Abstract Buriat Tibetan influenced Buddhist artistic achievements consist of an extraordinary array of remarkable sculptures in stone, wood and terracotta, cast bronzes with inlaid stones, gilding and pigment and the beautifully detailed religious and ritualistic paintings- mandalas and images of gods and goddesses, bodhisattvas, spiritual masters, lamas and other proeminent spiritual figures, cosmograms along with representations of various eschatological myths. The organization of the aesthetic adventure into the Tibetan artistic influence in Buryatia is envisioned, at the risk of being simplistic, following the exhibition narrative: the material has been divided in two broad historical and cultural zones with emphasis on the distinct aesthetic cohesiveness, whereas Tibetan influence should be of particular interest. Our knowledge of historicity of Buryat Buddhism is primarily based on very few comprehensive books and articles that provide data for the monastic chronology and for the special artistic motifs which distinguish within the tradition.*The growing recognition of the i po ta e of Ti eta pat o age i Bu atia is sho i Bu a dalai Doo a a s ho og aph bearing the title Buriyad yajar-un burqan-u sasin ker delgeregsen kiged sasin bariyici kedun blam-anar-un cadig tobci tedui ogulegsen selte orosiba*1, which is a valuable source of basic knowledge on Buryat Buddhism including detailed explanations on the context Tibetan monastic art has taken shape in Buryatia. Noteworthy is the aspect of tentative ideas dealing with the chorography of the artistic movements, in the lack of any official empirical case studies in situ or veritable inventory of Buddhism in Buryatia. Since the history of Buryat Buddhism has been given insufficient attention specifically and paradoxically equally by the representatives of the Western and Buryat Buddhological schools*2,the disparate resources will however attempt an unprejudiced*3 reconstruction of the diachronic evolve of Buddhist art within the Buryat mosaic of cultures. In emphasizing the distinctive features and styles of the works created most likely to fulfil the spiritual e ui e e ts of the Buddhist eligio ith a u e i g se se of eaut , the e ill e p ese ted a assemblage of few emblematic masterpieces, namel f o Ukhto sk s olle tio at “tate Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg, Zanabazar Fine Arts Museum, Choijin Lama Temple Museum and Bogd Khaan Palace Museum in Ulaanbaatar. The purpose of their visual exploration accompanied by their dedicatory inscriptions is to enhance and bring more insight into the contextual and spiritual significance of Tibetan art within the great monastic establishments of Buryat culture. While the subject matter of the Buddhist Buryat artwork is primarily represented by the classical personalities of the Buddhist pantheon, there will be extracted and added commentaries on the significant Buryat devotional artistic concentration on Tibetan Buddhist paraphernalia. 1 Preliminary but necessary remarks From the Arctic Circle to the North, to the grasslands of Tuva and Buriatia in the South, Eastern Siberia is an extensive swathe of the planet, with peaks of impenetrable Taiga “ea which gives way to the vast expanses of steppe. But on the outskirts of the taiga, where the mountains covered with cedar ridges interspersed with the fragrant steppe, has developed an original culture of the Buryat people, inhabiting the southern Baikal region and Transbaikalia. Within this land whose unique topography and vegetation create extraordinary palettes of colours of subtle nuances and extreme contrast, local cultures still retain faintly visible artefacts of their ancient religious sentiment, such as the mysterious circular gold plated kurgany (burial mounds), standing stones, petroglyphs, and kameny baba (standing stone idols). Since time immemorial such picturesque space inevitably influenced the aesthetic and spiritual sensitivities of the Buriats. 