Wise Man's Crown : The Law Hat in Himalayan Art (Part One)

Wise Man's Crown : The Law Hat in Himalayan Art (Part One)

As long as you carry it with you,
you will remember me.
བླ་ཆེན་དགོངས་པ་རབ་གསལ་
Lachen Gongbasa
(Lachen Gongbasa, 953?-1035?)
"The Eighth Lord Situ Rinpoche and the Sages", 18th century, private collection
Wearing different hats, the patriarchs of various sects appear together in
the image;
The hats not only distinguish their identities,
but also witness their glory as the wise men of the snowy land.
Partial: Thumi Sambuza
As a prominent researcher of Tibetan grammar in later times, the Eighth Situ Rinpoche considered Thumi Sangbumza from the Tubo period as a lifelong role model. However, the headgear worn by Thumi was not the topic of discussion today, but rather the symbolic white turban worn during the Tubo era.
"The Eighth Karmapa in the Realm of Meditation," 18th century, housed
at the Rubin Museum in New York.

In the practice of Guru Yoga（བླ་མའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་）of the Eighth Gyalwa Karmapa, he is surrounded by eight Dakinis.

Throughout history, the Gyalwa Karmapas have worn a black hat made from the hair of Dakinis, which is the most famous origin myth of the Tibetan tradition of wearing ceremonial hats.

Particulars: The Black Hat of the Eighth Karmapa
Particulars: The Beginning of Yoga Dance

Preface: the distinction between red and yellow.

Many years ago, Lume Tsering（ཀླུ་མེས་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཤེས་རབ་）, the seeker of the Dharma, was about to leave his teacher, the great Tibetan Buddhist master, Lachen Gongba Ralse. This year was 978 AD. Before departing, Lachen gave Lume a special hat with ear flaps (some sources say it was a Bon-decorated white hat), and told him, "As long as you wear this hat, you will remember me."

This story about the origin of Tibetan ceremonial hats has been passed down in Buddhist communities for a long time. The tradition of using ceremonial hats to symbolize religious lineage is one of the reasons for the proliferation of various types of hats in Tibetan regions.

《Adi Canyon》，13th century, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Particulars: The dark-colored fedora of Adi Gorge

In the art works of the 13th century, Adi Gorge is already wearing
a Phrygian cap, so what is the hat that confuses and frightens him?
Could it be the hat that Rumy gave him decades ago?
The second story about the hat is related to another prominent Buddhist master of the later post-imperial period, Atisha (ཨ་ཏི་ཤ་；982-1055). When the core disciple of Atisha, Dromtonpa (འབྲོམ་སྟོན་པ་；1004-1064), went to welcome Atisha with a group of people, the Indian Buddhist master expressed deep confusion and fear towards the attire of the welcoming party, especially towards the hat. In order to calm the master's emotions, Dromtonpa and others hid the hat and cloak. Some researchers tend to associate this hat with the yellow and white hat of the Bon religion, known as the pointed white hat(དཀར་མོ་རྩེ་རྒྱལ་).
"The Legend of Adi Gorge" in the 17th century, private collection
Particulars: Welcoming the Adi Gorge

In the image, I highlighted the image of Zhong Dunba.
The "long hair" signifies Zhong Dunba's special identity in his practice (between lay and monastic vows).
In his biography, Zhong Dunba is not allowed to wear a hat or head covering.

"Rechungpa"（རས་ཆུང་པ་）, 19th century, private collection
As the most important student of Milarepa,
Rechungpa (རས་ཆུང་པ་; 1085-1161)
is an example for practitioners,
combining the traditions of native sorcerers and South Asian yogis.
Particulars: Rechungpa's monk's hat
The hot qiongba hat is a long-debated topic,
with a pointed flag on top, made of fur and leather,
and with a sun and moon motif on the front, all reflecting the tradition
of the Ben religion.
"Biography of Milarepa" , 16th century, Rubin Museum of Art in New York
The drawing unit of the grid space is an early art style.
The background of the picture is Mount Kailash,
this is the place where Milarepa practiced.
Particulars: Four white-capped disciples
Four disciples wearing "Haram Kampa white hats" are gathered
around their teacher,
holding Damaru drums（ད་མ་རུ་）and practice sticks,
following the voice of Milarepa,
chanting the teachings in song（མགུར་གླུ་）.
Although in later constructions of religious history, it was claimed that Atisha introduced the Banzhida hat (པཎ་ཞྭ་) used in South Asia to the Tibetan region (although it is possible that this hat was already seen during the Tubo period); the traditional Banzhida hat is typically red, different from the yellow Banzhida hat of the Gelug school. Within the Gelug school, it is generally believed that their yellow hat is a combination of the yellow and white hat received by Tsongkhapa (in appearance) and the Banzhida hat brought by Atisha (in function). Subsequently, under the guidance of the lineage masters of the Gelug school, such as Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the yellow Banzhida hat came to symbolize the purification of canons and reverence for the Buddha (the cultural symbolism behind the color yellow).

