The only way to be both sad and wise —— Appreciation of Shi Lun King Kong Thangka

Sadness and wisdom? Unique method-/kloc-appreciation of the Nizang-style time wheel King Kong Thangka in the 4th century

Due to the unique geographical location and humanistic environment of the snowy plateau, Tibetan Buddhism has derived a Buddhist practice system different from that of Han Buddhism. Its teaching method is based on Vajrayana, that is, it pays attention to all kinds of dexterity and convenience, and combines practitioners with practitioners, so as to quickly achieve liberation and enlightenment. Among a large number of practicing gods in Tibetan Buddhism, the five donkey kong gods are the most famous and worshipped by monks and nuns of various sects in Tibetan Buddhism. Among them, the Great Wade King Kong was revered by the Gelugpa King Kong, and the Mimi King Kong was revered by the Gelugpa and Kagyu monks. The Sakya Sect regards Khwajira as the foundation of practicing the secret law, while Shi Lun Jin Gang, because of his special practice concept, is linked to the Tibetan astronomical calendar and has become the practice god of various sects. This Thangka mainly shows the solemn and angry silence of Shi Lun King Kong.

In Thangka's picture, Shi Lun King Kong lives in the center, showing the image of a god with 24 arms in all directions. The head is tied to a flat high bun with a half-pestle and a five-skull crown at the top. The four colors are green, yellow, red and white, and the face is full of Fiona Fang characteristics. The eyes are open, the nose is straight, and the face is distorted, showing anger and fear for the gods. The upper body is strong, and there is a beautiful princess in her arms. The upper two arms are crossed on the chest, holding a diamond bell pestle and making a diamond seal. The other arms extend outward and are divided into three colors: white, red and blue. Each arm holds a different instrument. Tiger skin skirt with waist circumference, white left leg arched, red right leg abduction, stepping on evil spirits, bearing the lotus seat, burning with blazing flames behind. Princess Ming is now surrounded by eight arms, holding various musical instruments and looking up to the Lord.

On the top left of the Lord, he holds a diamond and a diamond bell pestle in both hands as a distinctive symbol; On the lower left is the enemy Yan, holding a skeleton staff, holding a princess and stepping on a buffalo. On the main right side, the Buddha with infinite longevity is a meditation seal, sitting in it with a treasure bottle; On the lower right is the horse's head, which is painted with a roaring horse's head. Now it is a secret image with three sides and four arms.

At the bottom of the picture, from left to right, there is a red empty sea king mother with a wild boar's head painted, a dense king kong god sitting and a great magic king kong god dancing.

The artistic style of the whole Thangka is very distinctive, with a very strong14th century Nizang artistic style, which shows the strength, calmness and beauty of Thangka painting in Nizang style to the fullest. Thangka pictures are arranged in traditional chess format, with the main god being relatively large and living in the center of the picture, and other gods arranged neatly in the squares around the picture. This layout comes from the scene of penance in ancient Indian Buddhist caves, which is very common in early Thangka paintings; The colors are mainly warm tones, and the extensive use of crimson and cyan highlights the solemnity of the world of gods and buddhas, which has a very strong religious charm and is very different from Thangka paintings in the later period of realism and romanticism. Characterization is the most characteristic of the times. All the gods are big and strong, with the modeling characteristics of early Nepalese sculpture art, and the crown in the shape of water drops and the flame backlight of grass rolls show that Nepalese art is constantly pursuing decorative effects. The nose of the character was painted with white lines, and the outline of the character was dizzy. The contrast between light and shadow makes the statue more lifelike, which is exactly the same as the murals in Xialu Temple.

While interpreting the artistic style of this Thangka, we should also have a certain understanding of the inheritance history and content of the secret method of wheel diamonds, so as to better understand this Thangka. As one of the five gods of Tibetan Buddhism, Shilun King Kong has a long history of inheritance. According to Tibetan Buddhist classics, while Buddha Sakyamuni taught Mahayana in jiusan, another incarnation taught Vajrayana Mahayana in the stupa in Daya Kartaka, South India. At that time, the secret method taught by the Buddha was the Dharma of Turning King Kong, and the inviter was the King Kong Hand Bodhisattva incarnating Shambhala. Later, Indian monks brought the secret method back to India from Shambhala when they were young, and their son Kazibanchin passed it on to Tibet when he was young. As a result, the teaching method of Shi Lun King Kong became popular in Tibet. Marba, the founder of the Kagyu School, Buton Renqinzhu, Zong Kaba and other masters are all familiar with the secret method of the time-wheel diamond, especially the grandfathers of the Awakening School regard the secret method of the time-wheel diamond as the core practice of the school, and have made great achievements in this secret method. In addition, among the five gods of Tibetan Buddhism, Vader King Kong and Mimi King Kong are the supreme yoga fathers, Le Sheng King Kong and Hewajira are the supreme yoga mothers, and the only wheel King Kong is supreme yoga, which gives consideration to convenience and wisdom. Because the teaching method of time rotation emphasizes the continuous cooperation between the father of convenience and the mother of wisdom, its teaching method has also had a great influence on the astronomical calendar of Tibetans. Today, the Tibetan calendar used by Tibetans is still a teaching method based on time rotation.

To sum up, this Thangka is rigorous and traditional in layout, calm and heavy in color, and has the artistic charm of Xialu Temple mural in characterization and technique application, showing the artistic characteristics of Nizang style in14th century. In particular, it also has rich religious content and extraordinary religious value. After hundreds of years of erosion, it is extremely rare to keep such a good appearance!