I Dream of Roaming With a Hat: Hats in Himalayan Art
Most of the monks at Yonghe Temple hold academic degrees, as it serves as the residence of Mongolian and Tibetan monks in Beijing. When facing the camera, they keep their customary solemnity. The central master wears a Pandita hat, while the student monks on either side wear tasseled crested hats (སྒྲོ་ལྷུག་མ་). In contrast to ordinary monks who wear tasseled crested hats, the monks here generally wear crested hats with gathered tassels (སྒྲོ་བཙེམས་མ་). Classification of Dharma Hats.
Given the immense diversity of Dharma hats in Tibetan Buddhism, the following two articles of *The Crown of the Wise: Dharma Hats in Himalayan Art* will attempt to organize them into a more comprehensible framework. But it should be kept in mind that such a classification serves only as a means for exploring the deep and complex cultural and iconographic heritage of the Himalayan-Tibetan area. This comes after the series' opening piece, which touched briefly on the fundamental meanings and beginnings of Tibetan Dharma hats.
Ralo, a Buddhist master renowned for "casting deadly spells," wears a black disk mantra master's hat (ཐངས་ནག་ཟོར་ཞྭ་). He engages in magical contests with others, aided by the blessings of Vajrabhairava (རྡོ་རྗེ་འཇིགས་བྱེད་). That hat is one of the many mantra master hat types found in Tibet, specifically termed ཐུན་ཞྭ་ (retreat mantra master's hat), and it is typically worn by Buddhist retreat practitioners possessing mantra master attributes. A long-term research plan, nevertheless, is required for a deeper understanding of Dharma hats.
Classifying Dharma hats by color, founding master, or religious sect is common in traditional texts, but such categories are meaningful only to readers who already know the sectarian landscape. For most people attempting to understand Dharma hats, these classification schemes often obscure the hats’ functions and meanings. Consider, for instance, the two mantra master hats noted above: although used alike in all Tibetan sects, they are quite dissimilar in style, color, and ornament.
Tudo Wangchuk (མཐུ་སྟོབས་དབང་ཕྱུག་；1588-1637), a renowned protector practitioner of the Khön family of the Sakya tradition, wears a black ritual dance hat (འཆམ་ཞྭ་ནག་པོ་). My division of all Tibetan Dharma hats into five categories—style, color, function, origin, and sectarian lineage—is based on traditional classification methods as well as modern academic approaches.
Dark-colored disk hats must be identified by context: are they dance hats or mantra master hats? Although resembling the black disk mantra master's hat, this deep blue hat is a dance hat, reserved exclusively for the ritual dances of Vajrakilaya and Vajrabhairava (ཕུར་གཤེན་). Among mantra master hats, the subjugation hat (མཐུ་ཞྭ་) is one of the rarest, being employed in the most malevolent ceremonies.
The mantra master's hat (འགྲུ་དགའ་ཟོར་ཞྭ་), also known as the suffering and bliss mantra master's hat, originated as the hat of Mahakala in the human realm and was later adopted by practitioners of protector deities. Before Milarepa met the great master Marpa, he wore this very hat to subjugate his greedy relatives. The flames decorating the hat represent the fierce domain of the protector deities. All the Dharma hats displayed above share a disk-like style characteristic of mantra master's hats, yet their particular significance shifts according to the wearer, the setting, and the method of use.
Across these three pieces, I have employed five categories—focusing mainly on style and sectarian lineage—to offer readers a basic grasp of Tibetan Dharma hat culture, which mirrors the social shifts and cultural transformations of the snow-covered plateau over the course of a thousand years. As for Pandita Hats and Pointed-Top Hats, being the most widespread Dharma hat type in Tibet, the Pandita hat's beginnings were already covered in my earlier article.
The pointed crown and elongated side flaps of the Pandita hat—worn only by scholars and senior monks—have shaped the design of native Tibetan Dharma hats. Apart from the Pandita hat, the crested hat (རྩེ་ཞྭ་) is another style commonly worn across different sects. This crested hat comes in two variants: the tasseled crested hat (སྒྲོ་ལྷུག་མ་) and the gathered-tassel crested hat (སྒྲོ་བཙེམས་མ་). The two photographs at the start of the article illustrate examples of both.
People commonly claim that only Gelug crested hats are yellow, while other sects use red. That is not wholly correct: the Kagyu school also has yellow crested hats. As for the hat's origin, one of the earliest references involves Lha Chen Gongpa Rabsel (བླ་ཆེན་དགོངས་པ་རབ་གསལ；953？-1035？), a Gelug monastic protector who wears a gathered-tassel crested hat. Central Tibet experienced extended unrest after the Tibetan Empire fell.
