A Pair of Imperial Thangka Paintings depicting Rolpai Dorje and Ushnisavijaya
Qianlong Period (1736-1795)
Rölpai Dorje (Rol pa'i rDo rje, "The Playful Vajra") was for half a century during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor the principal authority of Tibetan Buddhism at the Chinese court. This was a period when not less than 959 Tibetan and Mongolian monks stayed in the Qing capital (1736). Also known under the Mongolian hereditary title of Changkya Huthugtu (1), Dragpa Sonam (Grags pa bSod nams) — his personal name — was born in 1717 in a prominent Tibetanized Mongol family near Tsongkha in modern Gansu-Qinghai border area. Having been recognised as the reincarnation of the First Changkya Huthugtu, Ngawang Losang Chöden (Ngag dbang bLo bzang Chos ldan, 1642-1714), the spiritual mentor of the Kangxi and Yongzheng Emperor, Rolpai Dorje entered the nearby Gönlung monastery (dGon lung, Chin. Youning si "Temple of the Protecting Peace") (2) at the age of three (3).
By imperial command of the Yongzheng Emperor the young "spiritual master" (hu thug thu) was brought in 1724 to Songzhusi in Beijing. Famous for its production and sale of Tibetan and Mongolian texts, this was the monastic residence of the Changkya Huthugtus during the Qing dynasty. here he was educated in Chinese surroundings and in the Mongol-Tibetan Buddhist court milieu, an essential cultural and political background for his later religious and diplomatic career between Beijing and Lhasa. Rölpai Dorje soon learned to speak and write Chinese, Mongolian and Manchu fluently. Under the guidance of great Gelugpa teachers like the Thukwan (Thu'u bKva) Huthugthu (whose later incarnation became Rolpai's disciple and biographer), he studied the Kanjur canon together with Prince Hongli, the later Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799).
in 1734 Rölpai Dorje was appointed National Preceptor (guoshi) when according to a later inscription by the Qianlong Emperor his father and predecessor Yongzheng "bestowed the rank of a Teacher of the Empire" upon him. Later in the year the new state tutor was sent together with Prince Yunli, the seventeenth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, to eastern Tibet, to accompany, as the emperor's representative, the exiled Seventh Dalai Lama (1708-1757) back to Lhasa for his reinstallation on August 5, 1735. During this first visit to the land of his faith Rölpai Dorje received his monastic vows and the final ordination as a geshe (dge bshed) from the Second Panchen Lama Losang Yeshe (bLo bzang Ye shes, 1663-1737) at Tashi LhŸnpo monastery in November 1735. In early 1736 he returned from Lhasa to Beijing with over thirty Buddha statues and an image of the Fifth Dalai Lama. When in the same year his former classmate was enthroned as the Qianlong Emperor, Rölpai Dorje was appointed "Lama of the Seal" (tham ka bla ma), the highest rank of a Tibetan Buddhist monk in China. This was equivalent to the position of the Thukwan Huthugtu, his former teacher at the court. With the exception of the Third Panchen Lama (1738-1780) no other Buddhist monk in Qing dynasty Beijing was as much honoured as Lalitavajra (the Sanskrit name for this Grand Lama of the Empire).
With the transformation of the princely palace Yonghegong into a Buddhist temple in 1744, the Beijing centre of Tibetan Buddhism until today, Rölpai Dorje started various activities in art and architecture in the Qing capital. he became the supervisor of all Buddhist temples. A Buddhist academy with four colleges and 500 monks was established and a catalogue of Buddhist statues and paintings in the Palace collection compiled (4). In 1745 the Changkya Huthugtu initiated the emperor into the tantra of Chakrasamvara. after the ritual the Chinese Universal Ruler said to his Tibetan guru: "Now you are not only my lama, you are my vajra-master!". In a philosophical treatise (1746) Rölpai Dorje re-established the concept of a bodhisattva king's sacred and secular rule whereby the emperor is believed to be an emanation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of infinite and perfect wisdom (5). For the legitimization of the worldly sovereign he compares his tantric rites with those of the Sakya lama PhagPa ('Phags pa, 1 235-1280). Phagpa who was regarded as one of Rölpai Dorje's previous incarnations initiated Khubilai Khan (1215-1294), the Yuan dynasty emperor and also a manifestation of Manjushri, into the Hevajra Tantra. This directly links the Phagpa-Khubilai Khan lama-patron relationship with that of Rolpai Dorje and the Qianlong Emperor.
Rolpai Dorje visited his homeland in Amdo in 1749. From 1750 until 1757 he stayed in Beijing to give first priority to the planning, construction and complex iconographic programme of the principal temple of esoteric Buddhism in the imperial palace, the Yuhuage ("Temple of raining flowers"). Concurrently he compiled the first illustrated pantheon of esoteric Buddhism, the famous Three Hundred and Sixty Icons.
