating such paintings. Stone carvings and paintings of the idealized feet of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni can be found throughout Asia.

Forgery & Fakery: an object or article deliberatly created to misrepresent and decieve generally with the intention of financial gain. Himalayan art is not without its fakes and forgeries.

Fresco: a word sometimes used to describe the murals of the Himalayan regions. The word Fresco implies a specific technique for creating murals which is a technique not employed in the Himalayas or Tibet. (See Murals).

G

Gandhara: an ancient kingdom in the present day regions of northern Afghanistan and Pakistan, flourishing between the 2nd century B.C. and the 6th century A.D. (See Gandharan Art).

Gandharan Art: the art of Gandhara, predominantly Buddhist stone sculpture, terra cotta and stucco.

Garuda: both a mythical creature, a minor Hindu god, and a Buddhist meditational deity. He is depicted as being half man and half bird. The Bon religion has a similar deity called Kyung.

Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism (also known as the Ganden School, and New Kadampa): founded by Tsongkapa in the early 15th century. It was very active in promoting the monastic system and creating very large monasteries that housed thousands of monks.

Gesso:

Gilding: the process of covering a surface with gold leaf.

Gilt: the application of gold onto a cast metal sculpture. God:

Goddess: a term with broad meaning applied to all female deities and divine female figures regardless of hierarchical importance. See Index of Female Deities.

Gold Ground Painting:
paintings created with the basic ground or back ground in gold.

Gouache: opaque water colours, a common western term used to describe the paints used in Himalayan painting.

Ground: the primary paint layer applied to the canvas or cotton cloth in preparaion of a painting. On top of this primary ground there are then four types of painted ground common in Himalayan art: coloured ground, black ground, gold ground and red ground.

Gupta Period (380-415):

Guru: religious teacher or preceptor in South Asia. For Vajrayana Buddhism the term is specifically used for a Tantric teacher. The titles of acharya or kalyanamitra are used for Sutrayana, or from a Tantric point of view - ordinary religious teachers.

Guruyoga: in Tantric Buddhism, a meditation and devotional practice focussing on the spiritual teacher (guru) in an idealized form. These forms can be based on accepted traditional images or on revelation experiences of previous spiritual leaders. Paintings and sculpture depicting forms of idealized teachers are commonplace in Himalayan art.

H

Hagiography: an idealized biography intended for the faithful, uncritical and often relying on, and embellished by, oral tradition and the visions of later followers. Most of the stories of the eighty-four mahasiddhas are relegated to the genre of literature known as Hagiography. See examples: Shavaripa, Aryadeva, Padmasambhava.

Halo: a circle of light, or rays of light surrounding or emmanating from the head, signifying a spiritual person. (See Aureola).

Hand and Footprint Paintings: paintings containing the hand or foot prints of notable religious teachers. This is commonly found in the Kagyu Schools and based on a text written by Pagmodrupa in the 12th century explaining the technique and efficacy of creating such paintings. Stone carvings and paintings of the idealized feet of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni can be found throughout Asia.

Himalaya: the large mountain range of Northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan that was formed when the Indian sub-continent plate joined the Asian continent.

Himalayan Art (Full definition): Himalayan Art is art that is indigenous to the Himalayas, predominantly Tibet and Nepal, and the areas under the cultural sway of these cultures. Himalayan art is primarily concerned with religious subjects and is recognizable through the use of composition, symbols and motifs. Individual works of art are commonly created in sets forming much larger works of art.

Himalayan Buddhism: the official name for the form of Buddhism practiced in the country of Bhutan. It can also represent all forms of Buddhism practiced in the Himalayan regions.

Himavat: the father of Parvati, goddess of the Himalayas.

Hindu Religion: a general term referring to a group of religious and spiritual traditions of the indian sub-continent. Specifically it refers to the three principal religions of Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta and all of their permutations. The Vaishnava followers hold Vishnu to be the supreme god. The Shaiva followers hold Shiva to be the supreme god and the Shakta hold the Mother Goddess, Durga or Kali, to be the supreme god.

