White in Himalayan Art: The Color That Holds All Wisdom
Created in the 18th century, the "Tanci Lotus Seat" at the Rubens Museum features a white figure positioned at the center of five colors. This placement symbolizes the Great Sun Buddha among the "Five Buddhas" and further reflects the lotus flower's disc as an emblem of purity and cleanliness. The study of color and its theoretical frameworks frequently point to a distinct vital essence and manner of living associated with a given social group or cultural community. By engaging with the coded symbolism of "color," individuals can assume various social identities that exist between everyday practices and institutionalized systems.
When people undergo direct and intimate visual encounters, they must weigh not only the qualities, functions, and significance of "color," but above all, they perceive their own hues amid the vibrant world. The immense delight born of this sensory stimulation becomes an endlessly repeated game of deciphering meaning. སྐྱ་རིས་ཧ་ཅང་མཛེས་ཀྱང་རུང། ཚོན་མདངས་ཉམས་འགྱུར་མེད་གྱུར་ན། མཛེས་མས་གོས་ཧྲུལ་གྱོན་པ་བཞིན། མཛེས་པའི་ཉམས་འགྱུར་བསྒྲིབས་པ་ཡིན། Though beauty may wane with time, genuine refinement rests in one's own figure.
The original text explores the relationship between form and color within the Tibetan painting tradition. A Tibetan painting proverb compares natural beauty to a lovely face concealed beneath ragged clothing, noting how difficult it is to reveal. ཀ་རག་སེམས་པ་དཀར་བའི་ཐུགས་གསོལ་འདི་ མཆེད་གྲོགས་སྐྱོང་བའི་སེམས་པའི་མཚོན་བྱེད་ཡིན། White clay's color exposes the heart, much as close companions' sincerity is made visible.
In the introductory essay on Tibetan color theory, my aim was to establish a framework of color memory specific to the Himalayan and Tibetan cultural sphere. White clay, whose hue is widely called milk white (འོ་དཀར་), is regarded as the origin of all pigments; every composite color is produced from this foundational source. The book *Milariba* (1672-？), written by Demagexi Danzeng Pengcu དེའུ་དམར་དགེ་བཤེས་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ and dated to the 14th century at the Rubin Museum, features a white felt monastic robe (གྲུབ་པའི་དཀར་གོས་), a garment tied to traditional indigenous religious attire worn by secular practitioners. In Tibetan Buddhism, tantric yoga practices have been reinterpreted in a way that lets practitioners embody dual identities. As for the elephant trunk (ཚོགས་བདག་), Ganesha—originally a central deity in South Asian religions—has evolved within this context into a Tantric figure called Elephant-Nosed Sky. His translucent white body is described in Tibetan as "ivory white" (གླང་དཀར་).
The traditional classification of the "Five Primary Colors" (white-yellow-red-blue-green/black) will serve as the basis for introducing color usage and symbolism in traditional Himalayan and Tibetan culture across the forthcoming series of articles. Notably, Tibetan color theory as found in traditional literature is understood to derive from four distinct sources: local culture, Han Chinese painters (རྒྱ་ནག་བྲིས་པ་), South Asian deities (འཕགས་ཡུལ་ལྷ་ཚོགས་), and "Dasa" elders (commonly identified with Central Asia).
In the first piece today, the color white takes center stage. As noted previously, white (དཀར་) serves as the origin of all hues, an all-encompassing pure vessel, a dividing line between the mortal world and the divine, and a color with ancestral significance dating back to the Tubo era (embodied by snowy peaks and white yaks). Within conventional artistic frameworks, white is associated with the Tibetan numeral one (༡), and it may likewise be conveyed through KA (ཀ་), the initial letter of the Tibetan alphabet.
White has always been a central color in every folk custom throughout the Tibetan region. In traditional culture, it is considered the elemental hue that constitutes the world, symbolizing the power of benevolent gods, and is thought to possess the ability to seal away all ill omens. From a private collection, the 19th-century work "The Four Elements" features white disks that represent the water element, the origin of life.
In Tibetan culture, the white khata is the sole authentic type of khata. White sheep, white ornaments, and white clothing are indispensable for New Year celebrations. A state of harmonious daily order is signified by the appearance of white, while a world filled with white objects suggests the presence of divine beings. After Emperor Qianlong's mother, the Holy Empress Dowager, passed away, mourning ceremonies were held in the Tibetan regions as well.
Biographical writings from that era note that the chief ministers and officials of the Qing court, following the customs of the inner land, all wore white garments and unadorned official hats as a sign of respect. Likewise, Tibetan nobles and officials who held titles granted by the Qing court were obliged to dress in the same manner. As a result, for several days, these Tibetan officials adhered to Qing conventions by wearing yellow bowl hats and white woolen clothes.
In "The White Heaven" (19th century, private collection), Baifan Tian fuses the local ancestral mountain god, shown in white, with the spirit of South Asia into a dual image. The local Akamatsu Tokuzan appears wearing a white headscarf, with white cloth draped over the shoulders, and holding an auspicious white scarf (the prototype of the Hada). A chief, possessing ancestral divine power, is able to issue commands and decrees. Because white—the auspicious color of the Tibetan region—was similar to the mourning attire of the Han region, Tibetan officials found themselves confused.
The colors white and red are frequently linked, much like a husband with his concubines, where bright sunlight stands in contrast to the pale moonlight. In a 13th-century piece titled "Dainichi Nyorai Altar City," held in a private collection, the sacred nature of white from indigenous beliefs was upheld after Buddhist teachings arrived, and it gained an additional emblem of wisdom. Within the framework of the four activities, white is associated with "resting activities.
At the Ruben Museum, a 19th-century piece titled "The Guardian King Zhao Yun" also bears the name "Guardian King Yun, Protector of the Law," associated with Guan Yu of the Han Dynasty, shown together with his consort. This figure merges traits of both Guan Yu and Erlang Shen, appearing with a white face in a benevolent guise and a red face in a fierce one. Separately, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts holds the 15th-century "Second Patriarch of the Sakya School." The white clothing as a symbol speaks for itself, so let us examine two classic relationships between the white outfit and this image.
Two colors—"white" and "orange"—come together the way "blind people" might, vivid yet ungoverned, awaiting "relatives" to help them see the "grey lines." A reunion of "White ash" and its "relatives" unfolds: they embrace, weep, and trade stories of home. This piece is taken from a translation of Sorang Wangqing's blog.