When in 1751 after much political unrest in Lhasa the Chinese emperor was considering a more direct rule over Tibet, so that in his own words "all Tibetan affairs, big and small, should be in the hands of officials from China" (6), Rölpai Dorje was able to persuade the emperor not to impose a tighter rule on the his spiritual home. the emperor followed Rölpai Dorje's advice, demonstrating the high esteem in which he held his guru. It was these same diplomatic skills that appeared to have been instrumental in the re-inauguration of the Seventh Dalai Lama's (1708-1757) temporal power in 1735, since which time both dignitaries had maintained close religious and personal ties.
the Changkya Huthugtu's second visit to Tibet in 1757-1759 was motivated predominantly by religio-political considerations, namely to oversee the funeral arrangements for the Seventh Dalai Lama, who had died on March 23, 1757. He was also charged with the important task of finding and establishing the reincarnation. This is confirmed by an imperial edict in which the Qianlong Emperor says: "I dispatched lCang skya to Tibet especially for the purpose of recognizing the new-born reincarnation of the Dalai Lama" (October 1758) (7). Qianlong no doubt ordered this mission because he was interested in a quick decision, wanting to avoid civil turmoil after the Seventh Dalai Lama's death. For this difficult task the diplomat mediator between the imperial court and the Tibetan clergy was well prepared.
The Changkya's presence in Lhasa, where he arrived after a five month journey from Beijing on February 6, 1758, was helpful not only for his good relations with the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, but also to smooth disputes between the Tibetan Buddhist schools, and to consolidate the status of the Demo Huthugtu Ngawang Jampel D eleg Gyatso as the regent of Tibet (1757-1777). This also served to prevent the Chinese ambans from overreaction and from initiating military expeditions to western Tibet, by strengthening the connection between Tibetan religious dignitaries and the Qing court. The definitive agreement of the emperor and the Tibetan hierarchs concerning the new Dalai Lama Losang Jampel Gyatso (bLo bzang 'Jam dpal rGya mtsho, born 29th July 1758) was a direct result of the personal efforts of this "China's Tibetan ambassador". Due to his beneficial diplomatic presence and great religious teachings, both the local Chinese representatives and the Tibetan clergy — by whom he was warmly welcomed and honoured — wanted to keep Rölpai Dorje in Tibet. However, he left for Beijing On August 26, 1759, "his place" (nged tshang), a term, which according to his biographer, the Changkya always used for the imperial court. In his luggage he carried a magnificent set of 13 painted scrolls depicting the Seventh Dalai Lama and his twelve previous incarnations, which is still preserved in the Forbidden City. (8)
During the 1760S Rölpai Dorje built a hermitage retreat for his regular sojourns at his beloved Wutaishan, the sacred mountain to Manjushri which he had first visited in 1750. Between 1766 and 1779 he concentrated largely on the planning and construction of the Tibetan Buddhist style temples at the imperial summer residence at Chengde ("Jehol" in European accounts, Chin. Re-he), which have survived, though without most of their original furnishings, until today.
Rölpai Dorje's earlier close relations with the Third Panchen Lama Losang Pelden Yeshe (bLo bzang dPal ldan Ye shes, 1738-1780) proved to be instrumental in arranging the hierarch's visit to the imperial court in 1780, which coincided with Qianlong's 70TH birthday. Rölpai was sent to his summer residence, a monastery built 1701-1705 at Dolonnor in Inner Mongolia, where he first welcomed the Panchen Lama and subsequently accompanied him to the Imperial residence at Chengde. The Xumifushou temple, modelled on he Panchen's home monastery the Tashilunpo, had been built specifically for this visit, to ensure the guest's comfort and ease. They arrived there in late August 1780, and during the visit Rölpai acted as an interpreter for the Buddhist debates between the Emperor and his highly venerated Tibetan guest. Following the visit to Chengde the Imperial party left for Beijing. After a two month stay at the Xihuang monastery (built for the fifth Dalai Lama's visit in 1652) the Panchen contracted smallp ox and died on 26 November 1780, much to the dismay of the Emperor.
Some years later in 1786 Lalitavajra made his last pilgrimage to sacred Mount Wutai, where he went to the Honourable Field on 29 April. The Qianlong Emperor personally supervised his funeral arrangements, erecting a gold stupa for the corporal remains of this Manjushri incarnate, the principal ritual master at the Court and Teacher of the Empire.
As the National Preceptor under the Qianlong Emperor the Second Changkya Huthugtu was not only the supreme religious authority in Qing dynasty China, but also the chief advisor for art and architecture in the Tibetan Buddhist style.
Being himself an artist and a masterly iconographer, Rölpai Dorje, requested by the Qianlong Emperor to paint a picture of Avalokiteshvara in 1779 (9), made plans and programmes for various buildings and image cycles. He supervised the renovation of the Yonghegong in Beijing as a Buddhist Temple and was instrumental in the concept and inner decoration of the foremost temples of esoteric Buddhism within the imperial palace, such as the Yuhuage, Baoxianglou and Fanhualou. Although Rölpai must have played a critical role in converting the Palace of Harmony (Yonghegong) into the later "Lama Temple" (Tib. dGa' ldan sbyin chags gling) and in completing all its furnishings after 1745, at present we do not know much more than that he was responsible for the o verall design and that he presided in 1753 over the opening ceremony of the principal "Shrine of Ten-thousand Happiness" (Wanfage). This was notable for the 18 metre tall Maitreya statue made from a single sandalwood trunk which had been donated by the Seventh Dalai Lama and sent all the way from Nepal to Beijing.