I

Iconography: the study and identification, often religious, of portraits, deities and symbols along with the context and general subject matter of an artwork.

Iconographic Source Texts: the literature that describes the appearance, function and rituals associated with meditational deities and gods.

Iconometry: the geometric rules, drawing guides and measurements used in the creation of correctly proportioned figures in Himalayan art.

Illuminated Manuscript: miniature paintings, often figures or narrative scenes, used to decorate the pages of books.

Illustration: a picture in a book accompanying a text.

Impasto: raised surfaces on a painting giving an effect of three dimensionality, generally used for ornamentation such as crowns and jewelry. Example: Akshobhya Buddha painting.

In Situ: in its original place, referring to artworks in their original location where the artwork was intended to be placed or kept.

Indian Adept (Skt.: maha siddha): the great Hindu and Buddhist Tantric practitioners of medieval India. (See Outline Page).

Indian Scholar (Skt.: acharya, pandita): a term referring to scholars in general (acharya) and to those engaged in translation, debate and disputation (pandita).

Initiation Cards (Tib.: tsak li): small paintings, generally the size of playing cards, created in sets and used in Buddhist and Bon rituals and initiations, containing illustrations of deities, animals, objects, and abstract images.

Inlay: any type of metal, stone, shell or bone recessed in fittings as decoration on three dimensional objects - sculpture.

Inscriptions: words, phrases and sentences written on the front or backs of paintings and around the base, or on the backs of sculpture. (See Epigraphy).

Ishtadevata: a chosen, or personal meditational deity. These deities are generally chosen from the inventory of principal meditation practices common to a particular spiritual tradition. Examples: Hindu Shaiva, Bhairava; Hindu Shakta, Durga, Kali. For Buddhism examples might be: Nyingma, Vajrakila; Sakya, Hevajra; Kagyu, Chakrasamvara; Gelugpa, Vajrabhairava; Jonangpa, Kalachakra. For the Bon religion examples are: Walse Ngampa and Magyu.

Ivory & Bone: objects made from elephant tusk ivory or bone of various types, including human.

J

Jataka Stories: narratives of the previous lives of Shakyamuni Buddha, often represented in sets of paintings, manuscript illuminations, or carvings. In Himalayan art the most common representations are based on the 3rd/4th century text of Aryashura called Jatakamala, Garland of Stories. This is a compilation and re-writing of thirty-four popular stories in both verse and prose style. (Read all Thirty-four Jatakamala stories).

Jewel: there are basically three groupings of jewels, [1] the Wish-fulfilling Jewel, [2] the Three Jewels, and [3] the Seven Jewels of Royal Power.

K

Karmapa: The Karmapas are a line of successive incarnations generally aknowledged as the first lineage of reincarnating teachers in Tibetan Buddhism. The main seat of the Karmapa is Tsurpu Monastery, north-west of Lhasa, and the specific tradition is known as the Kamtsang Kagyu (Karma Kagyu) belonging to the Marpa Kagyu and Dagpo Kagyu Traditions.

Kashmir: a region of north-western India, known to Tibetans as Kache, there were many great Buddhist pandits that came from this region along with trade and culture from India.

Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism: commonly said to be comprised of four major and eight minor branches.

Karma Gadri Painting Style:

Kathmandu Valley Painting Style:

Khatvanga: a symbolic staff, carried in the left arm by wrathful or semi-wrathful tantric Buddhist deities, representing the consort, male or female.

Kesi Textile Weaving: a slit weave technique from China.

Kings: a subject of art in all cultures. In Himalayan art there are three types of kings depicted, [1] Indian Kings, [2] Tibetan Kings, and [3] the Kings of the mythical land of Shambhala.

