Portrait of Barez ▎ In Memory of Jackson

Dr. Jackson, through his pioneering research, 
made lasting contributions to the field of Tibetan art. 
(……) 
He was an outstanding Tibetologist 
and served as the Director of the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art.

— Selected from "Obituary by the Rubin Museum"

Cover of the English edition of "A History of Tibetan Painting"; published in 1996.

Cover of the Chinese edition of "A History of Tibetan Painting"; published in 2001.

Preface

In August this year, sad news arrived, leaving many Tibetan studies scholars and enthusiasts of Tibetan culture immersed in grief. David Jackson (1951–2025), a leading figure in the field of Tibetan studies and a renowned expert in Tibetan art and philosophy, passed away. Reflecting on Professor Jackson’s life, it can be described as legendary, and his works have long become essential classics for Tibetan studies scholars and enthusiasts worldwide. To commemorate this outstanding scholar dedicated to researching and preserving Tibetan culture, the author has chosen to translate an academic essay by Professor Amy Heller, a close friend of Jackson’s, on Tibetan portraiture. The subject of this thangka is a highly revered monk who held a lofty position in the history of 14th-century Tibetan philosophy. The sect he founded is known as the "Ba-ra Kagyü" (འབའ་ར་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་; a branch of the Drukpa Kagyü school), which is highly esteemed in Western Tibet and the Himalayan regions. Images referenced in the original text will be uniformly marked with an asterisk (*). Readers interested in learning more about Professor David Jackson may read his biography on the WeChat public account "Buddha Says Not Not."

"Sakya Pandita"  
16th century, Private Collection  
Jackson's research career began with the Sakya school  
and Sakya Pandita was a central figure in his studies.

Text

This thangka depicts Barewa Gyaltsen Palzang (འབའ་ར་བ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ་བཟང་; 1310-1391) and his spiritual lineage. Barewa, dressed in monastic robes, wears the distinctive ritual hat (*Fig. 1) characteristic of high lamas of the Drukpa Kagyü school. The wish-fulfilling jewel at the center of the hat signifies his exalted status. The "wish-fulfilling jewel" (ནོར་བུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་) is often regarded as a symbol of a chakravartin (universal monarch). As a ruler of the world, a chakravartin possesses insight into all things and dominion over the four directions. Thus, this jewel, representing wealth, prosperity, and health, is also seen as an emblem of ultimate accomplishment in a broader sense. In the eyes of Barewa’s students and later devotees, the painted image conveys the multifaceted identity of the sage: a charismatic teacher of Dharma, a mystic, and an accomplished master who continuously composed songs of realization during meditation. The master’s right hand forms the earth-touching gesture (bhūmisparśa mudrā), symbolizing his enlightenment; his left hand holds a Tibetan scripture, lightly resting on his left knee. The text is wrapped in brocade and fastened with a distinctive golden clasp, while Barewa’s posture radiates the majestic bearing of a buddha.

*Figure 1: *Barewa and His Teaching Lineage*  
99 x 81 cm, Western Tibet  
15th century, Carlo Cristi Collection

Detail of the above image: Barewa's face

As a prolific writer (his collected works fill fourteen volumes), religious texts are his identifier. In addition, Barewa left behind an autobiography and a collection of spiritual songs for his disciples. By the end of the fourteenth century, these classics were still circulated only in handwritten manuscripts. Inspired by his teacher's works, Namkha Gyatso (ནམ་མཁའ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་) composed a praise poem for the handwritten copies of the autobiography and song collection, which served as a concluding tribute to the entire text. In 1540, when the autobiography and song collection were first printed [Translator’s note: there exists an earlier version printed in 1500], this important praise poem was included in the main text, and all subsequent editions followed this practice. The 1540 edition was printed at an important practice site in the Kingdom of Gungthang (མང་ཡུལ་གུང་ཐང་; located southwest of Sakya on the route to Nepal). Namkha Gyatso occupies a prominent position in this thangka, reflecting his importance to the Barewa lineage.

First page of *The Autobiography and Collected Spiritual Songs of Barewa*  
Gungthang edition, 1540

Illustration from *The Autobiography and Collected Spiritual Songs of Barewa*  
Detail: Master Barewa

It is noteworthy that nearly all the minor figures in the thangka are labeled with their names, except for the trio of Drukpa Kagyu masters and disciples at the center. This seems to indicate that, at the time this thangka was created, the images of these three eminent monks were so widely recognized that they could be directly identified without labels. The lineage figures in the top row, including the founders of the Drukpa Kagyu tradition, great Indian siddhas, and renowned yogis, are all correspondingly labeled. From left to right, they are:  