We are better informed by several court documents about a major parallel project in the north-western section of the Forbidden City: the three-storey Yuhuage temple ("Pavilion of Raining Flowers"), which was the personal sanctuary for the Qianlong emperor's Buddhist rituals. This private temple was built and furnished between 1750 and 1755 (10). At the emperor's request Rölpai Dorje conceived and designed this most interesting "Lamaist" temple in the imperial palace complex.
In researching models for the Yuhuage, Qianlong asked his spiritual mentor to list the great religious figures of Tibet. the eminent Rinchen Sangpo (Rin chen bZang po, 958-1055), the main representative of the Second Diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet (phyi dar), and his foundation of Tholing in western Tibet, at that time the most important monastic establishment in the whole Land of Snow became their inspiration. Interestingly, Lalita Vajra did not consider the principal "Mandala Temple" at Tholing (brGya rtsa), but a much smaller version with a similar layout - the three-storey initiation shrine gSer khang ("Golden Temple, 1067-1071). by its mere function, this shrine must have appeared more appropriate as a model for the emperor's private practice of esoteric Buddhism. Rolpai Dorje precisely describes the construction as of "four levels on which tantric deities of the four categories
The architectural structure of the Pavilion of Raining Flowers, corresponds to the four teaching systems of the four highest yoga tantras (kriya, carya, yoga and anuttara yoga tantra). These are the four different meditational practices of esoteric Buddhism, visually represented by the images of the tantric deities Chakrasamvara, Hevajra, Guhyasamaja and Kalacakra respectively. This religious ritual scheme was transformed into the furnishings and architecture of these four floors. this was undoubtedly Rölpai's own iconological concept, as were the three mandala palaces on the ground-floor (1753-1755) which were inspired by the three-dimensional mandalas of the same Gelugpa triad Vajrabhairava (left), Guhyasamaja (center), and Chakrasamvara (right) in the Potala in Lhasa.
The Temple of Raining Flowers once also comprised a memorial hall for Rölpai Dorje of which only the altar shrine has been preserved. There is an interesting screen painting (dating between 1753-1755) depicting the emperor as a small statue seated in a painted mandala palace and surrounded by a multi-figured "pantheon" between earth and sky, all flanked by two tablets with Qianlong's own calligraphies (14). in this memorial hall was also originally installed the 75 cm high partly gilt silver statue of Rölpai Dorje, which the emperor commissioned on 21st May 1786, just three weeks after the Changkya's death (15).
Twenty years after building the Yuhuage the Grand Lama of Beijing was engaged in another outstanding project which has become better known in the field of Tibetan Buddhist iconography since its "rediscovery" and first documentation by Baron von Sta‘l-Holstein at the turn of 1926/1927 (16). The Baoxianglou ("Temple of Precious Forms") and its unique sculptural pantheon of 787 metal statues was probably dedicated for the 80th birthday of Qianlong's mother IN 1771. IT was erected in the garden of the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility (Cininggong, built in 1653), the residence of the Empress Dowager in the western section of the Forbidden City, which also served for storing Buddhist images and artefacts donated to the imperial palace, all of which had been catalogued by Rölpai Dorje in his inventory of Buddhist art and text documents since 1744 (Bidianzhulin, "Secret Hall of the Pearled Grove").
This pantheon of Tibetan Buddhist iconography was soon removed to its present place in the Fanhualou, the very similar two-storey "Hall of Buddhist Flowering", built in circa 1774 in the north-eastern part of the Imperial Palace. The 787 images were installed here and arranged in shelves along the side-walls of the six chapels on the upper floor. These six chapels each house a large cloisonnŽ enamel stupa (dated to 1774) and large canvas paintings of Tibetan Buddhist subjects and style. It is without doubt that Rölpai Dorje's own illustrated pantheons such as the Three Hundred Sixty Icons (Zhafo pusa sheng xiang zan, "All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas", between 1750 and 1756) and the Three Hundred Icons (sKu brnyan brgya phrag gsum, sometime after 1757) served as a standard for the sculptural pantheon in the Fanhualou.
Many of the statues in the Tibetan, Nepalese and Indian style and other Buddhist artefacts now preserved in the Palace Museum collection are provided with labels inscribed in Manchu, Chinese, Mongolia and Tibetan (or Manchu and Chinese only) recording details about their iconography and their individual entry. As we learn from Thukwan's biography of Rölpai Dorje, the quantity of gifts brought to the court during the Qing period was so great that the Qianlong Emperor requested the Changkya Huthugtu in 1745 to check all these Buddhist images in order to classify them and specify their names in Mongolian and Tibetan script.
Between 1766 and 1779 Rölpai Dorje's activities as a consultant for Buddhist art and architecture comprised the supervision of some of the eight Tibeto-Chinese style temples in the Qing summer residence at Chengde north of Beijing, known as Bishushanzhuang, The "Mountain Resort for Escaping the Summer Heat". After his two journeys to Lhasa and beyond in 1734/35 and 1757/59 he was familiar with Tibetan monastic architecture and had no doubt an essential influence on this extensive imperial building enterprise, designed to impress, embrace, please and pacify the Mongolian and Tibetan neighbours in the West.
