Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Collections Today

10/04/2026

When describing this book illumination of the Bum (‘bum = Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā) at Namgyal Monastery, Mustang, I was puzzled why it was identified as representing the goddess Gaṅgā. Only recently, I realised there is, in fact, a chapter dedicated to Gaṅgā in that text, and it ends on the very page the illumination is on (see p. 83 of Luczanits, Christian, and Markus Viehbeck. 2021. Two Illuminated Text Collections of Namgyal Monastery. A Study of Early Buddhist Art and Literature in Mustang. Vajra Books). Sometimes the solution is too close to see it.

22/02/2026

Printing blocks are notoriously difficult to attribute and one wonders when the first figurative blocks were made. This block (mirrored) from the museum at Namgyal Monastery is exceptionally fine and depicts Künga Drölchok (kun dga' grol mchog; 1507–1566). Would it make sense for it to be made after the 16th century?

19/02/2026

Best wishes for the Fire Horse Year!

མེ་རྟ་ལོའི་གནམ་ལོ་གསར་ཚེས་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་ཞུ།

The image is from a scroll in the museum of Namgyal Monastery, Mustang.

19/01/2026

Out since just before the holidays and accessible Open Access:
Helman-Ważny, Agnieszka, ed. The Zhangzhung Nyengyü ‘Tsakalis’: A Cross-Disciplinary Analysis. Studies in Manuscript Cultures, vol. 45. De Gruyter, 2025.

The images are the first five figures of my art-historical analysis of the set, which discusses their composition, painting process, and attribution.

https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111623214/html

13/10/2025

Last week, I uploaded my documentation of the Kanji Tsuklakkhang to my documentation galleries. A request for photographs by a student reminded me that these should be made available as well. I am not sure when I will find the time to also add a page with some introductory information about the temple.
https://luczanits.net/galleries/index.php?/category/Kanji

21/09/2025

The last two weeks, I have updated the galleries and files documenting the architectural restoration of the temple of Gönpa Gang by the Norbusum Foundation (https://www.norbusum.org/gonpa-gang.html). Check out the middle galleries on the documentation page, which now show how the entire wooden structure was taken down and rebuilt. The pictures in this post are among those now added.

Of course, we now have to find the funds for the restoration of the murals, which are generally in good condition but covered with varnish, soot, and dust.

20/09/2025

14/09/2025

This week I had the pleasure to visit Chiddingstone Castle south of London to see the Tibetan collection there. To my surprise, there was another painting from an unusual early seventh-century thangka set. Here are some images as a teaser. I am sure some of you can recognize the set alone from these delightful details.

04/09/2025

Lower Mustang has always been a transitional area, as this 13th-century donor depiction from Dzong Monastery demonstrates. The main male donor is clearly from further south, as both his name (mul ldo in Tibetan transcription) and skin colour indicate, and has assimilated into the area. The turban he wears is another element that has been adopted in the area at that time.

The donors depicted commissioned a Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā in its Tibetan translation, and the two illuminations on the same page directly refer to the text. The two scenes stand for the story of the Bodhisattva Sadāprarudita in search of the Perfection of Wisdom, the captions naming the main protagonists in the culmination of the story. For an earlier version of this story in images, see the ambulatory of the Tabo main temple (see https://luczanits.net/sites/Tabo/Ambulatory.html and the linked picture gallery).

28/08/2025

Among the sculptures documented in Mustang, those made of clay or papier-mâché are most challenging to assess. Their material has not been studied in any detail, they often follow their own artistic conventions, and there are practically no reference points that could be used to attribute them.

As an example, here are three images of the mahāsiddha Avadhūtipa, one of the lineage holders of the Lamdré (lam 'bras) teachings. Two of these are from Namgyal, Upper Mustang; the one painted in gold is in Dzong, Lower Mustang. Their context makes it most likely that they represent one tradition of Sakya and Ngor school-related image making from the second half of the fifteenth century onwards, but they are also distinct enough to document different workshops. Given their fragility, they are more likely made in situ than transported, speaking for workshops travelling from one monastery to another. Damages and later restorations only add to the factors to be considered.

24/08/2025

One of the illuminations of the early Chuksang Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā (‘bum), the same volume as the covers of my previous post, is equally puzzling.

The illumination represents the last scene of the Life of the Buddha, which begins the illumination programme, but it is unclear which scene is supposed to be represented. The earth-touching gesture of the Buddha in the centre is from the Awakening. The composition of the triad mirrors that of the First Sermon, but the flanking figures worshipping the central one are Buddhas and not monks. These Buddhas reference the Multiplication Miracle at Śrāvastī, where they usually perform the same teaching gesture as the Buddha but are directed away from him. Thus, neither identification is compelling.

As a comparison, I added the First Sermon of the Namgyal Sutra Collection, which is published in “Two Illuminated Text Collections of Namgyal Monastery. A Study of Early Buddhist Art and Literature in Mustang” by Markus Viehbeck and myself. While this scene is clear, other post-awakening scenes among the Namgyal illuminations are equally puzzling. The book is available here (https://vajrabookshop.com/product/two-illuminated-text-collections-of-namgyal-monastery-a-study-of-early-buddhist-art-and-literature-in-nepal/) and can be downloaded here (https://soas-repository.worktribe.com/output/364655).

21/08/2025

This week I am spending some time on describing the early Chuksang Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā (‘bum) in detail. Thereby I spend considerable time understanding its book covers, the front short side of which is carved. Figuring out the iconography of these carvings is not only challenging due to their size, but they are also rather unconventional, making it often impossible to be sure who is represented.

The covers of volume 4 (nga) are a good example in this respect, both short sides dedicated to triads. In the top one the identifying attributes are Buddhas and stupas placed on lotuses, the central meditating figure even with two of them. In the bottom each of the deities holds a flower while the other hand performs the gesture of giving (varadamudrā). The unusual features of these depictions as well as the symmetry built into the compositions indicate to me that they are probably not meant to represent specific deities but rather their abundance.