Kirtimukha (English: the face of glory): the face of a mythical creature often found in Newar wood sculpture. (See link to a Pdf article).

Krishna: a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Krishna almost always appears youthful and blue in colour, surrounded by adoring girls.

Kubera: referring to a wealth god, a proper name used in old Indian texts for Vaishravana, the guardian king of the north. The name Kubera is also used for various attendant figures found in the mandalas of Vaishravana, Jambhala, Vasudhara and others. The word Kubera is almost never found in Tibetan language texts.

Kushan Period: (130 B.C. to 185 A.D.). Links to Kushan history and costume and sculpture.

Kyenri Painting Style: a style of Tibetan painting created by Kyentse Wangchug.

Kyentse Wangchug:

L

Lacquer: Lac

Lama: religious teacher or preceptor in South Asia. For Vajrayana Buddhism the term is specifically used for a Tantric teacher. The titles of acharya or kalyanamitra are used for Sutrayana, or from a Tantric point of view - ordinary religious teachers.

Landscape Format:

Languages of the Himalayas and Central Asia:

Licchavi Kings, Chronology Chart: The following table shows a list of Licchavi Kings and some of their dates, as culled from three sources: Jayadeva (II)'s Chronology of AD 733 (as found in Dhanavajra Vajracarya's Licchavika-laka-Abhilekha. From the article A Kushan-period Sculpture from the reign of Jaya Varma, A.D. 184/185 Kathmandu, Nepal by Kashinath Tamot and Ian Alsop.

Lineage, Lineage of Teachers: (Skt. guru sampradaya), the chronological enumeration of religious teachers belonging to a specific family line, academic line, or line of initiation and instruction. The lineage always begins with a divine figure, Shiva, Buddha, or a deity placed in the center of the composition.

Lingam: an idealized phallus usually constructed of metal or stone and used in the ritual worship of the Hindu god Shiva.

Lohan: the Chinese word for the Sanskrit word arhat. (See Arhat).

Lost Wax Technique:

Lotus: the lotus flower (Skt. padma) is a common motif in Indian and Himalayan art.

Luohan: (see Arhat).

Lokapala: worldly protector or guardian; in Buddhism, a lesser deity that performs the function of a protector that has not yet reached complete enlightenment. (See Worldly Protector).

M

Mahakala: the principal enlightened protector and most wrathful deity of Tantric Buddhism. (See Buddhist Protectors outline page).

Mahasiddha: Skt.: maha siddha): the great Hindu and Buddhist Tantric practitioners of medieval India. (See Outline Page and Mahasiddha Technical Glossary).

Mahayana Buddhism (Great Vehicle): the Buddhism of Northern India, the Himalayas, China and East Asia.

Makara: a mythical sea creature having a snout like an elephant and the body like an alligator.

Mala: a string of beads used for counting prayers or mantras (mystical formula). The beads are usually made of wood, seeds, glass, rock crystal, or other substances. Tantric literature specifies different materials for different purposes and rituals.

Mandala: a circular diagram, highly technical and precise, representing the entire universe; the container and contained, animate and inanimate. Mandalas are painted on cloth, on the ceilings of temples, as murals, fashioned from metal, wood or stone, sometimes coloured threads and also from coloured sand.

Manla Dondrub: (see Mantangpa).

Mantangpa, Manla Dondrub (15th century): founder of the Menri painting school.

Manuscript Page: palm leaf or paper pages often containing miniature paintings of figures or narrative scenes.

Masks: papier mache, wood or metal masks created as costumes for religious dance or theatrical performances.

Medium: referring to the liquid used to suspend the paint pigment.

Medical Painting: (see Blue Vaidurya).

Menri Painting Style: (New and Old)

Metal Sculpture:

Ming Dynasty: 1368 to 1644.

Miniature:

Mithuna, Maithuna (Tib.: yab yum): tantric deities in physical embrace.

Modelling: in painting, the use of light and shade to give the effect of three dimensionality on a two dimensional surface.

