Tibetan Bardo Painting as Soteriological Site Open Access
Li, Yijin (Spring 2025)
Abstract
This thesis explores Tibetan bardo (intermediate state) paintings, particularly a thangka (scroll painting) provisionally titled the Colored Dots Mandala, as dynamic soteriological sites. The first chapter centers around the iconography and my methodology. I introduce the hundredfold bardo deities as expressions of rigpa (naturally-awakened awareness) that manifest in the post-mortem bardo. I then critique conventional art-historical methods that conflate the paintings with source texts, proposing a new approach that aligns with Tibetan Buddhist views, in which art not only represents knowledge but helps and transforms practitioners. The second chapter examines six ways bardo paintings help people, divided into two categories: aiding the deceased and assisting the living. For the deceased, these paintings serve as maps through the bardo stages, ritual objects to empower bardo beings, and sacred objects to generate merit. For the living, they create sacred spaces for rituals, help devotees familiarize with death, and support meditation practices.
The next two chapters narrow the focus to a single soteriological program—the Colored Dots Mandala—to provide a more in-depth understanding of a bardo painting’s soteriological power and the ways it achieves such power. The third chapter explores the background behind the Colored Dots’ creation. I argue that the work was created in mid-nineteenth-century Tsang amid the non-sectarian (Rime) movement. This painting is part of a meditation program that involves an interaction between the lama, artist, and practitioner. In the fourth chapter, I apply the Tibetan Dzogchen philosophical framework of ground (view), path, and result to explore how the lama, artist, and practitioners collaborate to establish these stages. The two mandalas establish the ground of the omnipresence of rigpa, while the idiosyncratic features within them facilitate an individualized spiritual path. Through this ground and path, the practitioner eventually identifies with the thangka as a reflection of their own rigpa, culminating in the result of Buddhahood.
Overall, through examining seven bardo paintings and focusing on one, this thesis demonstrates that these works do not merely display esoteric knowledge but serve as soteriological sites, preserving the transformative discourses between the lama, artist, and practitioners, leading to merit, empowerment, awakening, and more.
Table of Contents
Foreword……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………1
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….2
Chapter 1. The Iconography of Bardo Deities and its Problems………………………………………………….6
The Bardo and Zhi-khro in the Karling Liturgy…………………………………………………………………6
Clarifications on the Source Text…………………………………………………………………………………..10
The Iconography of the Bardo Deities……………………………………………………………..…………...12
A Brief History of Bardo Images…………………………………………………………………………………….14
Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………………………………….16
Methods……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19
Chapter 2. The Soteriological Functions of Bardo Paintings………………………………………………………23
Give Visual Instructions for the Deceased…………………………………………………………………….24
Grant Initiation and Purification to the Deceased…………………………………………………………28
Generate Merit for the Deceased and their Family……………………………………………………….29
Consecrate a Space for Ritual……………………………………………………………………………………….33
Give Instructions for the Living Devotees……………………………………………………………………..34
Act as Meditation Support for the Living Practitioners………………………………………………….37
Chapter 3. The Soteriological Site of the Colored Dots Mandala………………………………………………44
Date, Region, and Religious Context……………………………………………………….…………………….45
Function……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….48
The Identity and Role of the Lama, Artist, and Practitioner…………………………………….…….54
Chapter 4. Ground, Path, and Result in the Soteriological Site titled the Colored Dots Mandala………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…61
Ground…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………62
Path………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………65
Result……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………75
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……77
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….79
Images……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..83
About this Honors Thesis
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