A thangka depicting a mandala of Vajravarahi with Taklung Kagyü Lineage, Tibet, late 12th / early 13th century | 西藏 十二世紀末 / 十三世紀初 金剛亥母曼荼羅及達隆噶舉傳承唐卡

Collection of Lionel (1943-2017) and Danielle Fournier.

Christie's Paris, 12th December 2018, lot 13.

Lionel (1943-2017) 及 Danielle Fournier 伉儷收藏

巴黎佳士得2018年12月12日，編號13

Mirror of the Buddha: Early Portraits from Tibet, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2011, p. 111, fig 4.4.

Jane Casey, Taklung Painting: A Study in Chronology, Serindia Publications (forthcoming).

《Mirror of the Buddha: Early Portraits from Tibet》，魯賓藝術博物館，紐約，2011年，頁111，圖4.4

简 • 凯西，《Taklung Painting: A Study in Chronology》 (即將出版)

Art ésotérique de l'Himâlaya: Catalogue de la donation Lionel Fournier, MuséeGuimet, Paris, 1990, p. 173, pl. C. 

《Art ésotérique de l'Himâlaya: Catalogue de la donation Lionel Fournier》，吉美博物館，巴黎，1990年，頁173，圖版C

This early Tibetan painting depicts the mandala of the goddess Vajravarahi, Adamantine Sow, the consort of Chakrasamvara. Naked but with human bone jewelry, a garland of severed heads and a fluttering scarf, she dances on a recumbent nude male figure before an aureole of fire denoting pristine awareness. The goddess holds a kartrika flaying knife, kapala skull bowl and khatvanga staff, ritual implements signifying steps and actions on the path to awareness. Vajravarahi personifies triumph over ignorance, which is represented by the trampled figure and the blue sow’s face. The goddess appears at the center of two intersecting triangles representing the union of male and female energy and the source of all existence, dharmodaya; compare the double triangle design on a thirteenth century Tibetan Vajravarahi mandala, published in Mirror of the Buddha: Early Portraits from Tibet, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2011, p. 110, fig. 4.3. Vajravarahi’s six dancing Armor Goddesses are depicted in the apices of the two triangles and are accompanied by four emanations of Vajrayogini standing in alidha posture on the outer edges of the triangles above and below. Samvara stands in the alidha posture within the mandala circle to the right of Vajravarahi, with Heruka dancing to the left.

The mandala is surrounded and supported by a circular multicolored lotus flower, protected by a ring of vajra and bordered by a circle of multicolored flames. Rivers divide the eight charnel grounds depicted around the edge of the mandala. The cemetery scenes include mounted Brahmanical planetary deities, fire offerings, serpent-bodied naga, dakini consorts and Indian mahasiddha, including Luipa—a disseminator of the Chakrasamvara teaching—seated in the right-hand section of the central cemetery scene above and holding the gut of a fish, his sustenance of choice. The Kagyü lineage featured in the upper register of the painting depicts the blue primordial Buddha Vajradhara at the left, the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa (fl. late tenth to early eleventh centuries) and Naropa (956-1040), the Tibetan teacher Marpa (1012-1096) and his student Milarepa (1040-1123), the Tibetan masters Gampopa (1079-1153), Phagmotrupa (1110-1170) and Taklung Thanpa Chenpo (1142-1210), also known as Tashipel, who founded Taklung monastery in 1180. Five manifestations of Chakrasamvara in union with his consort Vajravarahi appear in the lower register. A patron is seated in obeisance at the left corner with legs folded and hands held together in anjali mudra, with an adjacent offering stand supporting a sutra and stupa and with crossed red yak tail fly whisks at its base. The patron was likely a disciple of Tashipel, the last hierarch depicted in the upper register. The mandala was probably painted during Tashipel’s tenure at Taklung (1180-1210), thus dating the work to the late twelfth or early thirteenth century: compare the style of the dancing goddesses and the figures in alidha posture on a work depicting Tashipel’s footprints and painted during his tenure, illustrated in Gilles Béguin, Art ésotérique de l’Himâlaya: Catalogue de la donation Lionel Fournier, Paris, 1990, pl. 2.