Thus these new shrines of the official Buddhist faith were copied under the state tutor's guidance after Tibetan models. The Puningsi, the Temple of Universal Peace (1755-1758), for example, is a replica of Tibet's first "royal monastery" Samye. Although the Pulesi, the "Temple of Penetrating Joy" (1766-1767) is designed like a new Beijing Temple of Heaven, a central three-dimensional Samvara mandala with an over life-size image of this tantric divinity constitutes the Tibetan heart of a Chinese building. It is more than likely that Rölpai Dorje was particularly involved in the most extensive and extravagant building project at Chengde, the Putuozongcheng, "
The last grand Tibeto-Chinese enterprise at Chengde was the Xumifushou, the "
Once more Rölpai Dorje was the key figure on the emperor's behalf. In late January 1779 he composed the official invitation for the Panchen Lama, with whom he had maintained close and friendly ties since his second visit to Tibet in 1757/59. He organised and surveyed the Tibetan hierarch's year long journey from Shigatse via Dolonnor to Chengde and then to Beijing, and was the principal contact person between the emperor and his most distinguished guest during their meetings. Doubtlessly he was also responsible for the master plan of the huge temple complex, which, before the actual construction began, was already described in the documents as a new Tashi LhŸnpo (bKra shis Lhun po) to be built in free style after the Panchen's own monastery in southern Tibet "in imitation of his dwelling so that he could meditate in peace" (Qianlong, 1782). Such a concept recalls the Yellow Temple (Huang si), which was established as the temporary Beijing residence of the Fifth Dalai Lama at the occasion of his visit to the Qing court in early 1653. It is very likely that Rölpai Dorje was also the driving force behind the iconographic programme of Xumifushou's furnishings. Several thangkas in Western collections datable to the construction period of 1779/1780 have been identified as originally belonging to it (20) (cat.no.46).
The actual fame and if one can say so popularity which Rölpai Dorje's work has enjoyed so far among modern scholars of Tibetan Buddhism, are mainly associated with his iconographic collections of "Lamaist" masters and divinities. These pioneering model and pattern books, produced for ritual praxis and artistic use, have remained basic reference works for all later studies in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism.
Probably between 1750 and 1756 (21) the Changkya Huthugtu composed the Three Hundred and Sixty Icons "In Praise of the Images of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas" (Zhufo pusa shengxiang zan), a hand-painted album with 360 illustrations of deities and other figures from the early Indian masters to the Seventh Dalai Lama, it is also known as "All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas". Several later editions were copied as woodblock-printed books (22). The Chinese preface is undersigned by Rölpai Dorje, who has no doubt also translated the names of all 360 figures from the Tibetan into Chinese. A feature of these pantheons are the inscriptions to each figure generally in four languages: Manchu as the language of the emperor (Qianlong), Chinese as the language of the empire, Mongolian as the language of the Imperial Preceptor (Rölpai Dorje), and Tibetan as the language of the Buddhist dharma.
As far as the function of the Three Hundred and Sixty Icons is concerned it has been suggested that they were produced for private rather than public use. This would indicate internal ritual at court, attesting to the emperor's personal interest in Buddhism beyond all political considerations. Further motivation is given in an imperial edict of 1746, which states that it is "difficult to recognize who is who and to sort out what materials they are made of. We should distinguish these images and indicate who they are, both in Tibetan and Mongolian scripts" (23). This is testimony to the large number of pictures and statues in the palace collections previously uncatalogued. Thus the origins of our iconographic handbooks may well be associated with the archival, ritual and artistic requirements at the imperial court. It is also very likely that these iconographic compilations served as model books for the court artists in the Beijing and Chengd e palace temples and at other shrines of esoteric Buddhism. An additional function of this pantheon may have been its use as a design model for small votive clay tablets in bas-relief (Tib. tsa tsa) of which hundreds and thousands were "printed" to adorn temples and house-shrines. (24)
The Three Hundred Icons (sKu brnyan brgya phrag gsum) were compiled sometime after 1757. This became known for modern scholarship by Lokesh Chandra's reprint "Encyclopedia of Indo-Tibetan Culture" (Delhi 1964) (25). This small (23x7,5 cm) Tibetan style book (spo ti), whose early "imperial" editions were printed in red ink, comprised a preface in Tibetan and Mongolian by Rölpai Dorje and 100 pages each depicting three different figures. The images are selected from the sadhanas ("means of attainment"), a fundamental Buddhist tantric collection of short meditational texts describing the deities and the equivalent rituals in order to visualize them. It is believed that this pantheon was primarily compiled for the daily practice of the Tibetan and Mongolian court lamas. Since its illustrations include Rölpai Dorje himself and the Fourth Panchen Lama Losang Tenpai Nyima (bLo bzang bsTan pa'i Nyi ma, 1781-1853) the Three Hundred Icons may have been completed at the earliest during the late years of the Cha ngkya or after his death. In either case, he must be regarded as the mastermind behind the whole project as he was for the Three Hundred and Sixty Icons.