Molded Clay Image (Tib.: tsa tsa): stamped clay, images typically of Buddhist subjects and stamped from a mold. The clay sometimes contains the ashes of a respect deceased religious teacher.

Mongolia:

Mongolian Buddhism: the name of the form of Buddhism practiced in Mongolia.

Mount: the brocade or textile frame surrounding a cloth painting.

Mountain Deity: deities indigenous to a geographic region and considered worthy of worship by the local populace. (See Machen Pomra, Tashi Tseringma and Werma Nyenya).

Mudra: hand gestures, part of a highly symbolic religious language.

Murals: any type of painting directly applied to a wall, or painted on cloth and glued to a wall, or painted on wood and fastened to a wall.

N

Naga: mythical serpentine creature appearing as human or snake, or both together with a human torso above and a coiled snakes tail below. They inhabit the regions beneath the earth, and in the oceans, lakes, streams, or large rocks and boulders.

Nagaland: a region of Northeastern India with an ethnic population called Nagas. They are known for their weaving and wood sculpture, and follow their own forms of religion.

Narrative Painting: paintings that tell a story.

Nepal:

Naxi (Nakhi): a minorities people of China centered in the city of Lijiang and surrounding areas. They have a unique culture, language and written script. Both Tibetan Buddhism and Bon religion are practiced amongst other belief systems.

Nepalese Painting Style in Tibet: inspired by the Newar Artists of Kathmandu Valley, using bright colours, detailed ornamentation and making full use of the entire canvas. This style was popular in Southern Tibet and with the Sakya and Ngor monasteries.

Newar:

Ngor Painting: art produced at the monastery of Ngor Ewam in South-western Tibet. The art style is predominantly Newar influenced.

Nimbus: (see Aureola).

Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: the oldest of the four main schools, established with the founding of Samye Chokor Ling monastery in the 8th century by Padmasambhava and Shantirakshita. Nyingma means old, or ancient, and differs from the other three schools, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug, in a number of ways. The three later schools are collectively called the Sarma schools, meaning new. A significant characteristic of the Nyingma is that it is anarchic with no central authority. All of the other schools have a clear authority and hierarchy.

O

Offerings: a particular subject of Buddhist painting and sculpture, representing items of clothing, weapons or food, and meant as offerings symbolically presented to various deities.

Ornamentation:

P

Padma: lotus flower, a common motif in Himalayan art.

Padmasambhava (Tib.: pema jungne): the Indian co-founder of Tantric Buddhism in Tibet, along with Shantirakshita and Trisong Detsen. In the 11th century with the rise of the Revealed Treasure tradition (Tib.: terma) the worship of Padmasambhava took on cult status. Hundreds of new deity forms of Padmasambhava were created representing all aspects of iconography and Tantric activity; peaceful, wrathful, male, female, wealth, power, healing, etc. (See Padmasambhava outline page).

Painting:

Pakistan:

Pala Period: the Pala dynasty ruled Bihar and Bengal from the 8th to the 12th century.

Panchen Lama: closely associated with the Dalai Lamas and the monastery of Tashi Lhunpo, the Panchen Lamas are a line of successively re-incarnating teachers in Tibetan Buddhism. The first Panchen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyaltsen, was the tutor of the 5th Dalai Lama and the most important Gelugpa teacher of his time.

Pandita (Sanskrit): a Tibetan Buddhist term used to describe either an Indian scholar that assisted, along with a Tibetan scholar, in the translating of Sanskrit texts into the Tibetan language, or a Tibetan scholar that translates Sanskrit texts into Tibetan. (See example: Sakya Pandita and Indian Scholar).

Parma: (Printed Images - painted).

Pastiche:

Pastiglia: (see Impasto).

Pastose: (see Impasto).

Pata: an Indian painting on cloth.

Patina, Patination: referring to the surface colour of bronze and metal sculpture as it has oxidized over time. The term is also used for surface discolouration of other types of objects.