4 Contemporary interactions still uphold the sacredness of the space and demonstrate the persistence of the liminal qualities of the prehistoric petroglyphic art which resulted from the spiritual visionary voyages of the ancient kam(shamans.) Just as the Tibetans limit the Chinese-aziyskuyu culture from the south, so does the Buryat from the north, China having been an ancient and vital cultural catalyst between these two margins which fertilized their creative pursuits and enriched thei spi itual uests. Ti et s p o i it with India and Iran, with the Grand Caravan Route passing through Kothan and Kashgar, throughout the East Turkestan oases- stimulated the Tibetan intellectual and artistic activity, whose fruits have ripened into Mongolia and Buryatia. Prior to the development of Russia in Eastern Siberia, this sacred geography allowed Tibetan Buddhist art to become the main cultural artery that filled the imagination of the steppe nomads. Tibetan Buddhism has travelled and developed in Buryatia upon a p i iple hi h )huko ska a te s as eut alit to a ds a hai thologi al st u tu es , to a ds the shamans and their cult apparatus. This Buddhist principle of neutrality in respect to the archaic ele e ts of lo al eligio has e a led to o e e o d its atio al adle a d ulti atel ise to the level of a supranational religion, with its own individual propagandist- issio a appa atus. a As a matter of parallel interest, it is certainly a historical fact that Buryatia did not undergo through converting violent reprisals as the Mongolian shamans did at their first encounter with the Buddhist missionaries. Since Tibetan Buddhist religious symbolism and art has already infused the Mongolian culture, its further spread in Buryatia was rather perceived as a natural process of amalgamation or absorption of the stadial shamanistic pri iples, hi h late o stituted the li i g a ti uit (Rus.zhivaia starina)substratum for Lamaism everywhere in Central Asia. The g eatest o t i utio to the shift i Bu atia s a tist afte the 16th century *6, from the highly figurative style of autochthonous aesthetics to the Buddhist ritualistic mentality and iconographical imperatives is held by the Tibetan Tantric system which exported not only its system of faith, of meditational and yogic praxis, but also an aesthetic language which could express most vividly their spiritual visions and aspirations. It is noteworthy to add this preliminary remark, that within Tibetan Buddhist milieu, the artworks served solely religious purposes and they rigorously conform to the iconographical precepts often contained in the sadhana meditational and invocational formulae. Thus, the deity takes a concrete embodiment in the form of images, which is further gazed and employed in preliminary and advanced visualization stages, until the very essence of Tantric praxis, the unio mystica between the worshipper and the deity is accomplished. An artistic depicting Vajrayana would follow the basic stylistic descriptions found in the compositions of the mystics and 2 theologians, as well as p e ise aestheti p opo tio s of so alled ha di aft st le , with ornamental and plastic inclusions of detailed gestures –mudras-, clothing, accessories. To work upon the form within the canonic limits, asserts B. Badmazhapov, is an indication that belongs to a special union marked with the knowledge of the sacred rules and that the attitude towards the form along with its didactics and splendour can only determine the skill of the religious artist and his purity of style understood as a standard of harmony.*88 Buddhist Buryat and Tibetan tantric art is dominated by a type of highly ritualistic mentality, where the faith exhibits a prerequisite condition of transformation of the sacred form into emotional expression. The stylistic interpretation and analysis of the Tibetan pictorial scrolls in Buryatia is intimately connected with the Tibetan Buddhist iconology which traditionally are a stylistic blending with the Indian aesthetic expressiveness typified in the plasticity of the slight toned beautiful trees and restrained clouds, with the Nepali style characterized by the abundance of mountains, birds, trees richly decorated with garlands and strings of jewellery and the Chinese, characterized by the purity of painting , impulsive contours , flowers , trees and ponds as well as birds in colourful plumage.77The Tibetan thangka styles imported by the Buryat artists exhibit a plastic decorative quality within the limits of several schools including the early classic Kadam conservatory , characterized by simplicity, extensiveness and richness of the decorum. Ulterior, the Menri school stemmed , his originator being the reputed painter Menal Tondrup, who, with his skillful contrivance, fertilized the artistic milieu with an almost baroque abundance in detail and with unusual pitoresque curved lines and twinkling space. The third major influence on Buryat religious fine art was the Karma Gardri School intimately affiliated to its spiritual patron the 7th Karmapa Mikyoa Dorje, characterized by the distinctive Chinese aesthetic imprint reflected in purity, accuracy and richness, as well as in the great pictural elevation in employing pastel colours. 