The Three Hundred Icons exist as a set of three painted scrolls (AMNH, New York). Each thangka with one hundred figures disposed in eleven rows of nine images plus a presiding Shakyamuni, Manjushri and Maitreya respectively on top. Rölpai Dorje himself is represented in the sixth register from the top as the second figure to the right, with his name written in Tibetan. As in the woodcut pantheon he is flanked by the Fourth Panchen Lama (left) and the learned Gelugpa master Jedrung Losang Palden (rJe drung bLo bzang dPal ldan), with whom the Changkya studied in Beijing in the 1730s. However, instead of his usual vase of longevity he is holding an alms bowl. On iconographic grounds these thangkas would thus date to the late 18th or first half of the 19th century, and may have served as reference charts for iconographic identification, archival documentation and artistic representation rather than for ritual purposes (26). A similar and probably earlier painting with 81 figures arranged in nine rows is pres erved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (27). Like the different woodblock-printed editions of the Three Hundred, Three Hundred and Sixty, and Five Hundred Icons, the painted pantheons in New York and Beijing were not meant to establish and illustrate an orthodox canon of Buddhist deities, but a floating world of Indo-Tibetan masters and divine beings for imperial use. It has been suggested that these painted pantheons would have served as models for the woodblock-printed books (28). Although the so far tentative chronological attributions of the painted and woodblock-printed pantheons may support such a theory, it is more likely the other way round: that the paintings were composed after woodblock-printed editions such as the painted leporello-album with 507 miniature images in the Ethnographic Museum of ZŸrich University, illuminated by Tibetan or Mongolian artists in China (or Mongolia) around 1810 or later. (29)
Rölpai Dorje's activities in the field of Buddhist art comprised another major and very likely imperial project in the 1740s. This was the editing and publishing (in 1748) of the Zaoxiang liangdu jing, "the Regulations and Rules on Making Statues and Images of the Buddha", for which he "made a very detailed revision and proofreading and put it at the beginning of the canonical text" (preface, 1742) (30). This Chinese translation from the Tibetan can be attributed to the eminent Mongolian scholar Gömpojab (mGon po skyabs, 1669-1750), with whom Rölpai Dorje had cooperated on the translation of the Tibetan Tanjur into the Mongolian (1741-1749). Also known as "B uddhist Canon (or Sutra) of iconometry", the Sanskrit text (Pratima laksanam), "the Measures and Proportions" (literally "the Bodily Signs of the Image") was translated into the Tibetan during the late 13th century by the famous Dragpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rGyal mtshan) and added to the Tanjur. it must have been the important later re-edition of this encyclopaedic collection of Buddhist teachings and commentaries printed in Narthang monastery, southern Tibet, between 1730 and 1742, that was used by Rölpai Dorje and Gömpojab for their Chinese translation of this essential iconometric treatise. Very probably the Changkya Lama also provided the original xylographed illustrations, which today exist only as later re-drawings of printed 19th century editions. The motivation for making these artistic guidelines available has been given by Rölpai Dorje himself in his preface: "Unfortunately, there are so many that cannot witness the Buddha and that is why the iconographic art had been handed down..." (31).
By imperial command Rölpai Dorje supervised between 1749 and 1759 an encyclopedic collection of 10 402 dharani—mantras from 451 sutras transcribed for correct spelling and pronunciation into the four languages of the Chinese Buddhist realm, Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan, whose printing was completed not before 1773 (35). Rölpai Dorje's leading position as a chief-editor — in cooperation with the Khri chen Hu thug thu — of the Mongolian Tanjur is confirmed by his biographer, according to whom the Qianlong Emperor commissioned his state tutor to organize this work for the benefit of spreading the Buddhist doctrine in Mongolia: "let lCang skya Khutuktu take charge of the Mongolian translation" (32). For the edition of these 225 volumes, Changkya compiled a comprehensive Tibetan-Mongolian dictionary (mKhas pa'i byang gnas), which became a basic reference work for Mongolian Buddhist terms.
The most prestigious and extensive translation project of which Rölpai Dorje was put in charge was, however, the edition of the Manchu Kanjur, a selective version of the Chinese Ming edition of the Canon. According to an imperial edict of 1774, "State Preceptor lCang skya Hutuktu was appointed to manage the project" (33). From 1773 onwards it took approximately ten years translating the texts, carving the woodblocks of the 108 volumes, printing the 699 Buddhist canonical and other 1836 scriptures in red ink on both sides of each leaf (73x24 cm), and illuminating them with 709 hand-coloured illustrations of over 500 divinities. Each volume was carefully edited by Changkya before presenting it to the emperor for "ultimate approval" (Qianlong), who added a preface to this "national enterprise" in 1790, several years after Rölpai's death. The "Manchu Translation of All The Buddhist Canons" (original title) was finally completed and published in 1794 and printed in twelve sets of which five have survived ( 34). Outstanding among the Changkya's other works are essays on his Yuan period predecessor as National Preceptor, the Sakya lama Phagpa, on his teacher the abbot of Ganden monastery, and an important "Secret Biography" of the Seventh Dalai Lama written at the turn of 1758/1759 when he stayed in Lhasa to wait for the final confirmation of the new Dalai Lama incarnate. (36)
Together with at least three other very similar paintings, two in the Yonghegong temple in Beijing and another in the Ethnographic Museum in Munich, the exquisite portrait of a Tibetan Buddhist master in the Asian Art Gallery London (size 63,5x38,5 cm), can be safely identified as Rölpai Dorje. The yellow pandita hat indicates the "Yellow School" (dGe lugs pa), which exclusively represented Tibetan Buddhism in China since the late Ming dynasty. The sword of wisdom and the book of knowledge characterize the hierarch as a manifestation of the bodhisattva Manjushri and associate him also with Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa tradition. Like Avalokiteshvara is embodied by the Dalai Lama so "Manjushri, the saviour of all living beings" and "the veritable bodhisattva in his material essence transformed into human form" (Kangxi, preface to the Mongolian Kanjur, 1717/20) is embodied in the Qianlong Emperor and in an analogous understanding his supreme teacher and root lama, Rölpai Dorje. (37) In his hands he is holding the diamond sceptre (vajra) and the bell (ghanta), the basic emblems of Vajrayana, symbols for the indestructible ultimate reality and for the perfection of transcendental knowledge, visual metaphors of wisdom and compassion. the Huthugtu was no doubt aware of the priest-patron relationship (yon mchod) between phagpa and the Mongol ruler, Khubilai Khan, and anticipated a similar alliance with the Qing emperor. these ritual instruments may also refer to the "Playful Vajra" (Rol pa'i rDo rje) or Lalita Vajra as the Changkya was known by his equivalent Sanskrit name, which is written in Tibetan characters on one of the Yonghegong paintings. on the day he died, 29th April 1786, Rolpai dorje sent his personal vajra and ghanta back from his last retreat on Wutaishan to the emperor's principal shrine, the Pavilion of Raining Flowers, in Beijing.