"Tsongkhapa," 15th century, housed at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York.

The portraits from the 15th century are considered to be closer to the
works of the era of Tsongkhapa. In the images, the lineage masters are
all depicted wearing yellow Gelugpa hats, which may be a rule in
Gelugpa painting tradition.
Partial: Zongkaba's yellow Pandita hat
In the early images, there were no decorations of gold
threads on the Ban Zhida hat;
subsequently, the number of gold threads corresponded
to the number of scriptures studied by the master.
"Sakya Great Black Heaven Lineage", hidden in the Rubin Museum
of Art in New York in the late 12th century

There are a total of five images of masters,
Observing the two masters on the left,
They are wearing red and yellow hats respectively.

Partial: Left-side guru

It could be Sradha Karavarma and Zadimba（བྲག་སྟེང་པ་）.

Partial: Right-side guru
It could possibly be Renqing Zangpo (རིན་ཆེན་བཟང་པོ་) and Ma Yishi (མལ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་),
at least in the 12th to 13th century,
The Yellow Hat sect had emerged.
However, with the continuous research on the history of the post-Hong period in recent years, the authenticity of the "Dalai Lama's gift of the Lu Mei hat" seems to be worth questioning (because there is controversy over the birth and death years of the Dalai Lama, i.e. the Dalai Lama's birth and death years may be 832-915). In other words, even if the gift of the hat did exist, it should have been presented by the Dalai Lama's student Tubten Yeshe Rinpoche (ཐུལ་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་；a master of both Bon and Mahayana practices). Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility of a hat-giving tradition originating from the Dalai Lama (an earlier Yellow Hat lineage) in this case.

Sakya 2nd Patriarch Sönam Gyaltsen Mö (བསོད་ནམས་རྩེ་མོ་；1142-1182):
"Some people say it was transmitted from the Lakṣmi tradition,
while others say it was transmitted from the Tupa Yeshé Jampal tradition."

Concept

What is a Law Hat (བླ་ཞྭ་-དགེ་ཞྭ་-དབུ་ཞྭ་)? Perhaps this question is a real challenge for scholars studying Tibetan Buddhism. If we place this question in the context of early Buddhism development, we will find that the act of covering the head by monks was mostly for protecting the head from cold or as a privilege for those with health issues. The Vinaya texts allowed monks to use fine hair and cotton to make "head coverings" for daily rest or travel, but not for religious rituals or practice. It is important to distinguish between the various crowns worn by deities and the Law Hats worn by monks, as this relates to the distinction between the sacred and the secular.

"Buddha in Meditation", 6th-8th century, Swat Museum in Pakistan (Number: 7206) Early sculptures of Buddha disciples with empty heads above.
If it is said that wearing a hat is not advocated in the canonical scriptures of Buddhism, then how did the red Bandzundha hat, which came from South Asia, come into being? The red Bandzundha hat (པཎ་ཞྭ་) is a common hat in all sects of Tibetan Buddhism, and it is a hat for the wise; generally divided into the long Bandren (པཎ་རིང་) and the short Bandong (པཎ་ཐུང་). As a hat that signifies wisdom, the length of the Bandren and Bandong indicates whether the scholar is proficient in the Ten Wisdoms (Big Five Wisdoms and Little Five Wisdoms) or skilled in the Big Five Wisdoms. The pointed top of the hat signifies the supreme Middle Way, while the two sides of the hat symbolize the two Truths (བདེན་ གཉིས་). Of course, in the traditional South Asian context, red is the color representing outstanding practitioners, and it is a color blessed by the deities.
"Sabon and Basiba," 14th century, housed in the Rubin Museum of Art
in New York.
Sabban (1182-1251)
The first native South Asian traditional Banabhatta
Partial: the red Songkok hat worn by Saban, with wrinkles on the hat may
indicate the material used in making the hat.
"Sa-kya Lineage of Mahakala" , 15th century, Rubin Museum of
Art in New York
The Great Dark Sky inherits the master, both the yellow and red law hats are present.
Partial: Sakya Dagchen Rinpoche Lineage Pedigree

Partial: Five Patriarchs of the Saṃgha

In early images, only Saban wore hats.

