id: 150468 accession number: 1981.33 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1981.33 updated: 2020-05-14 09:10:57.858000 Tsong Khapa, Founder of the Geluk Order, c. 1440-1470. Central Tibet, mid 15th Century. Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton ; overall: 91.5 x 75 cm (36 x 29 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1981.33 title: Tsong Khapa, Founder of the Geluk Order title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1440-1470 creation date earliest: 1440 creation date latest: 1470 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Central Tibet, mid 15th Century technique: Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Tibetan Art type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 91.5 x 75 cm (36 x 29 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1981 opening date: 1982-02-17T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer). title: The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art opening date: 2003-10-05T00:00:00 The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (October 5, 2003-January 11, 2004); Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (February 8-May 9, 2004). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Los Angeles County Museum of Art (10/5/2003 - 1/11/2004) and Columbus Museum of Art (2/8/2004 - 5/9/2004): "The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditaional Art," exh. cat no. 37, p. 164-165.

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 239); July 1, 2014 - December 22, 2014. --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The Buddhist order to which the Dalai Lamas belong was founded by Tsong Khapa (1357-1419), whose image is seen here as the large central figure holding his hands in the teaching mudra. He wears the pointed golden hat that is the insignia for monks of the Geluk order. At the level of his ears are the sword and book, emblems of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom. These emblems allude to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that accorded Tsong Khapa the status of being an emanation of Manjushri. This extraordinary, sumptuously rendered painting, made only decades after his death, retains elements of portraiture in the facial features that become formalized in later works, especially from the mid- 1600s onward, when the Geluk monks dominated the Tibetan theocracy. He is surrounded by lineage masters, many in lively gestures of debate, whose analyses of doctrines and practices led to Tsong Khapa's final formulation of the Lam Rim text on the stages of the path to enlightenment, which is foundational to the Geluk order. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Huntington, John C., Dina Bangdel, and Robert A. F. Thurman. The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003. page number: N8193.3.C35 H86 2003 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1981.33/1981.33_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1981.33/1981.33_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1981.33/1981.33_full.tif