Hidden Scent Journey: Pure Blue Nectar
"Inheritance group picture of the Patriarch Zhong Dunba: Great Master
Dromtonpa"
Mid-19th century, private collection
Mid-19th century, private collection
Partial: Dromtonpa taught the Daoist teachings of the Heat Shock Temple
in a systematic manner.
The painting depicts the ancient cypress grove surrounding the Heat
The painting depicts the ancient cypress grove surrounding the Heat
Shock Temple.
It is commonly referred to in scriptures as the "incense tree grove of
It is commonly referred to in scriptures as the "incense tree grove of
Heat Shock."（རྭ་སྒྲེང་བདུག་སྤོས་ཤིང་གི་ཚལ་）
"Lineage and Previous Life Transmission of Respected Master: Dromtonpa"
Late 18th century, Zurich National Museum of Folklore
Partial: The distant Rezeng Monastery and ancient cypress tree forest.
The cypress trees here are believed to have seven layers of
decorative bark（ཤུན་པ་/ཁོག་པ་རིམ་པ་བདུན་ལྡན་པའི་ཤུག་ནག་）.
This particular literary expression is closely related to the endeavors
This particular literary expression is closely related to the endeavors
under the protection of the Seven Buddhas and the lineage
transmissions between the old and new Kagyu sects.
"Ideas like root veins, purity like fragrance, spreading like emerald leaves."
"Ideas like root veins, purity like fragrance, spreading like emerald leaves."
Among them are seven turquoise-colored sacred trees（ལྷ་ཤིང་གཡུ་ཤུག་）, often
used to symbolize the first to seventh Venerables (political and religious authorities).
འབྱུང་བའི་དྭངས་མ་ལྔ་ལས་གྲུབ་པ་ཡི།
ས་ལ་བརྟེན་ཅིང་ཆུ་ཡིས་རབ་ཏུ་བརླན།
མེ་ཡིས་དྲོད་བསྐྱེད་རླུང་གིས་རབ་བསྐྱོད་པས།
རྩ་བ་ཀླུ་ཡི་གནས་ནས་སྐྱེས་པའི་ཤིང་།
རྩེ་མོ་ལྷ་ཡི་གནས་སུ་སྨིན་པའི་ཤིང་།
ལོ་འདབ་མི་ཡི་གནས་སུ་ཁྱབ་པའི་ཤིང་།
དྲི་ཡིས་ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་མ་ལུས་ཁྱབ་པའི་ཤིང་།
ཁ་དོག་དྲི་རོ་ནུས་བཅུད་ལྡན་པའི་ཤིང་།
The essence of the Five Elements forms this tree,
Earth provides stability, water nourishment.
Fire gives warmth, wind strength.
The roots grow in the realm of dragons,
The branches mature in the realm of gods.
The leaves spread throughout the human world,
Fragrance fills the air everywhere.
This tree, with its essence of color, fragrance, taste, and vitality,
Excerpt from "Purifying Smoke Offering Text - Sacred Blue Water"（མནོལ་བསང་ལྷ་ཆབ་སྔོན་མོ།）
"Blue Glass Tibetan Medicine Thangka: Properties and Functions of
Medicinal Herbs"
In the first half of the 20th century, the Menzikang Tibetan Medical
In the first half of the 20th century, the Menzikang Tibetan Medical
Institute in Lhasa
Partial: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space are the five foundations of the
Five Elements theory, which is the basis of Tibetan naturalism and biology.
The specific sources and different characteristics of fragrances also need
to be explained in conjunction with the Five Elements theory.
"Gadang Pa's Lineage Transmission: Bodowa"
(པོ་ཏོ་བ་；1031-1105)
Mid-18th century, Rubin Museum collection
Detail: A golden incense burner with lit sticks of incense on a table.
(པོ་ཏོ་བ་；1031-1105)
Mid-18th century, Rubin Museum collection
Detail: A golden incense burner with lit sticks of incense on a table.