Lha Chen Gongpa Rabsel folded his woolen belt into a rooster-crest-like hat and sewed it together to keep warm. On seeing it, Mar, Yo, and Tsang (སྨར་གཡོ་གཙང་) took the hat as a symbol of Buddhism's future revival—the Dharma resounding across the land even in the depths of winter. The three translators had arrived in the Dome region by the northern route, escaping the chaos that traditional histories often attribute to the so-called "Langdarma's persecution of Buddhism.
The crested hat reached its current form only after undergoing numerous transformations throughout history. In the image, the Sakya monks are seen wearing crested hats with gathered tassels. White on the brim, black across the body, and red at the crown stand for the Three Protectors (Three Bodhisattvas). As for the Pandita hat's colors—particularly how red and yellow are distinguished—I covered that in the earlier post.
Depending on religious context and origin myths, there are variations in how the Pandita hat is worn, even though Tibetan monks typically wear it on their heads. The following examines the special wearing methods for this hat and its derivative types. Two common alternative methods are the folded style—mostly associated with the Jonang tradition (ཇོ་ནང་)—and the flat style, which is used for teachings and debates.
Taranatha (ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་；1575-1634), a master of the Jonang tradition, ranked among the foremost scholars of his era. Owing to his endeavors, the Jonang tradition became one of the most thriving teachings across Tibet during that period. On one occasion, Taranatha journeyed to Mongolia in order to spread the Dharma; the folded Pandita hat is likewise regarded as proof of his travels to North Asia. According to certain Jonang historical writings, while heading to North Asia, Taranatha was aided by protectors, and after folding his hat, he entered a meditative state.
Generally believed to have originated in South Asia, a fixed iconographic style serves as a marker for important lineage holders and scholars renowned for scriptural debates. In the Gelug tradition, this imagery is commonly used to indicate that the central figure in the image is a lineage holder of a specific teaching. Panchen Lozang Dondrup (བློ་བཟང་དོན་གྲུབ་；1505-1556) was the most important compiler of Tsongkhapa's oral transmission (འཇམ་དབྱངས་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་), and this teaching has been transmitted through the Panchen lineage.
Within the early historical evolution of the Sakya tradition, three alterations to the Pandita hat appeared, each associated with a foundational myth of that tradition. The earliest established pairing is "Tsongkhapa and his disciple Khedrup Je," the latter being the First Panchen Lama. In the depicted scene, the monk presenting the offering is probably the foremost disciple of the Third Panchen Lama, namely Sangye Yeshe (སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས་；1525-1591).
The three modified Pandita hats of the Sakya tradition are Sakya Pandita's wide hat, the Ngor tradition's wide hat, and the auspicious Sakya hat (crossed style). These hats mark a progressive evolution and are held in common across the Sakya lineages as part of the Lamdre (Path and Fruit) transmission. They represent the Sakya tradition's shift from a family-run local sect in Tsang into a multi-branched tradition that exerted considerable influence on Tibetan history.
Kunga Zangpo (ངོར་ཆེན་ཀུན་དགའ་བཟང་པོ་；1382-1456), founder of the Ngor branch of the Sakya tradition's "Sa-Ngor-Tsar" (ས་ངོར་ཚར་), sought to separate himself from the worldly environment of Sakya Monastery. Earlier, upon the death of his grandfather Drakpa Gyaltsen (གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་；1147-1216), Sakya Pandita had removed the pointed top of the Pandita hat as a mourning gesture. With that top gone, the hat appeared broader, leading to its name the wide hat (བརྐྱང་ཞུ་).
The Ngor hat, unlike Sakya Pandita's wide hat, includes an additional square base. In some Ngor ritual texts, it is referred to as "the eternal mountain of Vinaya" (རྟག་བརྟན་འདུལ་བའི་རི་ཆེན་). Ngor Monastery was established by Kunga Zangpo in 1429, and he designated it as "a pure land upholding the Vinaya." Meanwhile, the origin myth of the most common auspicious Sakya hat (ས་ཞུ་) traces back to Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, who served as the Imperial Preceptor of the Yuan Dynasty.
In 1277, after his return to Tibet, Phagpa held the grand Chumig Dharma Assembly (ཆུ་མིག་ཆོས་འཁོར་) in Tsang. At that assembly, he crossed the two extended flaps at the top as an act of homage to Vajradhara (རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་) and to assist in carrying out various intricate rituals. This hand gesture may be compared with the auspicious Sakya hat.
Crown hats are a category of Dharma hats distinguished by three key features. First, they are ornamental headpieces resembling crowns, identifiable by their decorative elements. Second, they are frequently connected to particular power relations within religious life. Third, they usually exist in numerous variations stemming from an original "mother hat." Using this mother hat as the foundation for categorization, I have classified crown hats into the Nyingma lotus hat, the Karmapa hat of the Kagyu tradition, the Bön crown hat, and similar types.
