著录:出版 Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24879. 拍品描述:来源 H.M. Singh Tuladhar，Hangu Tsongkang，拉萨 (按标签) Shail Upadhya (1935-2013) 珍藏，纽约 von Langendorff女男爵珍藏，纽约 This masterfully painted and ornately gilt painting depicts the great poet-saint of Tibetan Buddhism, Milarepa, seated with his hand cupped to his ear within the confines of a rocky grotto, a typical hermitage for the itinerant yogi. Milarepa (1040-1123) is considered to be one of the most important masters of the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, but is beloved by most Tibetan Buddhists regardless of school. His life story, of transformation from a wayward youth trained in black magic and hellbent on vengeance and destruction to a mendicant follower of his guru Marpa and finally to an enlightened master in his own right, offered an aspirational redemption tale and the promise of enlightenment in a single lifetime. He is said to have proffered his lessons in the form of poems and songs, and as such is considered the foremost poet in Tibetan history. The central figure of the saint is depicted in the most prescribed manner, with Milarepa seated in a relaxed posture on an animal skin. His hand is cupped to his ear in the manner of traditional singers of India and the Himalayas, the hand helping to sharpen the tone of his voice. Despite the cold of the high mountains, Milarepa is clad in a simple white cotton robe – his name means cotton-clad of the Mila clan - hanging languidly about his torso, although in the present painting the artist could not help but decorate the robe with ornate gilt stippling and foliate motifs. A red yogic band, again richly gilt-decorated, hangs from his shoulder. The frontally-depicted face, with its wide and open expression, exudes benevolence and clarity of thought. His small pupils project concentration, and lock with the gaze of the viewer. His long locks of hair are brushed back over the ears and hang down about the shoulders, with individual strands painted with masterful aplomb. His bow-shaped mouth, open in song, is curled into a subtle smile which is juxtaposed somewhat by the prominent, fang-like incisors at both rows of teeth. This unusual detail on the part of the artist has little precedent in any other depictions of Milarepa, and the motives for their inclusion is unclear. One supposition might be to demonstrate Milarepa’s lack of fear in the face of death, as expounded by the saint in his song, The Six Assurances on Facing Death, – The great Liberation from Extremes/Is like a gallant lion lying/In the snow at ease, displaying/Without fear its fangs./In this View do I, the Yogi, trust./Death leads to the Liberation Path!/Death brings joy to he who holds this View! (Garma C. C. Chang, trans., The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, London, 1977, p. 607). Milarepa is here supported by a gilt-decorated brocade bolster, seemingly incongruous with the humble confines of the mountain cave, and a skull cup sits by his side. A dish laden with offerings sits before Milarepa, and is supplemented by a bearded figure in what appears to be Indian garb. At either side, depictions of a recumbent deer at left and a hunter and his dog at right gaze up at the saint in reverence. Such images reference the story of the ‘Huntsman and the Deer’ from the traditional biographies of Milarepa, where Milarepa was said to have becalmed a startled deer seeking to escape from a hunter and his dog. Milarepa then successively tamed the ferocity of the dog and persuaded the hunter to give up his traditional secular life in pursuit of enlightenment under his new master. The story reinforced both the inevitability of death and the freedom and clarity that acceptance of that truth provides. The painting provides the viewer with a historical and spiritual pathway through the transmission of Kagyu teachings; at top right, Vajradhara, the primordial buddha sits with hands crossed holding vajras in front of his chest. At either side of him are the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa (identified by the fish he holds), and Tilopa’s first disciple, Naropa. Directly above the image of Milarepa sits Naropa’s student, Marpa Lotsawa (1012-1097), the Tibetan translator and teacher of Milarepa. The lineage then passes through Milarepa to Rechungpa, one of Milarepa’s two disciples, who sits to his proper left, as identified by his iconic conical hat. It seems likely, therefore, that the figure at Milarepa’s proper right is his other disciple, Gampopa. The two figures below Rechungpa and Gampopa are not as easily identifiable, but one possibly depicts Phagmo Drupa, student of Gampopa and himself teacher to many of the most important founders of Kagyu branches. At the same time, the painting also includes historical figures and deities important to some of the other Tibetan Buddhist sects. At top left, below the image of Shakyamuni Buddha, Atisha (c. 982-1054), identified by his pointed red cap and the miniature stupa at his right, sits across from Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419). The former was one of the earliest Indian monks to transmit Vajrayana Buddhism into Tibet, founding the Kadam school of Buddhism that was later incorporated into the other major sects, and the latter established the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism that by the time this painting was created was the major political and religious force in Tibet. Likewise, the three protector deities at the bottom of the painting (from left, Vaishravana, Magzor Gyalmo, and Begtse Chen) were all by the eighteenth century predominantly Gelug deities. A lama is depicted kneeling in the lower third of the painting at center right, just above and between the figures of Magzor Gyalmo and Begtse Chen. The lama is distinguished with a red nimbus (only the central figure of Milarepa and the figure of Vajradhara are otherwise backed with a red nimbus) and is depicted holding a dish of offerings. Such a detail evokes the image of Kedrup Geleg Pal Zangpo (1385-1438), one of the main disciples of Tsongkhapa and considered by some to be the First Panchen Lama, making offerings to Tsongkhapa in the Panchen Lama lineage painting sets that were made ubiquitous throughout Tibet via the Nartang style woodblock prints of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery; an example of such a composition can be found in the collection of Donald and Shelly Rubin, illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 56. The Nartang Panchen Lama lineage sets were likely based on an original composition by the artist Choying Gyatso depicting Chokyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662), considered to be the Fourth or First Panchen Lama; the painting of Chokyi Gyaltsen, still housed in the collection of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery (and illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 99075), also includes a figure, presumably Kedrup, holding a dish with piled offerings. Ironically, in the present painting of Milarepa, the kneeling figure holding the dish of offerings resembles Chokyi Gyaltsen rather than Kedrup, who traditionally holds the offering dish. The pronounced cheekbones, receding hairline, and wispy moustache are all notable facial characteristics of Chokyi Gyaltsen, as visible in the Choying Gyatso painting or in others such as a painting of Chokyi Gyaltsen in the National Gallery, Prague, illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 57607.