Remembering David Jackson: A Portrait of a Tibetan Studies Pioneer
In August of this year, sad news arrived, leaving many scholars of Tibetan studies and lovers of Tibetan culture in mourning: David Jackson (1951–2025) had passed away. A major figure in the field of Tibetan studies and a distinguished expert in Tibetan art and philosophy, Jackson was also an eminent Tibetologist who served as director of the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art. Through his pathbreaking research, he made enduring contributions to Tibetan art. The above remarks are drawn from the preface to "Obituary by the Rubin Museum.
Professor Jackson’s life is widely viewed as legendary, and his writings have for some time been fundamental classics for Tibetan studies researchers and enthusiasts across the world. In memory of this distinguished academic, who devoted himself to the study and safeguarding of Tibetan culture, the author has decided to translate an essay by Professor Amy Heller—a close companion of Jackson—addressing Tibetan portraiture. The thangka featured in that essay depicts a greatly venerated monk who held an eminent role in the philosophical history of 14th-century Tibet.
This thangka shows Barewa Gyaltsen Palzang (འབའ་ར་བ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ་བཟང་; 1310–1391) together with his spiritual lineage. The school he established, known as the "Ba-ra Kagyü" (འབའ་ར་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་), is a branch of the Drukpa Kagyü tradition and enjoys great reverence across western Tibet and the Himalayan areas. Any images mentioned in the original text are all indicated with an asterisk (*). For those who wish to know more about Professor David Jackson, his biography is available on the WeChat public account "Buddha Says Not Not.
Wearing monastic robes, Barewa is adorned with the distinctive ritual hat (*Fig. 1) typical of high lamas in the Drukpa Kagyü lineage. His exalted status is indicated by the wish-fulfilling jewel at the hat's center. Often interpreted as a symbol of a chakravartin, or universal monarch, the "wish-fulfilling jewel" (ནོར་བུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་) carries that meaning. A chakravartin, as a ruler of the world, has dominion over the four directions and insight into all things.
In the view of Barewa’s followers and subsequent devotees, the painting portrays the sage’s many-sided character: an engaging Dharma instructor, a mystic, and a realized master who wrote songs of insight while meditating. Moreover, the gem symbolizes wealth, prosperity, and health, and is likewise regarded as a sign of supreme achievement in a wider context.
Barewa’s posture carries the majestic bearing of a buddha. In this pose, his right hand forms the earth-touching gesture (bhūmisparśa mudrā), signifying his enlightenment, while his left hand rests gently on his left knee, holding a Tibetan scripture wrapped in brocade and secured with a distinctive golden clasp. Because he was a prolific author whose collected works fill fourteen volumes, religious texts are his defining attribute. Additionally, Barewa left his disciples an autobiography and a collection of spiritual songs.
Namkha Gyatso (ནམ་མཁའ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་), moved by his teacher’s works, wrote a praise poem for the handwritten copies of the autobiography and song collection, which served as a final tribute to the complete text. At the close of the fourteenth century, these classics were still transmitted only as handwritten manuscripts.
The praise poem under discussion was integrated into the main body of the text when the autobiography and song collection first appeared in print in 1540 [Translator’s note: there exists an earlier version printed in 1500], and all subsequent editions preserved this arrangement. The 1540 printing took place at a significant practice site in the Kingdom of Gungthang (མང་ཡུལ་གུང་ཐང་; located southwest of Sakya on the route to Nepal). Namkha Gyatso is shown in a prominent position within this thangka, underscoring his significance to the Barewa lineage.
In the thangka, nearly every minor figure bears a name label, with the sole exception being the three central Drukpa Kagyu masters and their disciples. Their lack of labels likely reflects the fact that, at the time of the painting's creation, these three eminent monks had such widespread recognition that viewers could identify them at a glance. By contrast, the top-row lineage figures—including the Drukpa Kagyu tradition's founders, celebrated Indian siddhas, and renowned yogis—are each explicitly identified with corresponding labels.
From left to right, the figures are: first, Lingrepa Pema Dorje (གླིང་རས་པ་པདྨ་རྡོ་རྗེ་; 1128–1188), who wears white meditation robes and a meditation belt; second, Gampopa (སྒམ་པོ་པ་; 1079–1153), Milarepa's closest disciple; third, Marpa (མར་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་; 1012–1097), Milarepa's teacher; fourth, Tilopa (ཏཻ་ལོ་པ་; 988–1069), the foundational Kagyu master and Naropa's teacher; fifth, Vajradhara (རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་), the primordial Buddha; and sixth, Naropa (ནཱ་རོ་པ་; 1012/1016–1100), Marpa's teacher.
