The Scent of Sandalwood: Aromatic Voyages in Tibetan Incense
An 11th-century sandalwood model of the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Bodh Gaya is preserved in Tibet’s Potala Palace. The item bearing the title "Blue Lapis Lazuli Tibetan Thangka: Essential Earth and Plains Medicinal Herbs" was produced in the first half of the 20th century at the Lhasa Menzikang Tibetan Trading Post. As for sandalwood quality, a partial method involves placing sandalwood sticks in boiling butter during spring; if a solidified oil layer forms on the surface of the sticks, then that sandalwood is judged to be of the highest grade.
This edition, comprising fifteen prints, originates from the first half of the 18th century and belongs to a private collection of the mid-late 19th century. Titled "Woodblock Print of the Biography of Master Tsongkhapa: Birth and Childhood," it presents a partial account: at Master Tsongkhapa's birth, navel blood fell onto the ground, where a sandalwood tree subsequently grew, its leaves bearing the mark of Manjushri. The scent of that sandalwood tree can be understood in multiple layers.
ཁྱོད་ལ་འགལ་བའི་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་རྣམས། དོ་གལ་སྒྲུབ་པའི་ཐབས་ཤེས་ཀུན། ཙནྡན་གྱི་བསིལ་གཤིས་ལྟ་བུར་མཛད་ཅིང་། ཙནྡན་དཔལ་ལ་གུས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། The mental afflictions that arise from opposing you, All methods aimed at achieving liberation, Act with a cooling nature akin to sandalwood, I respectfully pay homage to Chandanapala. From "The Praise of the Thirty-Five Buddhas' Names Ornamentation" （བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་པ་སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་ལྔའི་བསྟོད་པ་ མཚན་རིན་པོ་ཆེས་སྤྲས་པ།） Authored by the monk Modgily Tsezha (Lodro Karchung). "Zambudvipa" denotes the Buddha Zambudvīpa, who attained enlightenment via deep meditation, just as incense fragrance acquires its true essence.
The Jambhala Buddha, holding a branch of white sandalwood, appears in the mid-16th-century piece "The Discussion on Maitreya and the Thirty-Five Buddhas by Nagarjuna," which is part of the Rubin Museum's collection. Residing in the northwest, this Buddha possesses the virtues of sandalwood. The fragrance of sandalwood calms the heart, and its scent can dispel the three poisons.
Now housed in the British Museum, the "Painted Tangka of Warlord Manjushri Bodhisattva on Sandalwood" was removed in the 1920s from its original mid-19th-century location at the Dangyalin Monastery in Lhasa. Meanwhile, the "Three Statues of Avalokitesvara" belongs to the Potala Palace collection: its central sandalwood figure of Avalokiteshvara was brought to Tibet in the 7th century, whereas the two flanking metal statues date to the 7th and 8th centuries (18th century) respectively.
As late as the mid-1800s, the people of Amdo were still debating the different possibilities surrounding the Dzungar army’s invasion of Tibet. “The holy city’s flowers and trees are all destroyed, and there is no sound inside and outside the temples” — that folk refrain refers to the three years of foreign occupation between 1717 and 1720, a period during which the defeated Dzungars took the sacred statue of Avalokitesvara from the Potala Palace and escaped far away.
According to post-11th century literature, the tale starts with three high-grade sandalwood trees, and its precise narrative is still being elaborated. As a trusted minister, Kang Jina destroyed the fleeing Dzungar army in western Tibet and also restored the Avalokitesvara statue—which had witnessed Tibet's rise and fall—to the sacred enclave of Putuo. Meanwhile, inside the tent, the carefree Dzungar people drink excessively, unaware that everything is orchestrated by Kang Jina; not long after, the camp resounds with wailing.
The first sandalwood tree produced an eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statue on its own, the second generated one hundred and eight small Avalokitesvara statues, and the third—a cow-headed sandalwood tree—yielded four sacred Avalokitesvara statues (five, according to some accounts). Sandalwood, being fragrant, has long been considered an outstanding material for statues, giving tangible expression to particular allegorical meanings.
In the end, the historical memory of the kingdom period is fragrantly preserved in the world through the formation of the "sandalwood-Avalokitesvara" concept. In a highly literary manner, the perfume emitted by the three sandalwood trees pervades the three realms, bringing joy to celestial beings, tranquility to animals, and solace to spirits, reflecting the graceful and affectionate essence of fragrance.
Because sandalwood comes in many forms, with multiple origins and its own color and scent for each variety, it is often called by several different names. In Tibetan, the general term is ཙན་དན་, a word derived from the Sanskrit चन्दन. This discussion appears in a partial section on sandalwood (ཙན་དན་དམར་པོ་) tied to the Menzikang Tibetan Medicine Institute in Lhasa in the first half of the 20th century, under the heading "Blue Lapis Lazuli Tibetan Thangka: Earth Element Essence and Plain River Medicinal Materials.
In terms of classification, sandalwood is generally divided into white and red sandalwood trees. Yet in its initial usage, the word refers specifically to the white sandalwood tree, only later broadening to denote sandalwood in general. In the Buddhist system, on the basis of the four dhyanas (cessation, increase, control, and contemplation), it is further classified as white, yellow, red, and black (dark colors). The different sandalwood colors correspond to the four dhyanas and their scents.