At the top of the painting one can recognize Padmasambhava in the centre, the "founder" of Tibetan Buddhism a thousand years before, flanked by the Third Panchen Lama Losang Palden Yeshe to his right and by the Seventh Dalai Lama Losang Kelsang Gyatso to his left (38). At the bottom in the central position is the six-armed (Sadbhuja-) Mahakala (mGon po phyag drug pa) - the highest Gelugpa yidam on the tantric path and one of Rölpai Dorje's two principal protectors (the other being Palden Lhamo who appears on the companion painting) - flanked by the gods of wealth, the Yellow and the White Jambhala (Dzam bha la ser po and Dzam bha la dkar po).
A most significant feature of this and the related paintings is the individual portrait style. The realistic Western manner of these portraits - only of the physiognomy of the central figure! — recalls the chiaroscuro technique of subtle shading (Chin. xianfa) used by the great foreign Jesuit artists at the Qing court, such as Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining, 1688-1766), Jean-Denis Attiret (Wang Zhicheng, 1702-1768) and Ignaz Sichelbarth (Ai Qimeng, 1708-1780). these painted portraits evoke the Tibetan style Manjushri-Emperor paintings to which Qianlong's realistic face was most probably added by Castiglione (Lhasa, Potala Palace; Bruckner C., Imperial Patronage vol I; Beijing, Yonghegong, with pandita hat; and at least two of the paintings in the Palace Museum, Beijing), which date to the 1750s or before 1766. one may also recall here the painted image of the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723-1735) as a Tibetan Buddhist monk in the Palace Museum and several 17th century portrait statues of the Fifth Dalai L ama and of the First Panchen Lama Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen (41).
only a few other images besides the London Rölpai Dorje are painted "according to the likeness" as the Tibetans would say when referring to a portrait that was made "from life" (nga 'dra ma, or 'dra bag, "just like me") (42). A small 23,3 cm high painting in the Ethnographic Museum at Munich (43) with an old and probably original wooden frame (similar to the London Changkya) and two paintings in the Yonghegong (44) reproduce the central figure in the same "portrait style" and with an identical iconography: vajra and ghanta, sword and book on two lotus stalks, and the yellow pandita hat. The divine repertoire around is however different: on top a Green and a White Tara and a central Amitayus, the Buddha of Boundless Life, at the bottom Palden Lhamo, Yamantaka — the ferocious aspect of Manjushri - and Vaishravana. in another combination, Palden Lhamo and Yama appear both sides of Changkya's main yidam deity, the six-armed Mahakala. as a young man, during his sleep and meditation ferocious deities repe atedly appeared to Rolpai Dorje. Later in life, the Changkya reflected on these manifestations and cam e to the conclusion that these had been Mahakala and PaldenLhamo, and he thus adopted them as his personal protector deities.
Another divinity depicted in two of these paintings (Munich, Yonghegong) appears to have played a more personal role in the Huthugtu's religious praxis: the six-armed female bodhisattva Ushnisha Vijaya (gTsug tor rNam par rGyal ma), "victorious by the ushnisha" who was a very popular and "multifunctional" goddess of long life. This "mother of all Buddhas" is the main subject of the companion painting to the london Rolpai Dorje. The special importance of Ushnisha Vijaya (Chin. Zunsheng fomu "the Victorious Mother of the Buddhas") to Rölpai Dorje and to the Qing empire's religionspolitik respectively is also illustrated and visually underlined by the ritual attention paid to this Buddhist goddess of victory in the largest sanctuary of the Yuhuage (the second floor), the emperor's personal religious shrine in the Forbidden City (45).