To the north of the main hall of Sangye Temple, there are three square-shaped Buddha halls. Among them, the Buddha hall on the right symbolizing Jambudvipa (one of the eight subcontinents) is known as the White Lotus Treasure Hall (པད་དཀར་དཀོར་མཛད་གླིང་). Two texts related to smoke offerings/incense offerings were once inscribed on the exterior wall of this Buddha hall, commonly referred to in scriptures as the "Sangye Inscriptions" (བསམ་ཡས་ལོགས་བྲིས་མ་). Among them, the "Purifying Smoke Offering Text: Sacred Blue Water" is believed to have been written by Lotus-born himself, and the origin of this offering text is actually related to a scandal involving a palace curtain. Although scholars in later generations have debated the authenticity of this offering text, the incense culture and odor theory presented in the text, as well as the underlying narrative system of "cleanliness-impurity," directly influenced the daily lives and natural concepts of the Tibetan people. Odors are considered a weapon for people to resist disharmony, a good that creates individual space and sustains public space. Whether it is smoke offerings or incense burning, odors are believed to help us eliminate obstacles on a mental level, facing all negative environments that are detrimental to successful endeavors.
"Panoramic View of Songye Temple"
Late 18th to mid-19th century, Newark Museum Collection.
Late 18th to mid-19th century, Newark Museum Collection.
"Praise to the Tibetan Ruler Gushri Khan"
From the late 18th century, in the collection of the Asian Art Museum
From the late 18th century, in the collection of the Asian Art Museum
of San Francisco.
A series of disasters, such as nationwide drought and illness among rulers and subjects, all originated from a secret act of abandoning an infant, the abandoned child being of unknown bloodline born to the palace queen. At the queen's request, a maid buried the child alive. Little did they know, the dead infant's body came into contact with the local domain god, causing all the local spirits to be contaminated and defeated. The unrest and chaos plunged the country into prolonged calamity, and the maid, now also ill, had no choice but to confess her actions to the rulers. The punished queen hoped that the Lotus-born Grandmaster, practicing in Sangye Green River, could come to their aid. Under the law of cause and effect, all beings suffer. Driven by compassion, the Grandmaster requested the rulers to prepare the materials for the ritual and wait at Sangye Hiwbu Mountain at sunrise. As the sun first rose, the Grandmaster burned all the fragrant substances imbued with the quintessence of the five elements in a container, reciting the "Purifying Smoke Offering Prayer, Sacred Blue Water" in his mouth. This historically unrecorded event has been met with skepticism in academic circles. However, upon returning to the text, we will find that the specific relationships mentioned in the text (contamination affecting spirits), specific sources of fragrance (corresponding to contamination), and the definition of cleanliness have high research value.
"The Great Master Zhenbao Holding the Treasure Vase with Lotus Flower"
A private museum collection from the mid-15th century.
A private museum collection from the mid-15th century.
"Master Darong Jujuzu: Darongtangba Zaxibei"
Mid-13th century, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum
Detail: Offerings by disciples include incense and fragrant smoke offerings
Mid-13th century, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum
Detail: Offerings by disciples include incense and fragrant smoke offerings
"If the wisdom god is polluted, cleanse it with sandalwood; if the worldly god is polluted, cleanse it with frankincense." This statement, which associates fragrance with a form of pollution, is not entirely attributable to the Buddhist tradition. Even in the pre-Buddhist era in Tibet, people were aware of the special efficacy and supreme significance of fragrances in shaping the sacred and individual healing aspects. "The Tibetan court was filled with the aroma of exotic and local incense burning." As a text that blends Buddhist and indigenous incense culture, "Ritual Smoke Offering Texts: Sacred Blue Water" provides us with an excellent perspective to understand and unravel Tibet's unique incense culture. As part of a series of articles, "Journey of Tibetan Fragrances" will guide us through the long-standing incense culture of Tibet. From the "incense road" of the Tubo period to the multi-layered descriptions of incense sources, from how incense culture integrates into local life studies and "literary-arts" narratives, and ultimately returning to a more systematic and diversified incense universe. People use fragrances to liberate sensory experiences, and through fragrances, weave a grander cosmology. Just as the proverb says: "Let fragrance awaken the mind, and the mind will directly reach the palace of wisdom."
"The Scroll Offering of Mandala"
From the 19th century, in the collection of the Rubin Museum
Detail: The celestial maiden holding a conch shell filled with incense.
From the 19th century, in the collection of the Rubin Museum
Detail: The celestial maiden holding a conch shell filled with incense.