Treasures of the Tibet Series: Gold （གསེར་）

Treasures of the Tibet Series: Gold （གསེར་）

"Gilded Treasure Adorning the Image of Shakyamuni Buddha"
15th century, Private collection
Attributed to the master craftsman of the post-classical period in Tibet
Sonam Jangzam's (བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་) stylistic creation
"Gilded Animal Motif Jewelry Fragment"
Collected by Jeremy Pine during the former dynasty
Photographed by Mark French
The central animal motif is identified as the native mythical bird "Qiong"
(known as the Garuda in Buddhist context)
"Blue Lapis Tibetan Medicine Thangka: Pharmacological Properties and Actions"
In the first half of the 20th century, Losa Menzikang Tibetan Medicine Institute
Portion: "Ae" Gold, Mongolian Gold, and Platinum
Note: It is generally believed that "Ae" gold comes from South Asia,
and is named after the place "Ae" (located in present-day Qusong
County) where it is processed (this explanation is still questionable).
Some gold from Han areas is also called "Mongolian gold".
"Muya white gold" is renowned in Tibetan areas for its easy recognition.

གསེར་ནི་ཀླུ་རྒྱལ་ཉ་དང་ཚེ་རིང་བྱ།

བྲུན་ལས་འཛམ་བུ་ཆུ་བོའི་གསེར་ནི་འཐོན།

རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེན་པོའི་འགྲམ་གྱི་བྱེ་གསེར་དང།

གུ་ལང་རྡོ་བཞུས་གསེར་དང་བྱང་འབྲོག་གསེར།

ཁམས་གསེར་བོད་གསེར་ཡུལ་གྲུ་ཀུན་ལས་བྱུང།

Dragon fish and long life bird
Produces gold from Zhanbu continent sea
By the sea there is golden sand
"Kulong" melts gold, hidden in the northern region
Tibet and Khampa regions have gold all over
Selected from "The Essentials of Treasure Differentiation"
Lungto Rinpoche Awang Lotsawa
(Klong rdol bla ma; 1719-1794)
Note: "Kurang" is roughly located in present-day Nepal.
The ancient Ali gold is also known as "Kurang gold."
Also, "Kurangba" is interpreted as "pure substance." 

"Blue Lapis Lazuli Thangka of Tibetan Medicine: Pharmacological Properties and Functions"
In the first half of the 20th century, Lhasa Menzikang Tibetan Medical Institute
Portion: Bird feces red gold and "Zéqiè Mà Golden"

Note: Bird droppings red gold related to the mythical Longevity Bird
When struck, this gold emits an exceptionally pleasant sound
"Mizuchimah gold" may be related to the dragon fish
Applying black hellebore juice to it creates a rainbow ring

"Blue Lapis Lazuli Thangka of Tibetan Medicine: Pharmacological Properties and Functions"
In the first half of the 20th century, Lhasa Menzikang Tibetan Medical Institute
Portion: "Salerjan" gold and Kamba gold

 

Note: "Salerjan" gold can be divided into red and yellow types.
It is considered superior gold during the classical period, while Kangba
gold is commonly used everyday gold. The difference lies in the
gold content of the ore.

ས་ལས་ཐོན་པ་ཐིག་པ་ཆེ་བྱུང་ན།

ས་ལེ་སྦྲམ་ཟེར་བྱེ་མ་གསེར་ལ་མིན།

བསྲེག་ན་དམར་ཞིང་བརྡར་ན་སེར་བ་དང།

བཅད་ན་དཀར་ཞིང་སྔ་དྲོ་དམར་བ་དང།

ཉིན་གུང་སེར་ཞིང་དགོང་མོ་དཀར་ན་བཟང།

The earth produces a large amount of gold
Good gold "Salezhan" is not sand gold
Burn it red, grind it yellow, cut it white
Red in the morning, yellow at noon, white at night.

(known as premium gold)
Selected from "Essential Collection of Precious Treasures Analysis Methods"
Written by Khenpo Awa Lobsang
(ཀློང་རྡོལ་བླ་མ་；1719-1794)
Note: "Salerjan gold" is considered pure gold
The terms "morning, noon, evening" do not refer to time periods within a day
But to the different shades of gold in various stages of processing.