78 However, despite such well established aesthetic conventions, which are imperative in providing the necessary consistency to the form, the Buddhist artefacts of Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva were allo ed a e tai a ou t of o phologi al a d st listi e pe ie tials o o igi alit i the ode sense. 7George Nikolavevich Roerich* 8stresses that the Tibetan transfer of influence on the different artistic techniques applied in Buryat religious-aesthetic milieu are only partially recognizable to the connoisseur, due to its seldom mingling with the individuality of style born of ethnologic distinctions. Tibetan thangkas, bronzes and ritual objects introduced Buryat artists to the intricate and fascinating world of Buddhist iconography with its multifarious aesthetic styles, thus providing a strong impetuous for the development of local artistic schools. The number and variety of Buddhist images to be worship seems infinite at a first glance, but close study reveals that a variety of subjects entered into a strict system and the treatment of themes is subject to no less than a very strict canon. The plastic embodiment of the iconic symbols in the thangka depends of numerous aspects including worship rituals, iconometry and on the mastering and reproducing experience of the canonic standards of materiality, sensibility and preciousness. However, in the modus of style as well as in the reproduction of the standard metric patterns, there remains a considerable space for personal creativity, as in the icons, the central religious figures can enter the secondary theme, the interpretation of which depends upon personal taste of the artist. Very often the Buryat Buddhist iconographic patterns present this very peculiarity of style derived from the early Lamaist-sha a ist s etis i the la o i pi tu es as a sig of efi e e t of a haizi g spo ta eit o i the le di g as o i g to a sta da d fi ed set of sig s, i ages, s ols of religious ultu e ealizi g all ualities i he e t to it. bThe symbiosis of Tibetan Buddhism and sha a is that de eloped i Bu atia is a fa t of its ultu al-ecological space; it is natural and is therefore perceived by most Buryats as self-evident, without evoking emotional-psychological discomfort. Although local artists were subject to the same iconographical and iconometrical cannons as Tibetan master-artists, they have not conceived cliché reproductions of identical types but delineated themselves by o i gli g st les ooted i folk a t e ide ed i the ha i g 3 naivety of the early thangkas, and their subdued turquoise- lue palette .5 These early indigenous artistic devices remained conserved even during the formative period of Buddhist art in Buryatia, and were integrated with refinement into the emissary Mongolian and Tibetan patterns. Once we decide to focus on the historical subjects of Buryat Buddhist iconography and architectural elements, leaving aside the dogma and mysticism, we should define the era of tradition reflected in the chronological evolve. If we ponder this theme further, we observe the evanescent waves of creative life having been marked by the unevenness of development, caught in the political rhythm of rise and decline. Often the histories of culture begin with an often impersonal, imperceptible incubation phase, described and dated with a more or less ambiguous degree of accuracy. As the tradition and culture develops, as Gumilev 55asserts, the aesthetic cumulative potency is transformed into kinetic energy and hence becomes a meaningful historical reference. Despite the discrepancies within the academic discipline which follows the historical narration within Buryat religious and cultural milieu, especially within the monastic establishment of Buddhism and its process of religious revival, we should also allow the stories of the monasteries and artefacts deliver their stance. Therefore, with these observations in mind, we have the opportunity to take this very moment as the starting point of the study. Since the region along Lake Baikal (Buriat Pri aikal e) and the eastern region (Buriat )a aikal e) was assimilated to Russia [Buriat Rossiia] in 1658-59, consequent to the Nerchinsk treaty which defined the