the specific relation between Changkya and the earliest image of the Buddha (sculpted in sandalwood during his lifetime), said to have been the first and the only "real" portrait of the Enlightened One, is illustrated in the Munich painting. This standing Shakyamuni of the Udayana type has mythical origins and is the most holy relic of Northern Buddhism. as the legend tells, it came from India along the Silk Routes to China around 1500 years ago. later it was preserved in a Beijing temple until its loss in 1900. For the occasion of the Emperor's 60th birthday Rölpai Dorje wrote in 1770 a history of this famous image, which proved to be useful also for later Tibetan and Mongolian authors. A monumental copper statue of this archetypal Buddha manufactured at the time of Changkya is still preserved at his main religious seat, the Yonghegong (46).
among the painted Rölpai Dorje images, lineage portraits depicting the Huthugtu surrounded by his 14 (or 16) earlier existences, his tutelary deity, Manjushri, and his personal protector, Sadbhuja Mahakala, are worthy of note. Examples of this composition can be found in the MusŽe Guimet, Paris (with pandita hat) (47), Yonghegong, Beijing (48), American Museum of Natural History, New York (49), the Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm (50), and the Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg (51). A unique album of Rölpai Dorje's reincarnation lineage is preserved in the Ethnographic Museum, Berlin (52). It consists of 15 separate paintings on silk (each 51x33 cm) and equivalent text plates with the names and epithets of all 15 incarnates in Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan written in golden script on black-coloured ground. The Second Changkya Huthughtu is depicted on the last plate 15 wearing a yellow folding hat, with the usual teaching gesture of argumentation (vitarka mudra) and the vase of longevity, the sw ord and the book each on a lotus, surrounded by an elaborately drawn throne-back, the Seventh Dalai Lama (on top), the tantric yidams Vajrabhairava, Manjuvajra, Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara, Amitayus and the White Tara, Mahachakra-Vajrapani and a fierceful Vajrapani, and the three principal protectors as known from other Rölpai Dorje paintings: Yama, the six-armed Mahakala and Palden Lhamo.
The eastern Tibetan watercolour style, the exquisite miniature drawing and subtle shading technique of this album's silk paintings (which would deserve a publication of its own!) point to the imperial ateliers. The hardly portrait-like physiognomy of the Berlin Rölpai Dorje recalls the face of the Qianlong Emperor, which appears to be projected onto his revered teacher. Such masquerades had a wider context when we read for example in a poem by Qing Qianlong (1753) describing the discussion between Manjushri and the wealthy lay-Buddhist Vimalakirti that the bodhisattva was wearing the face of the emperor (53). As seen from the Changkya's perspective with respect to the emperor this might not have been convenient and conceivable during his lifetime. Thus the probable origin of the Berlin portrait would be for different icon ographic reasons (see also note 50!) between 1786 and 1794. A date after the Huthugtu's death in 1786 is supported by the Tibetan text attached to the painting.
The fourteen pre—existences of Rölpai Dorje as painted on the other 14 silk plates of the Berlin Album correspond iconographically to five of his "lineage portraits" (54). They reach from the Buddha's disciple Cunda to the First Changkya Huthugtu Nawang Losang Chöden (1642-1714). While this first "official" incarnate and before him his pre-birth Paljor LhŸndub (1561-1637) had already set up their own reincarnation lineages, revised lineage histories were established for the 14 pre-incarnations of Rölpai Dorje around 1765 and 1776, which no doubt have served as a canonic standard for the artists of our paintings (55). After Rölpai Dorje's death in 1786 three more pre-existences were added to the Changkya lineage: the Tibetan monk dGongs pa rab gsal, who was instrumental in preserving and maintaining the laws and regulations of early monastic Buddhism during the turbulent years in the 9th century; the eminent translator and founder of the KagyŸpa school, Marpa (1012-1098); and the "crazy saint" and great biographer of Marpa and Milarepa, gTsang smyon Heruka (1452-1507). This is reflected and confirmed by an iconographic text on "How to paint the incarnation lineage of the All-Pervading Lord lCang skya Vajradhara" dating to after 1787 or more probably 1794, whose 19 listed names include the — presumably same (56) — three new pre-existences plus the three first Changkya Huthugtus. if a terminus post quem of 1794 for this text of the expanded Changkya lineage tradition is acceptable, it would mean that all thangkas and image series like the Berlin Album depicting Rölpai Dorje and 14 of his pre-incarnations should be dated before ca. 1794. This may not rule out that a painting was copied later on without having been related to the "updated" new iconographic guidelines.
The twelve-page Tibetan text gives detailed information about the colour and posture of each incarnation, their dress, jewellery, and their personal protectors and root lamas. These iconographic reference texts, which can be understood as a practical supplement to the pre-incarnation biographies and lists as mentioned above, had no doubt an essential influence on the painted genealogies of Rölpai Dorje and must have served as a direct source-book for the artists.
