Item: Teacher (Lama) - Bodong Panchen Chogle Namgyal

Chogle Namgyal: An inscription on the back reads Chogle Namgyal. Does this refer to the famous Bodong Panchen (1376-1451 [TBRC P2627) or Jonang Chogle Namgyal (1306-1386)? The sculpture is likely from a set depicting lineage teachers of a particular tradition or monastic establishment. (See images of Bodong E Monastery. Also see image HAR 20406). A list of the volume subjects from the Collected Works of Bodong Panchen.

Inscription: phyogs las rnam rgyal sku. dkon mchog 'jam dbyangs ngas. pha rgod chos kyi ye shes sangs rgyas thob phyir bzhengs.

ཕྱོགས་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་སྐུ། དཀོན་མཆོག་འཇམ་དབྱངས་ངས། ཕ་རྒན་ཆོས་རྗེ་ཡིས། སངས་རྒྱས་ཐོབ་ཕྱིར་བཞེངས།

Both Sakya Pandita and Tsongkapa are depicted with a pandita hat, the hands in teaching gesture while holding the stems of flower blossoms supporting a sword and book. Several other images are known of Bodong Panchen also depicted in the same manner, gesture and attributes.

The important figures of Buton Rinchen Drub, Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo and Gongkar Dorje Denpa are also depicted in a similar manner except with the attributes of a vajra and bell in place of the sword and book. The Nyingma teacher Longchenpa is similarly portrayed with a pandita hat, sword and book, except with the two hands extended across the knees. (See the Confused Visual Subjects Page).

(This identification might be in error and another identification as Jonang Chogle Namgyal could be argued).

Jeff Watt 6-2013