borders between the Sino-Russian Empires, e a speak of a lea ha o ious le d of eligio a d politi s (Tib.chos srid zu g rel), 7aa dictum which prevailed and stigmatized the Tibetan history likewise. The Russian Empire not only has implemented the Orthodox Christianity and the religion of Old-Believers [Buriat Semeiskie] *7bin the Altaic region, as a substitute or antidote against the folk beliefs and customs, namely the shamanistic tradition but also has implemented governmental constrains which limited the legitimacy of Buddhist practice, unless the lamas swore allegiance to it. Furthermore, The ‘ussia s anxiety towards international interventionism justifies and explains why she publicly displayed such virulent campaigns of domination on the Buddhist dissemination in Transbalkania. According to the ‘ussia Go e e t s o de , Bu at Buddhists had to e satisfied with those lamas who stayed on the Russian side after the Partition with China, so that the property of Russian subjects will be given to our lamas rather than to foreign lamas [...]I f the number of lamas who stayed in Russia is not enough, then Buryats will have to choose two well beloved and gifted boys from every clan, to study the Mongolian language and other appropriate subjects with lama Lupsan. This must be done so that in the future our loyal subjects will not need foreign lamas. Those who succeed in mastering Mongolian, which is useful for Russians subjects as well as for foreigners, should be encouraged, by the grace of his Imperial Majesty , by being promoted to higher ranks. 9 In the quest of creating a monopole on the development of Buddhism in territories under Russian canopy, the gove e t u de took i ute details a out ea h la a s ide tity and places of worship in Buryatia, which were further presented to the Empress Elisabeth I, who subsequently issued a special official decree to authorise the position of 150 lamas in the Altaic enclave. With conformity to extant historical accounts we acknowledge that Buddhism in Transbalkania by the second half of the 17th century was not yet methodized and conventionally tailored, but rather responded to autochthonous nomadic migrations which determined the lamas to perform their rituals in felt temples (Buriat dugans) situated in portable yurts of local princes as well as in large communal tents. However, literary resources stipulate that Buddhism was already known to the Buryats as early as thirteen, sixth, and even second century BC, from the time of emergence of the Hunnu state 4 in Central Asia. 10Since Buryats at early times did not perceive themselves as an independent ethnocultural entity separate from the Mongols or the proto-Mongolian tribes, the authors of these lite a o positio s illi gl o u illi gl , o s iousl o u o s iousl , a e e te di g to thei history everything that applies to thei g eat elati es a d eigh ou s. 11 Buddhist Mongolian sources within Buryat culture attest as genuine the historical and literary Refattempts to render the antiquity of Buddhist panorama among a Buryat territory still engulfed by the empire. By the end 1720, the two first stationary Buddhist monasteries (datsan) Tsongol (Buriat Tsongolski) and Sartulski, ware built in the eastern part of the sacred Lake Baikal, and in the proximate period Empress Elisaveta Petrovna legitimized through an official tole a e decree (Rus.ukaz)56 the Buddhist religious, educational and artistic presidium in Buryatia.12 The political aim of this offi ious a t alo g ith the tsa s legiti izatio of Ba dido Khaa o12a Lama on the priors of Gusinoozrsk Datsan as official leader of Buriat Buddhism was to disempower and inhibit the authority of Mongols and Manchurs in the region. 13 We may appropriately see these two tsarist strategic policies as significant events which gua a teed de fa to the auto ephalit Rus. A tokefal ost ) of the Buryat ecclesiastical institution, vis-a-vis the authority of the Tibetan Dalai Lamas and the Mongolian Jebdzundambas. However, Buryatia sublimated their desire for real sovereignty by focusing on the construction of an ethnic emblem entity and on their cultural augumentation.The strength of this official convention is that it drew upon an aesthetic revival consolidated in the Buryat national school of Buddhist architecture, painting and sculpture, among which the most refined are the complex of temples of the Gusinoe Ozero (Tamcha) datsan, the thangkas of the renown lama-iconographer Osor Budaev or the wooden sculptures of the Orongoi masters from the Yangazhan datsan. 