The Nyingma lotus hat, also commonly called the "Liberation Upon Seeing Lotus Hat" (པད་མ་མཐོང་གྲོལ་), traces its origin to a royal hat (ཐོབ་ཞྭ་) that King Tsewang Gyalpo (གཙུག་ལག་འཛིན་) of Zahor (ཟ་ཧོར་) offered to Padmasambhava. In early paintings, this hat did not appear to possess the intricate symbolism it would later gain, yet the vulture feather atop it stayed constant.
Some researchers interpret this hat as representing Padmasambhava's dual political and religious authority as the "king of the Dharma." In accounts of Padmasambhava written between the 10th and 11th centuries—texts that should not be read as conventional historical documents—King Tsewang, after making multiple attempts to harm Padmasambhava, was filled with deep regret and presented the hat as a gesture of atonement. Later, as devotion to Padmasambhava grew stronger, the hat took on an increasingly rich set of meanings.
In Padmasambhava's lotus hat (ཨུ་རྒྱན་པད་ཞྭ་), the sun and moon stand for skillful means and wisdom within Dharma practice; the vajra ornaments denote steadfast meditation; the three peaks along both the brim and body of the hat embody the Buddha's three bodies; and the vulture feather represents the ultimate Dharma.
Earlier on, the Bön tradition already possessed practices resembling treasure revelation. Nevertheless, it was the Nyingma treasure revealers who truly popularized this tradition. In order to demonstrate their status as inheritors of Padmasambhava's teachings, later Nyingma practitioners created a vast number of Dharma hats derived from the lotus hat, which are mainly classified into the treasure lotus hats of treasure revealers (གཏེར་ཞྭ་) and the lotus hats of monastery leaders (གོང་ཞྭ་).
Whether the unearthed treasures are fit for direct use, or whether some of these texts were forged, has long been a contentious issue among esteemed monks of various schools. In their view, Padmasambhava had already concealed the Dharma's treasures throughout the snow-covered land, leaving particular markers.
Namkha Pelzang (ནམ་མཁའ་དཔལ་བཟང་；1398-1425), the 11th abbot of Ralung Monastery (རྭ་ལུང་དགོན་) within the Drukpa Kagyu tradition, held a strong fascination for the treasure revelation tradition. This practice, in turn, may be viewed as a means by which the indigenous Nyingma tradition, during the later dissemination period, responded to the teachings introduced into Tibet at that time, thereby indicating that profound Dharma is something to be rediscovered rather than newly acquired.
Nyangrel Nyima Özer (ཉང་རལ་ཉི་མ་འོད་ཟེར་；1124-1192), the foremost treasure revealer and historian of the Nyingma tradition, wears a treasure lotus hat with a blue exterior and red interior. The foundational imagery of Padmasambhava was initially shaped by him. At the top, Guru Wangchuk (གུ་རུ་དབང་ཕྱུག་；1212-1270) is the only exception; all the other treasure revealers don various treasure lotus hats.
A blue lotus hat with a pointed top is worn by Ngodrup Gyaltsen (རིག་འཛིན་དངོས་གྲུབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན；1337-1409), the revealer of Padmasambhava's body, speech, and mind treasures; this style possibly derives from the pointed white hat of the Bön tradition. Meanwhile, Longchenpa (ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་；1308-1364), an eminent master of Dzogchen, wears a treasure lotus hat, which merges features of the Pandita hat and the lotus hat.
The lotus hat style with a back flap is shared by both the Nyingma and Bön traditions. In the Nyingma tradition, Jigme Dorje (འགྱུར་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་；1646-1714), the founder of Mindrolling Monastery (སྨོན་གྲོལ་གླིང་), wears the Mindrolling abbot's lotus hat (སྨོན་གྲོལ་གོང་ཞྭ་). Kunzang Sherab (ཀུན་བཟང་ཤེས་རབ་；1636-1698), founder of Palyul Monastery (དཔལ་ཡུལ་དགོན་), a renowned Nyingma monastery in Kham, wears the Palyul abbot's lotus hat (དཔལ་ཡུལ་གོང་ཞྭ་).
One should note that the Nyingma tradition does not hold a monopoly on the lotus hat. In fact, high-ranking monks from other traditions who had close ties to the Nyingma or engaged in the study of treasure revelation also wore similar hats. For instance, Tudo Wangchuk of the Sakya tradition—who was also featured in the opening section of this article on the mantra master's hat—and the Fourth Panchen Lama, Lozang Chökyi Gyaltsen (བློ་བཟང་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་；1570-1662) of the Gelug tradition, both did so.
Sourced from Suolangwangqing's blog, this piece is an adaptation of a lotus hat presented by Nyingma monks.