THANGKA PAINTING TRAINING

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The sacred and secular heritage of Tibet is divided into five primary categories or sciences. One of these comprises the glorious realm of the Creative Arts, which itself encompasses a complex profusion of subdivisions.

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One class of handicrafts requires physical dexterity, and its principal art form is thangka painting, the production of two-dimensional images of the body, speech and mind of the Buddhas.

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Even as a small child, Lama Tsondru loved to draw: "when my teacher saw my artwork on the walls of the monastery and the edges of my schoolwork (and finished scolding me), he told me that I clearly had talent and would have no trouble becoming a thangka painter if I so chose."

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Continuing, "when I later came to India, I won first place in my school art competitions. I designed several greeting cards and offered them to Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, who was delighted by my work. In 1969, he advised me to seriously pursue thangka painting, saying that my talents would be of great future benefit for the teachings of Buddhism and the general welfare of sentient beings."

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Knowing that the adamantine words of such a great lama are never deceptive, the Lama began formal training as a disciple of Master Zarwa Archok, whose esteemed lineage traces back to Khyetsel Loding from Gyantse in Utsang, Tibet. At the time he was widely acknowledged as the most highly skilled thangka painter in the Tibetan refugee community.

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It was under his tutelage that Lama Tsondru received his first instruction in the traditional techniques of foundational diagrams and figure drawing. He trained with Master Archok over a period of three years, 1969 to 1971, in Darjeeling near the Old Ghoom Monastery.

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Also in Darjeeling during that period, he studied with the distinguished master Phuntsok Zangpo and learned his specific traditional style of drawing and painting.

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According to Lama Tsondru "I had a particularly wonderful opportunity during H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche's eight month teaching program in Darjeeling to study with the great Bumdrak Rinpoche of Bumtang, Bhutan, a master of rare, specialized skills and vast expertise. From him I learned the traditional methods of collecting and processing the sublime natural mineral and vegetable pigments of Tibet, as well as the complex techniques for processing gold. Since that time I have also done intensive independent training, primarily through examining a great variety of ancient thangkas in the possession of the Queen of Bhutan."

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Continuing, "most importantly, however, has been the continuous personal guidance I have received from Chatral Kunpangpa Sangye Dorje Rinpoche, my spiritual protector for this and all future lives. He blesses me again and again with tremendously important yet scarcely known advice on the crucial points of thangka painting and gives me extensive, detailed instruction on the specific design and posture of each particular deity.

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Thus it is by the grace of these great learned masters that I have traveled the ancient sacred path of traditional Tibetan thangka painting."

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Biography by Lama Tsondru Sangpo, Translated by Heidi Nevin