The figures on either side in the second row, situated below Lingrepa and Tsangpa Gyare, are likewise identified. Tsangpa Gyare (གཙང་པ་རྒྱ་རས་; 1161–1211), a disciple of Lingrepa and the First Drukchen (འབྲུག་ཆེན་), established the Drukpa Kagyu. Phagmo Drupa (ཕག་མོ་གྲུ་པ་; 1110–1170), a student of Gampopa, founded the Phagdru Kagyu and instructed Lingrepa. Milarepa (མི་ལ་རས་པ་; 1040–1123), Tibet's most celebrated yogi, wore white meditation robes and a red meditation belt.
Depicted near Götsangpa is a mahāsiddha clad in a red loincloth and red meditation belt. In the lower section, below Lingrepa, stands the master Götsangpa (རྒོད་ཚང་པ་; 1189–1258), who was a disciple of Tsangpa Gyare. Beneath Tsangpa Gyare appears Dele Gyaltsen (བདེ་ལེགས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་; 1225–1281), a disciple of Götsangpa and a scholar renowned across Ü-Tsang. Along the left and right borders below Götsangpa and Dele Gyaltsen, many eminent monks are portrayed; of these, only some names are still legible, indicating a particular teaching lineage (see *Figure 2).
Near Dele Gyaltsen is the previously mentioned eminent monk Namkha Gyatso, whose hands form the Dharma Wheel mudra. His figure is slightly larger than the other secondary figures (*Figure 3), likely because he composed the praise poem for Barewa. Vajrayoginī, also a meditational deity, appears to Namkha Gyatso's right. The towering figure with a topknot, his name inscribed beneath him, is depicted with Chakrasamvara, a meditational deity in union with his consort, on his left.
The central eminent monk in the thangka is believed to be Barewa, as indicated by the presence of Namkha Gyatso, whose exact dates of birth and death are unknown. A disciple of Barewa, Namkha Gyatso is generally thought to have been active between roughly 1375 and 1440, and his writings were extremely important to the later "Barewa devotion." The bottom sections on both sides of the thangka show the Four Heavenly Kings, and the lowest register on the left depicts a ritual scene, though the text underneath that ritual is no longer readable.
At the center of the ritual is a Drukpa Kagyu eminent monk. Surrounding him are several figures in aristocratic clothing, likely patrons who support the monk and his teachings. Among them, the main patron is a striking noblewoman whose hair features a red headband adorned with precious stones, possibly turquoise. Also present is a white-robed lay practitioner. This style of hair and dress is typical of paintings and manuscripts from Western Tibet.
White Tara and Ushnisha Sitatapatra appear above the patrons. Between the eminent monk and Yellow Jambhala (the Yellow Wealth Deity), Amitayus is serenely seated, holding a vase of longevity. The monk performs a ceremony before Jambhala, while an attendant holds a canopy over his head in reverence.
From left to right in the lower right part of the thangka are Crow-faced Mahakala, White Four-armed Mahakala, Palden Lhamo (with a white body and riding a red mule), the Long-Life Goddess (བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཚེ་རིང་མ་, riding a snow lion), and a male protector with a white body. The male protector carries a banner, wears a white headscarf, and is mounted on a white horse. This style of dress is similar to that of the mountain deity Nyenchen Tanglha. The work, titled *Barewa Kagyu Field of Merit*, dates to the late 18th century and is held in a private collection.
This thangka’s overall composition, decorative system, and color palette confirm its Western Tibetan origin. Notably, ornate thrones of the kind shown are classic elements of Western Tibetan painting styles dating to around the 12th century. Consequently, he can be identified as a specific protector of the Drukpa Kagyu tradition in Western Tibet.
An opaque dark blue backdrop sets off the tonal layering of the figures and textiles, whose main palette consists of pale yellow, orange, red (usually crimson), and pale blue. The thangka also reveals the artist's strong devotion to ornamental beauty. Gold-line flower designs embellish the multicolored robes of Barewa Gyaltsen Palzang, and golden jewel patterns decorate the sash of his inner robe.
The throne reflects the same meticulous attention to detail: scrollwork ending in makara tails runs up to the "face of glory" (kīrtimukha) at its top, and that face is joined to the nāgas by means of the nāgas' tails. The thangka's overall color palette and the figures' slender eyes, meanwhile, accord with Western Tibetan painting traditions.
The thangka described here has stylistic parallels in two works that Giuseppe Tucci (1894–1984) gathered circa 1935. In Rome's "Tucci Collection" (*Figure 4) is one showing an eminent Kagyu monk from southwestern Tibet; a second, with Vajradhara as its subject, is held privately.