The composition and style of the mandala conforms to the classic iconography of early Tibetan paintings that interpret eastern Indian Pala period (8th-12th century) traditions. Compare the arched throne back behind the patron and the tall ritual offering stand with sutra, stupa and crossed fly whisks on the renowned Pala-style Green Tara painting in the John and Berthe Ford Collection and exhibited in Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1999, cat. no. 3. The form of the cushion behind the patron is derived from those seen on eastern Indian manuscript illuminations: compare the lobed back with side projections behind monks depicted on a circa 1114 Pala manuscript, published in Jinah Kim, Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist book cult in South Asia, Berkeley, 2013, pl. 4-2. Like the majority of early Tibetan paintings inspired by Pala traditions, the margins of the mandala realm and the borders of the upper and lower registers are painted with alternating-colored jewels. The verso is inscribed in cursive Tibetan script, u-me, with mantras and verses of Buddhist creed: for a full translation and interpretation, see Jeff Watt, Himalayan Art Resources item no. 77206.

金剛亥母乃勝樂金剛明妃，本幅西藏早期曼荼羅，描繪其赤身佩戴人骨瓔珞，垂掛人首串成的鬘飾，兩側天衣飄揚，腳踏倒臥的裸身男子，身後烈焰熊熊，象徵正覺。佛母右手執鉞刀，左手持嘎巴拉盌，臂彎倚金剛杵天杖，代表通往覺悟之途上的修行；腳踏人墊起舞，臉側現藍色牝豬頭顱，寓意調伏愚痴無明；居於兩個對倒交疊的三角形正中，三角形分別代表男女陰陽之力，兩者會合代表男女結合，組成「生法宮」，即一切法與能量之源。比一例西藏十三世紀金剛亥母曼荼羅，亦繪「生法宮」，載於David P. Jackson，《Mirror of the Buddha: Early Portraits from Tibet》，紐約，2011年，頁110，圖4.3。金剛亥母身周六角內各繪一女神（披甲尊），六角上下描繪四位化身（瑜伽母/空行母），右方為三跋羅，雙足以右伸左屈之姿而立，左方為正在舞蹈的黑魯嘎。

曼荼羅的圓環部分由內至外依次為雜色蓮花、金剛杵及雜色火焰，再往外是八大寒林。寒林被河流分隔，當中畫有騎著護法靈獸的星宿神、火供儀式、蛇神那伽、空行母及大成就者，例如坐在正上方寒林右側的，是廣傳勝樂金剛法要的藏傳佛教八十四大成就者之首——「食魚內臟者」盧伊巴。曼荼羅頂部列出噶舉派傳承，最左邊是佛身深藍的金剛總持，隨後是帝洛巴尊者（活躍於十世紀末至十一世紀初）、那洛巴（956-1040）、西藏大譯師馬爾巴（1012-1096）及其弟子密勒日巴（1040-1123）、西藏大師岡波巴（1079-1153）、帕木竹巴（1110-1170）和達隆塘巴札西佩（1142-1210）。其中，達隆塘巴札西佩在1180年建立達隆寺。曼荼羅底部繪勝樂金剛五身，並各自擁抱明妃金剛亥母。左下角繪供養人，他雙腿交疊盤坐，雙掌合攏施合十印，身旁的供桌擺放佛經和小佛塔，底座飾一對交叉紅氂牛毛拂塵。供養人可能是已成為達隆寺住持的達隆塘巴札西佩的弟子。這幅曼荼羅繪製的年代可能正值札西佩主持達隆寺時期（1180-1210），故斷代十二世紀末 / 十三世紀初。可比一例，扎西佩足印圖，其任期所繪，之上刻畫女神舞姿及弓步站姿與本品極為相近，圖載於Gilles Béguin，《Art ésotérique de l’Himâlaya: Catalogue de la donation Lionel Fournier》，巴黎，1990年，圖版2。

此曼荼羅的佈局和風格同早期西藏繪畫中所承的東印度帕拉王朝（八世紀至十二世紀）傳統一脈相承。參考 John 與 Berthe Ford 伉儷收藏的一幅帕拉王朝風格綠度母，畫中供養人身後的弧形座背、高腳供桌上的佛經、小佛塔和交叉拂塵等元素都出現在此曼荼羅中，曾展於《Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet》，大都會藝術博物館，紐約，1999年，編號3。供養人身後的座背形狀亦可見於東印度手抄本的插圖：對照約公元1114年的帕拉王朝手抄本，書中僧人身後的座背亦呈葉瓣形，兩側凸出，載於金珍我教授著《Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist book cult in South Asia》，伯克利，2013年，圖4-2。早期西藏佛教繪畫的風格被受帕拉王朝的影響，很多曼荼羅四邊都畫滿彩色珠寶，本品便是典例。曼荼羅背面以無頭體藏文寫有曼怛羅和偈語，完整版的英文翻譯及解析可參見傑夫・瓦特，HAR編號77206。