In South Asian traditions, the title of Pandita can be acquired by mastering the Dvividha Shastra (no matter Buddhist or any Indian denomination). According to the method combining literature and imagery, we can identify two types of classification of the Pandita hat peculiar to Tibet. An interesting source of information comes from the Persian historian Minhaj-i-Siraj (12-13th century). Minhaj-i-Siraj recorded the persecution of Buddhist temples and monks by Turkic Muslim armies. He documented the slaughtered monks, saying, "Those shaven-headed Brahmans (referring to monks) were all killed, some were students, others were teachers wearing red hats" (author's translation). Here we can see that the red hat (possibly the Pandita hat) not only served as a headgear but also had the function of distinguishing identity, namely that those who wore red hats were Buddhist scholars with educational functions.

"The Monk's Doomsday", 1932, illustrations from the book by James Meston
Under the dual influences of South Asia and local traditions (we will discuss the indigenous hats when introducing the Bon religion hats), the development of Tibetan hats shows a diverse trend (I estimate there are at least more than thirty different types of hats). In Han Chinese literature, we often find the use of colors (especially the colors of clothing and hats) to refer to and represent different sects of Tibetan Buddhism. Firstly, this is indeed a knowledge classification from an "other" perspective, which may hinder our in-depth study of hats; secondly, this classification largely continues the discussions since the Fifth Dalai Lama's time about the "Four Major Sects" (Nyingma, Kagyu, Gelug, and Sakya).
"The Fifth Dalai Lama"，17th century, private collection
The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682) conducted extensive studies on the
doctrines of various sects, often wearing different sects' hats at the
Potala Palace to signify his identity as a lineage holder.
Inscription in Tibetan script behind the sculpture: "Homage to the omniscient Awang Losang Gyatso (5th Dalai Lama)"
"The Lineage of the Dalai Lamas in Their Previous Lives",
19th century, private collection
This is a depiction from a series of images, illustrating the enthronement ceremony of the 10th Dalai Lama (1816-1837).
Partial: Lama Sang, founder of the Tsibaga Ju school.
As one of the previous incarnations of the hereditary Dalai Lama, Lama Sheng (བླ་མ་ཞང་; 1123-1193) wore the unique Ciba Gaju hat ཚལ་ཞྭ་ཁེབས་ཆེན་ (Ciba hat giant canopy style), which is a variation of the hat worn by Gongpo Baba (སྒམ་པོ་པ་; 1079-1153) during his practice.
Master Gongbo Ba, 17th century, private collection

The "Four Major and Eight Minor" sects of the Gelug school all stem from the teachings of Tsongkhapa. Although each sect has made some modifications, Tsongkhapa's Ganden Trikor (Ganden hat with earflaps) remains the most important practice hat in the Gelug school.

Partial: Gonpoba's top hat

The Tibetan inscription behind the sculpture reads "Tashi Delek Dawa Gyuno (meaning Gangpooba)."

The research on the ceremonial hat fundamentally involves discussions on sects (གྲུབ་མཐའ་), highlighting the differences in doctrines and lineages. As stated in the literature, "ཞྭ་དང་སྲུང་མར་མཁས་ན་སྒྲུབ་བརྒྱུད་ལ་མི་རྨོངས། (Understanding the distinction between ceremonial hats and protectors will dispel any confusion regarding sectal transmissions)." In specific studies, ceremonial hats serve as one of the best elements to differentiate religious figures. As long as the categories of ceremonial hats are not confused, one can roughly decipher the lineage and sect of the core figure in an image even without textual assistance. Therefore, after grasping the essence of ceremonial hats, it becomes crucial to establish effective classifications for them. In the next article, we will explore a method for effectively classifying ceremonial hats and delve into the different "origin myths" behind them.

This article is translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog.

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