Paubha: a painting on cloth. The Nepalese version of an Indian pata and a Tibetan tangka.

Perspective:

Petroglyphs: drawings of human figures, animals, and symbols etched onto rock or painted with substances such as red ochre.

Picchavai: narrative paintings portryaing the life of the Hindu god Krishna, a form of Vishnu.

Pictograph:

Pigment: the colouring agent in paint. Paint is pigment suspended in a medium.

Pointillism:

Portrait Format:

Portraiture:

Prayer Flag: a printed image on paper or cotton cloth intended to be thrown into the wind or fixed in place where the wind blows. The flags often contain prayers and mantras along with images of deities and animals. Prayer Flags are common in the popular practice of both the Buddhist and Bon religions.

Prayer Wheel:

Print, Prints, Printed Image:

Proportion: in painting or sculpture, the relationship between the constituent parts one to another, or any of the parts to the whole. In Himalayan art proportion is moderated by the relatively strict use of iconometry. (See Iconometry).

Protective Talisman: (see Chart).

Protector:

Provenance: referring to the prior ownership and history of an artwork.

Purana: Indian Sanskrit texts often the source for the study and iconographic descriptions of Hindu gods and deities.

Purba (Tibetan term. Sanskrit: kila): a peg, shaped like a three bladed dagger, a ritual object represented three dimensionally in metal, wood or crystal; for pegging down disturbances and obstacles arising in the practice of Tantric Buddhism.

Pureland:

Q

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

R

Raksha/Rakshasi: dangerous male and female spirits, sometimes characterized as demons, of classical Indian literature. Their fearsome appearance became the model for wrathful Buddhist deities such as Mahakala, characterized by round bulbous red eyes, gaping slathering mouths with large bared canine teeth, flaming hair, dark skinned, large bellied and thick limbed.

Rebkong Painting Style: a Tibetan painting style found in the far north-eastern province of Amdo. This region is currently part of the Qinghai Province of China.

Red Ground Painting: paintings that have a red ochre or vermillion back ground and the figures generally drawn in gold outline.

Relief, Relief Sculpture: a stone or wood sculpture with the details standing above a carved flat background.

Reliquary: (stupa, chaitya).

Repousse: sculpture or decoration hammered into relief from the reverse side of a metal.

Restoration of Artworks: restoring a worn, damaged or aged artwork to its original condition, or the condition that the owner chooses.

Revealed Treasure (Tib.: ter ma):

Rock Carving:

Rock Painting: drawings of human figures, animals, and symbols etched onto rock or painted with substances such as red ochre.(See petroglyphs).

S

Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism: named after an auspicious white patch of earth visible on the side of a mountain in south-western Tibet. A temple was founded by the Khon family in 1074. (See Outline Page).

Sand Mandala:

Sanskrit Language:

Schist: sandstone of various colours, grey, etc., commonly used in the creation of Gandharan art.

Sculpture: three dimensional objects made from metal, stone, wood, clay, etc., generally depicting kings, religious teachers and deities.

Shangpa Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism: founded by Kedrup Kyungpo Naljor in the 11th century, although having the same name, this school is unrelated to the Marpa Kagyu School descending from Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa.

Shaiva: a religion of India (Hindu) that holds the god Shiva in highest reverence. He is typically portrayed in a benevolent form, as a white or ashen skinned yogi, with the hair in a topknot and a trident (trishula) stuck in the ground at the side. In his malevelent form he is known as Bhairava, dark coloured, rakshasa-like, fearsome looking and often with many heads and arms.

Shakti: a female consort of a male deity found in Hindu Tantric art. This term is not found in Buddhist Tantric literature.

Shiva: the principal god of the Shaiva Religion of Hinduism. There are many iconographic similarities between Shiva and various Buddhist deities such as Avalokiteshvara and Chakrasamvara. Shiva is also found in the Nyingma Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. (See Shiva Bhairava).

