藏西 十五世紀末古格王朝 開光八千頌般若波羅蜜多經護經板及卷首 |

“Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure”, The Art Institute of Chicago, 5 April-17 August 2003; and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., 18 October 2003-11 January 2004.

Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, cat. no. 104

These rare illustrated components of an Ashatasahasrika Prajnaparamita manuscript epitomise the narrative style of the artistic revival at Guge in the late fifteenth century. Dr. Pal speculates that the manuscript may have been commissioned by a royal patron of Ngari, such as Queen Döndubma in the last quarter of the fifteenth century, and was almost certainly painted by one of the artists responsible for the narrative murals in the Red Temple at Tsaparang, see Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p. 158. The commission includes homage to at least two Tibetan religious orders with the inclusion of a Kagyu hierarch, the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1281-1339), and other hierarchs wearing yellow caps, possibly monks of the Sakya or the Gelukpa order. The figure of a lama seated with the attributes of book and sword inscribed with the name Jetsun Rinpoche may be the founder of the Gelukpa order, Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) according to Amy Heller, see “The Tibetan Inscriptions: Dedications, History, and Prayers”, ibid., p. 290.

No other Tibetan manuscript pages depict the legend of the bodhisattva Sadaprarudita in such detail: the tale is narrated in the last three chapters of the Ashatasahasrika Prajnaparamita text, ibid., p. 158.