The criteria for "lineage membership" were quite complex and cannot be traced back properly in each case. Naturally, priority has been given to candidates of the same overall teaching tradition, thus great Gelugpa representatives, such as the Sera "state universiy" lamas Jamchen Chöje (1354-1435) and Chökyi Gyaltsen (1469-1544). Masters like the Indian siddha-scholar Darpana Acarya (12th century), whose basic scriptures were especially favoured by the First Changkya, and Sonam Gyaltsen (1312-1375), whose primary promotion of the Guhyasamaja Tantra was taken up by Rölpai Dorje are included. Other incarnations such as Sisi Ripa (12th century-1233?) or Langri Thangpa (1054-1123) have been included since they were regarded as pre-existences of the authoritative "Pan-Tibetan" Phagpa Lama (1235-1280). to reinforce this, Rölpai Dorje himself appointed several pre-incarnates of the Changkya lineage. According to Thukwan, the biographer, the Third Panchen Lama explicitly identified in the Second Changk ya an incarnation of Phagpa in a prayer. Thus the joint-venture concept of Yuan dynasty court Buddhism under a King of the Religious Law (dharma raja) and a Universal Sovereign (cakravartin raja) was continued and transmitted some 500 years later at the same place under the empire's heaven from Phagpa and Khubilai Khan to Rölpai Dorje and the Qianlong Emperor for their sacred and secular rule.
Taking the identified paintings, statues xylographs of Rölpai Dorje, the most characteristic features and attributes are: the gesture of argumentation (vitarka mudra) and the vase with the elixir of life; or the vitarka mudra and dhyana mudra without the vase; the sword and the book on two lotus stalks; and the moustache and a more or less distinctively drawn goatee. In five paintings Changkya Rölpai Dorje is depicted with vajra and ghanta in his hands. In about half of the painted and sculpted images he wears the pandita or Gelugpa type hat or the folding hat usually associated with the portraits of the Panchen Lama. Five statues show him bareheaded as with many images of the Fifth Dalai Lama, although a textile hat may have been added in the original setting.
As a special characteristic peculiar to Rölpai Dorje some images have been attributed a small lump on his right cheek (57). This feature is not shown in most of the Changkya's portraits, however, The most lifelike painted portraits such as the ones in London, Munich and the Yonghegong render a similar protruding mark not on the right side of his face, but between the eyebrows at the root of the lama's nose. Among the few examples depicting this lump on Rölpai Dorje's right cheek more clearly are the beautiful and quite large gilt copper statue in the Oliver Hoare Collection, London, the small bareheaded gilt copper image in the St. Petersburg State Hermitage Museum, and a similarly sized figure in the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, New York (58).
as with representations of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas there is not a single fixed iconographic programme for the various painted and sculpted images of Rölpai Dorje. With the exception of the vajra and ghanta-type (see type A) only the gesture of argumentation (vitarka mudra) is a common feature for all, apparently not to confuse the Teacher of the Nation with an earlier emanation of Manjushri's wisdom, Tsongkhapa, depicted always in dharmacakra mudra. The other schemes as recorded above exist in several combinations, of which some principal versions and prototypes may be established for an iconographic typology of the Second Changkya Huthugtu's image:
While most images of Rölpai Dorje belong to type A, B or C the impressive posthumously painted portrait in the Palace Museum, Beijing (65), once in the Hall of Central Uprightness (Zhongzhengdian, no longer extant), the principal office for Buddhist art and ritual affairs in the imperial palace during the 18th century, depicts him in the usual gesture of argumentation, with the characteristic vase of longevity. his predecessor-incarnate, the First Changkya Huthugtu, appears top right and his specific protectors are also present. on this oocasion he is shown in official court robe as a secularized religious hierarch. This repre sentative portrait was inspired in early 1787 by a similarly posthumous painting of the third panchen lama from late 1780 or 1781 (66). they are almost identical in size, composition and style. We know from the Qing records that both dignitaries received imperial nine-dragon court robes at the occasion of the Panchen's visit to the Chengde Summer Palace in August 1780. Rölpai Dorje is shown on equal rank not only with the second-highest pontiff of Tibetan Buddhism, but also the emperor who is depicted on a comparable larger painting of the same atelier and period in similar dress, with the same mudras (vitarka), religious insignia (spo ti book, mala, Buddhist symbols) and protectors (67). The emperor, the Panchen and the Changkya Huthugtu all wear the same imperial yellow robe with the red sash thus indicating Qianlong's high esteem in which he held the two Buddhist hierarchs. Only twice before in Chinese history had an emperor awarded a similar respect towards a Tibetan-Buddhist leader: Khubilai Khan app ointing the Phagpa Lama as state religious preceptor and the Yongle Emperor's special veneration of the Fifth Karmapa Dezhin Shegpa in the early 15th century.
All five portraits of type A in terms of artistic quality are best represented by the two paintings in the Yonghegong and by the London Rölpai Dorje. All the paintings of this group reproduce the real individual person of the monk-scholar rather than the institution of the Huthugtu lineage. Associated predominantly with the chief Lama Temple in Qing dynasty China, Rölpai Dorje's monastic headquarters in Beijing, and characterised by the lifelike physiognomies of the main figure these portraits of "true likeness" were undoubtedly executed during Changkya's lifetime.
A painted scroll in the Asian Art Gallery's first catalogue ("Chinese Imperial Patronage. Treasures from Temples and Palaces", 1998) depicting Qing Qianlong as a bodhisattva and Tibetan Grand Lama — now in the Freer at Washington — is dedicated to the "Sagacious Manjushri", respectively to his incarnation, the Chinese emperor. An inscription on this painting alludes in a hidden signature to its probable designer and mastermind, "the supreme incarnation, indestructible like a diamond" (68): Rölpai Dorje - artist and art consultant, author and editor, diplomat and negotiator, incarnation and iconographer, priest and publisher, translator and Teacher of the Empire.