"Gold horse-shaped pendant, gold earrings, and gold ring"
Artifacts unearthed from the former dynasty in Langkazi County
The "horse-shaped pendant" is not commonly seen in previous archaeological excavations.
"Excavated Horse-Shaped Ornaments from Chajia Gou Ancient Tomb in
Langkazi County"
During the former dynasty period, the artifact was sourced from the Cultural
Relics Bureau of Shannan City, Tibet.
As an outstanding artist and naturalist, Xu Qin Trichenqing (ཞུ་ཆེན་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རིན་ཆེན་; 1697-1774) once evaluated the special status of gold in Tibet, saying, "When it comes to treasures of the Snow Land, gold and turquoise can be honored; when it comes to all metals, gold is the father and silver is the mother." The people of Tibet often refer to gold and silver as "the great precious" (ནོར་བུ་ཆེ་བ་) and "the second precious" (ནོར་བུ་གཉིས་པ་) respectively, and the goldsmiths are also known as "followers of the moon" (ཟླ་བས་འཇུག་). In the classical myths of South Asia, the moonlight shines on the ocean and gold dust becomes visible, burning the gold dust for the fire god to delight, so gold is also called "fire seed" (མེ་ཡི་ས་བོན་). The story of the origin of gold in Buddhist scriptures is also used in Tibet, such as the dragon stirring the sea and eventually producing gold dust, or the auspicious immortal bird living by the gold sea in the southern Jambudvipa (བྱ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་མི་འཆི་བ་; also known as the longevity bird in the text above) excreting gold from drinking sea water for a long time.
"Ancient Tibetan Gold Vessel Adorned with Bird and Beast Designs in Turquoise"
From the Tubo Period, Chicago Pritzker Foundation Collection
A Tibetan gold vessel resembling common Eurasian vessel shapes
Golden jars, golden plates, and golden crowns, these were all royal ceremonial vessels commonly used during the Tubo period. Some scholars are accustomed to referring to Tubo as the "Land of Golden".
Their gold artifacts were popular throughout the Eurasian continent in the Middle Ages. In the second year of Xianqing (657 AD), Tubo presented the "Golden City" to the Tang Dynasty. Here, the "Golden City" refers to a building model made entirely of gold, with countless animals and warriors carved on it. It was admired by everyone in the city of Chang'an at that time. For the Tubo people, the golden statuettes were symbols of power, golden vessels were proofs of noble lineage and special status, and using a gold mask for burial after death could allow them to enjoy eternal blessings and unchanging fate in the "Paradise" (བདེ་སྐྱིད་གནས་). Proverbs refer to Tubo as the "Land of Golden Earth".
"Avalokiteshvara with a Gilt Face"
Created in the second half of the 13th century, held in the Tibet Museum
Measuring 15.3 cm in height, this is a Nepalese-style artwork.
"Partial view of the Stupa of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso"
Taken on November 22, 1936
Photographed by Frederick Spencer Chapman
The Stupa of the Fifth and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas adorned with the most gold.
"Gold-inlaid Turquoise-inlaid Parrot-shaped Teapot" from the mid to
late 19th century, from a private collection.

Redeeming the king with gold equal to the weight of his body
Noble girls express their love with golden flowers
These are popular tales about gold in the western Tibetan regions
We generally consider this area as the gold art center of the post-Tubo era.


At least three biographical literature describe the gold mines and goldsmiths here
In the Ali region, gold is referred to as the "son of the stars" in a proverb
(in a rhetorical figure also seen in Persian literature)
Other Tibetan regions also have their own unique gold art
Such as gold processing in the U-Tsang region and gold decoration in the Kham region


"What is pure gold and how to obtain gold"
has always been a focal point of Tibetan craftsmanship works
In addition to those originating from South Asia
Central Asia or the indigenous "gold myths"
later people also mentioned legends originated from North Asia (and Russia)


Distinguishing the gold content of different types of gold raw materials
making gold utensils according to more than a dozen processes
even the alchemy of "turning stone into gold"
Classical Tibetan regions have complete literature and related stories
"Although gold is precious, it should not be taken lightly, forge with a devout heart"
This is the industry principle upheld by the goldsmiths of the past Tibet

"The Lotus Sutra Master with Clear Eyes and Wise Appearance"
From the Ruben Museum in the mid-19th century
Pay attention to the multiple layers of gold or gilded decorations on the throne.
"Geometric Patterned Gilt Copper Box without Lid"
Made in the first half of the 20th century in the Jiangzi region of Shigatse, Tibet
Currently in the collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford

"Rare Eight Treasures Gilt-Gold Ga Wu Box with Intricate Designs"
18th Century, Private Collection
Contains a statue of Gautama Buddha

In addition to being seen as a treasure in Buddhism and the king of metals,
gold also holds special significance in Tibetan culture.
Finding gold while traveling, collecting gold at home, or casually mining for gold
all symbolize that something unknown will happen in the future.

The desire for earthly gold needs to be used appropriately, symbolizing the
golden body of the Buddha, the golden heart of Bodhisattvas,
the sacred golden circle, and the eternal golden sea.

The unique qualities of gold allow it to seamlessly integrate into daily religious practices. In Tibetan culture, wise individuals use gold to pay for their studies of Buddhist teachings, despite the high cost being a deterrent for many.

In heavenly realms like the Pure Land, golden rains fall accompanied by golden sands. Wearing gold ornaments can help eliminate toxins and calm the mind.

"Sakya Translator: Jiang Bai Duoji and His Lineage of Masters"
16th century, Rubin Museum
Jiang Bai Duoji (འཇམ་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་: 1485-1533)
"Painted with gold or drawn with gold thread"
It is a traditional Tibetan art form

The first treasure is gold, the first craftsman is a goldsmith.

This article is translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog.

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