Although whole pieces of sandalwood may be positioned at a building’s corners and center, chips or powder ground from it can also be stored in containers, and a paste formed by blending the powder with water may be applied to the body—with the scent said to reshape the body’s essence, drawing internal and external essence together in one place. Still, the form in which sandalwood is most attractively presented remains that of sculptures.
Regarding the point mentioned earlier, the initial Buddhist statue created within a Buddhist setting was carved from sandalwood—specifically, the renowned Sandalwood Buddha (ཙན་དན་ཇོ་བོ་; whose present location is unknown following its entry into Chinese territory, with some accounts placing it in North Asia). The wood chosen for this statue came from the highest grade of white sandalwood, known as Goshirsha sandalwood (བ་ལང་མགོ་/གོར་ཤི་ཤ་).
According to tradition, the Malaya Mountains (མ་ལ་ཡ་་/Malaya/मलय) are filled with Goshirsha sandalwood trees, and this range is regarded as mythical—there, the wind carries the scent of sandalwood out over the vast ocean. The term Goshirsha comes from the Sanskrit word गोशीर्ष, meaning "cow's head," and has been applied for two reasons: the mountain peaks where the trees grow resemble cow heads, and the branches and leaves of the trees also look like cow heads.
The Sandalwood Buddha, also referred to as the Sandalwood World Honored One, is a statue attributed to the master artisan Niu Tou Sandalwood. Its creation is linked to the narrative of the Twelve Deeds of Buddha, particularly the episode of returning to the human realm from the Thirty-Three Heavens. The work was collected by the Bellis family during the mid-18th century. A copper-gilt reproduction dating to the late 19th century, standing 24.8 cm tall and produced in Tibet, is housed in the Rubin Museum. In the present day, however, the majority of Sandalwood Buddha replicas originate from East or North Asia.
In stories about sandalwood, it is often compared metaphorically to the heart, with its scent symbolizing the awakening of the mind. This is because, as is well known, the fragrance of sandalwood is the result of time's accumulation: aged trees produce a protective aromatic resin that causes the surrounding outer wood to become the inner sandalwood core.
In traditional Tibetan beliefs, sandalwood and its scent represent a chain of symbolic associations: a purer heart leads to a more enlightened mind, a closer teacher-disciple bond brings a more thriving lineage, more generous offerings enable the steady buildup of merit, and sharper debating ability results in more favorable speech. This connection draws on the principle that a deeper hue means a stronger aroma. Which sandalwood tree most perfectly embodies this parallel?
There is no question that this is the snake heart sandalwood (ཙན་དན་སྦྲུལ་སྙིང་). Its dark red hue has led some to equate it with purple sandalwood, though that point is open to debate. The scriptures praise it as the "invaluable treasure tree of the three thousand worlds" (སྟོང་གསུམ་རིན་གྱིས་གཞལ་མེད་ཤིང་). Tradition holds that the image of the goddess of auspiciousness, one of the "Three Inconceivable Sacred Images" supplied by Princess Chizun of Nepal, was made from this wood (ཙན་དན་གྱི་སྒྲོལ་མ་).
It should be noted that the term derives from the Sanskrit word उरगसारचन्दन as well, and "snake heart" is typically understood through three distinct interpretations: dragon races dwelling within the hollow interior of sandalwood trees, the inner core of sandalwood serving as the home of these races, and sandalwood’s cooling, purifying nature that counteracts the toxicity of dragon races. In describing the fragrance of snake heart sandalwood, it is commonly characterized as multilayered, combining animalic notes with a subtle, graveyard-like undertone.
Snake heart sandalwood is regarded as a premium medicinal herb in the Tibetan medical system, with beneficial properties found in its roots, stems, inner wood, flowers, and resin. Even if a definitive classification eludes us, the lore around it remains. During the first half of the 20th century, Menzikang in Lhasa was a trove of Tibetan medicine, as mentioned in "Blue Lapis Lazuli Tibetan Thangkas: Earth-Wood Essence and Plain River Medicinal Materials.
Partial: Possibly as early as the Tubo period, sandalwood had already come to represent the presentation of the world’s laws, encompassing religious exchanges and trade relations. A private collection holds the mid-to-late 18th-century work “Sixteen Arhats Carved in Purple Sandalwood: Venerable Hantaka,” made of white sandalwood（ཙན་དན་དཀར་པོ་）. Related to the biography of Lotus-born is the saying: “Apply sandalwood oil on the body, and then be burned by the fire, you will no longer fear death.”
In classical Tibet, sandalwood and sandalwood trees carried distinct associations with sacred smell, unlike the agarwood mentioned earlier; together with native cedar incense, they form the basis of Tibetan incense culture. Classical accounts of the Tubo royal tombs describe sandalwood doors, pillars, and decorations throughout, and the flames of burning sandalwood are likewise said to purify the soul.
According to the proverb, the sandalwood tree emits its fragrance naturally, with no need for adornment, and the cedar tree likewise gives off its scent without requiring purification. The piece titled "Red sandalwood painted and carved scripture board of various deities" (Buddha-Five Buddhas-Three Protectors), dated to the mid-14th century, is housed in the Rubin Museum. If one experiences the fragrance of sandalwood, the fruit of wisdom will be achieved. The content here is adapted from Sorang Wangqing's blog.
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