Shri Devi:

Shrine:

Siddha: (see Indian Adept).

Simhamuka (Sanskrit): a Tantric Buddhist meditational deity, the Lion-faced Dakini, generally associated with the Chakrasamvara literature. The Five Deity Simhamukha is associated with the Kalachakra literature and the Nyingmapa Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism regard Simhamukha as a secret form of Padmasambhava.

Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne (1700-1774):

Sketch:

Sketchbook: : collections of drawings created by an artist as a reference manual for iconographic imagery, symbols and motifs. These sketchbooks are often passed down through families such as with the Newars of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.

Stone Sculpture:

Stucco:

Stupa: a Buddhist architectural form intended as a funerary mound made of stone, a reliquary made of metal or clay, or a ritual object or painting symbolically representing the mind of complete enlightenment.

Support:

Sutra: Indian Buddhist texts, often written in Pali, Sanskrit, or a regional language, the iconographic source for images of Shakyamuni Buddha, the bodhisattvas and Arhats. See Illuminated Manuscript Pages for an example of how these Sutras appear.

Svastika: meaning auspicious in the Sanskrit language. When turning to the left it is the principal religious symbol of the Bon and Jain religions. For the Bon a right turning svastika has no meaning. Several Bon historical figures and deities hold a single svastika, or a double svastika scepter. For Buddhists it is a decorative element occasionally having a more specific meaning within a specific Tantric context.

T

Taglung Painting Style:

Taglung Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism:

Tangka: a Tibetan word referring to a painting or textile artwork.

Tantra: meaning continuum, a genre of Hindu and Buddhist religious literature.

Tathagata (Tib.: de shin sheg pa. English: Thus Gone One): a general term of respect for all buddhas, having gone, passed beyond cyclic existence.

Tempera:

Terma:

Terra cotta:

Textile: Applique, Brocade, Kesi, Weaving, Embroidery. (See Textile Outline Page).

Theravada:

Tibet:

Tibetan Buddhism: a term commonly used to refer to all forms of Tantric Buddhism of the Himalayas, Central Asia, Mongolia, Siberia, etc. (See Himalayan Buddhism, Mongolian Buddhism).

Tibetan Language:

Tibetan Year Chart: a chart to correlate the names of Tibetan years (animal, element, male and female) of the Sixty Year Cycle to the Western calendar system.

Tonpa Shenrab: founder of the Bon Religion, from Tazik, Central Asia.

Torana: the elaborate backrest, or arch, surrounding the central Buddha subject in paintings and sculpture.

Torma (Skt.: bali): dough sculpture, cone shaped and sometimes elaborately decorated and coloured, used as stylized food offerings in Bon and Buddhist rituals and initiations. (Tibetan: torma. Sanskrit: balimta): torma are generally cone shaped ritual food offerings hand sculpted in a variety of shapes and sizes, coloured and then adorned with flat circular 'buttons' made from butter. Sometimes wooden dough molds are used to create the intricate shapes required for specific rituals.

Tribal Art:

Tsa Tsa: stamped clay images, molded clay.

Tsakli, tsakali (Sanskrit term): small ritual paintings, generally the size of playing cards, created in sets and used in Buddhist and Bon rituals and initiations, depicting illustrations of deities, animals, objects, and abstract images. Tsakli should not be confused with Mongolian miniature paintings.

Tsangri Painting Style:

Tushita Heaven: the abode of the bodhisattva Maitreya while he waits for his next rebirth.

U

Urna: the small dot on the forehead of the Buddha, representing a white hair tuft, one of the thirty-two major marks of a buddha.

Ushnisha: the crown protuberance of a buddha, often topped with a jewel-like ornament; one of the thirty-two major marks of a buddha.

V

Vaidurya: the Sanskrit word for a type of precious or semi-precious stone, commonly used with reference to lapis lazuli, blue saphire, or blue beryl.