1. Lingrepa Pema Dorje (གླིང་རས་པ་པདྨ་རྡོ་རྗེ་; 1128–1188); wearing white meditation robes and a meditation belt.  
2. Gampopa (སྒམ་པོ་པ་; 1079–1153); the closest disciple of Milarepa.  
3. Marpa (མར་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་; 1012–1097); the teacher of Milarepa.  
4. Tilopa (ཏཻ་ལོ་པ་; 988–1069); the foundational master of Kagyu teachings and teacher of Naropa.  
5. Primordial Buddha - Vajradhara (རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་).  
6. Naropa (ནཱ་རོ་པ་; 1012/1016–1100); the teacher of Marpa.  
7. Milarepa (མི་ལ་རས་པ་; 1040–1123); Tibet’s most celebrated yogi, wearing white meditation robes and a red meditation belt.  
8. Phagmo Drupa (ཕག་མོ་གྲུ་པ་; 1110–1170); disciple of Gampopa, founder of the Phagdru Kagyu, and teacher of Lingrepa.  
9. Tsangpa Gyare (གཙང་པ་རྒྱ་རས་; 1161–1211); disciple of Lingrepa, the First Drukchen (འབྲུག་ཆེན་), and founder of the Drukpa Kagyu.  

In the second row, the figures on either side, below Lingrepa and Tsangpa Gyare, are also labeled. Below Lingrepa is the master Götsangpa (རྒོད་ཚང་པ་; 1189–1258), a disciple of Tsangpa Gyare. Below Tsangpa Gyare is Dele Gyaltsen (བདེ་ལེགས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་; 1225–1281), a disciple of Götsangpa and a renowned scholar celebrated throughout Ü-Tsang.

Detail of Figure 1: Lingrepa - Gampopa - Marpa

Detail of Figure 1: Milarepa - Phagmo Drupa - Tsangpa Gyare

Detail of Figure 1: Götsangpa

Detail of Figure 1: Nerinpa Dele Gyaltsen  
(ནེ་རིང་པ་བདེ་ལེགས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་)

Below Götsangpa and Dele Gyaltsen, along the left and right borders, numerous eminent monks are depicted. Among them, only the names of some remain legible, representing a specific teaching lineage (*Figure 2). Near Götsangpa, there is a mahāsiddha wearing a red loincloth and a red meditation belt. He is depicted with a towering stature and a topknot, with his name inscribed below him. To his left is the meditational deity Chakrasamvara in union with his consort. Near Dele Gyaltsen, there is an eminent monk with his hands forming the Dharma Wheel mudra—this is Namkha Gyatso, mentioned earlier. It is worth noting that his figure is slightly larger than the other secondary figures (*Figure 3; likely due to his composition of the praise poem for Barewa). To the right of Namkha Gyatso is Vajrayoginī, also depicted as a meditational deity. While Namkha Gyatso’s exact dates of birth and death are unknown, his presence in the thangka suggests that the central eminent monk is Barewa. Namkha Gyatso’s writings were extremely important for the later "Barewa devotion," and as a disciple of Barewa, he is generally believed to have been active between approximately 1375 and 1440.

*Figure 2: Location illustration within the thangka

*Figure 3: Namkha Gyatso

The bottom sections on both sides of the thangka depict the Four Heavenly Kings, while the lowest register on the left portrays a ritual scene. However, the text below the ritual is no longer legible. The scene includes several figures dressed in aristocratic attire, who are likely patrons supporting the eminent monk and his teachings. The primary patron is a noblewoman of striking appearance, her hair adorned with a red headband decorated with precious stones (possibly turquoise). Additionally, there is a lay practitioner dressed in white. The aforementioned hairstyle and attire are commonly seen in paintings and manuscripts from Western Tibet. At the center of the ritual sits a Drukpa Kagyu eminent monk. He is performing a ceremony before Yellow Jambhala (the Yellow Wealth Deity), while an attendant holds a canopy above his head as a mark of reverence. Between the eminent monk and Jambhala is Amitayus, seated serenely and holding a vase of longevity. Above the patrons are White Tara and Ushnisha Sitatapatra.

Detail of Figure 1: Ritual Scene

Detail of Figure 1: Five Protectors

Furthermore, the thangka exhibits the artist's extreme pursuit of decorative aesthetics. The multicolored robes of Barewa Gyaltsen Palzang are adorned with gold-line floral patterns, while the inner robe's sash is decorated with golden jewel motifs. This attention to detail is equally reflected in the throne: the makara-tail scrollwork extends to the "face of glory" (kīrtimukha) at the top of the throne, and the "face of glory" is connected to the nāgas through the latter's tails. The slender eyes of the figures and the overall color scheme of the thangka are consistent with the painting traditions of Western Tibet. Two existing works stylistically similar to the thangka described here were collected by Giuseppe Tucci (1894–1984) around 1935: one depicting a Kagyu eminent monk from southwestern Tibet is housed in the "Tucci Collection" in Rome (*Figure 4), while another featuring Vajradhara belongs to a private collection.

*Figure 4: *A Kagyu Eminent Monk and His Teaching Lineage*  
Late 15th to mid-16th century, Tucci Collection  
Possibly depicting a Drikung Kagyu eminent monk