Vaishnava: a religion of India (Hindu) that holds the god Vishnu in highest reverence. He has many different forms and is best known through his ten emanations (avatars), one of which is Krishna and another the Buddha. Some of his forms are comparable to the tantric forms of the Buddhist deities Avalokiteshvara and Amoghapasha.

Vajra (Tibetan: dor je. English: the best stone): [1] from the Vedic literature, the scepter of the Hindu god Indra namely a lightening bolt, [2] from the Puranic literature, a weapon made from the bones of a rishi, and [3] a word representing Tantric Buddhism - Vajrayana. As a Buddhist scepter it is a small object made of metal generally having five or nine prongs at each end that bend inward to form two rounded shapes. As a ritual object it is usually accompanied by a bell with a half vajra handle (Sanskrit: ghanta).

Vajravali Sanskrit Text: a famous Buddhist initiation and meditation manual that describes the various forms and function of mandalas along with detailed descriptions of the deities they contain.

Vajrayana: Tantric Buddhism, the form of Northern Buddhism that relies primarily on the Tantras, technical manuals said to have been taught by the Buddha, and offer complete enlightenment in one, seven, or twenty-one lifetimes.

Vishnu: one of the most important of the Hindu gods. He is often represented as the Ten Avatar. They are incarnations of Vishnu and represent four periods of time - ages of the world. In the first age are the Fish, Tortoise, Boar and Man-lion incarnations. In the second age are the Dwarf, Rama with an Axe and Rama of the Ramayana Epic. For the third age is Krishna. The fourth age is represented by the Buddha and Kalki. Kalki has yet to come.

W

Wax Technique: Lost Wax Technique.

Wheel of Life: the Buddhist world view represented on cloth or painted as a mural, illustrating the six realms of existence, the twelve links of dependent arising and the three poisons.

White Vaidurya (Beryl) Astrological Paintings: various paintings based on the designs and descriptions from the White Vaidurya (Beryl) Astrological text of Desi Sanggye Gyatso (1653-1705), regent of the 5th Dalai Lama. (See Vaidurya Texts).

Wish-fulfilling Jewel:

Wood Cut:

Wood Sculpture:

Wooden Book Cover:

Worldly Protector: a Buddhist term used to differentiate between enlightened protectors and worldly protectors. The Worldly Protectors are the Guardian Kings of the four main directions, the ten protectors of the eight directions, above and below, along with regional and mountain gods. (See Buddhist Protectors outline page).

Woven Tangka:

Y

Yaksha/Yakshi: male and female nature spirits of India, of classical Indian literature and folk beliefs.

Yuan Dynasty: the period in Chinese history from 1271 to 1368 when they were ruled by the conquering Mongols, most notably, Kublai Khan.

Yungdrung (Tibetan): meaning everlasting, the Tibetan word for the symbol commonly known as a svastika. When turning to the left it is the principal religious symbol of the Bon religion, also known as the Yungdrung Bon. For the Bon a right turning yungdrung has no meaning other than decorative. Several Bon historical figures and deities hold a single yungdrung, or a double yungdrung scepter. For Buddhists it is a decorative element occasionally having a more specific meaning within a specific Tantric context.

Z
Zhangzhung: an ancient Bonpo kingdom in west Tibet located near Mount Kailash.

Zhangzhung Language: the ancient language of the Zhangzhung region and of the Bon religion.

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Bibliographic Sources:

The Bulfinch Guide to Art History. General Editor Shearer West. A Bulfinch Press Book, Little, Brown and Company, 1996.

A History of Tibetan Painting. David Jackson. Verlag Der Osterreichischen Akademe Der Wissenschafften, 1996.

Tibetan Religious Art. Part I and II, by Loden Sherab Dagyab. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1977.

Tibetan Thangka Painting, Methods & Materials. David and Janice Jackson. Snow Lion Publications, 1984.