13a This, during the reign of the Seventh Dalai Lama Kelzang Gyatso, was to be the last Buddhist major dynamics from one country to another until modern times. From then on, a tradition was established for promising young Buryat monks to travel to Drepung Monastery in Lhasa to receive instruction on aesthetic theories and their application and interpretation, on iconometry, iconography and technical finesse. The typological stylistic atmosphere of the 18th century Buryat Buddhist paintings unfolds in the mellifluous convergency of the Nepali-Tibetan, Sino-Nepali, Sino-Tibetan, Tibetan-Mongolian and Sino-Mongolian styles. Throughout the Northern Buddhist belle époque, the cult of Tsonkhapa, the Tibetan revitaliser of the 14th century Tibetan Buddhism found fertile ground and was the source of the passionate Buryat artistry adoption. The new Tibetan chromatic diversity as well as its new balance of style enhances the richness of the composition of two painted 18 th century Buryat scrolls depicting Tsonkhapa.99 These two strikingly different scroll compositions impersonate the accomplished master having a transparent cold-pane complexion including dense tones of dark blue, dark blue-liliac, gray, gray-blue, coral-red and green details seated on a triple lion throne, corresponding to the Buddhist archetypal motifs- the Sun, the Moon and the Lotus flower, engaged in padmasana pose, exhibiting a Vajra mudra gesture but peculiarly in the absence of the traditional accustomed mandorla. Noticeable is the Buryat remarkably inventive and idiosyncratic use of the formal pictural and symbolic language to express their spiritual visions upon the ideal portraiture of the mater veneration cult. The aforementioned acknowledged emblematic works bear no or rather imponderable resemblance with both the Chinese scroll style, explicitly typified in the accommodation of different shades of glittering gold, coral-pink, turquoise and pearl or with the Tibetan Menri style, characterized by a vast array of figures, greater refinement, strained and saturated ranges of brown, red and dark-blue tones complemented by glittering gold impregnations. 100. The representations here are ichnographically unique and their beauty is outlined by their refined lineation lacking the professional finish, the simple forms which turn into a graceful linersymbols and decorative planes composition. Carnation whiteness along with the subtle shades of pink become visible through the alternation of the lighter and darker tones and through the semitransparent nephrite chromatic. 5 By the end of the 18th century, Buddhist deity dwellings , (datsan) richly decorated with Russian and Tibetan aesthetic patterns were established in Transbalkania, as well as Tibetan patterned institutions of higher education , such as the School of Duinkhor Kalachakra established at Aginsk Datsan. So great was the concentration on Tibetan aesthetics in Transbalkania that the Russian diplomat and true connoisseur of Buddhist art, Prince Esper Esperovich Ukhtomsky (1861-1821) managed during 1890s and 1917s, to salvage and acquire a considerable part of his famous collection of Tibetan art in Buryatia, nowadays housed and staged at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.13b The German scholar Albert Grunwedel in his innovating Mythologie du Buddhism en Tibet et Mongolie sur la collection lamaique du Prince Ukhtomsky des i ed Ukhto sk s collectio as ei g so pe fe t a d o plete that it a al ost se e as the asis fo the histo of La aist a t . 13c Intricately elaborated thangkas, gilt bronze and copper sculptural aesthetics (burhans), incrustations of lapis lazuli, turquoise and corals, depictions of various Buddhist deities (dokshits, dakinis), stamped clay images (tsa-tsa),and a vast palette of ritual artefacts crafted in multifarious Buddhist art styles – prayer-wheels (hurde), cone-shaped suburgas, conches, bells, vajras, gabals, purbas , amulet-holders (gau,)pertaining to Tibetan art were introduced to the Buryat artists, thus providing a strong impetuous for the development of local artistic schools. Osor Budaev (1886-1937) was a distinguished artist representative of the school of Buryat zuragchins – monastic figures and icon painters, whose compositions cultivated traditional motifs such as Sansarin-hurde(Wheel of Life), Tsagan Ubugun or the Manjushri, the patron of arts, reflected a superior standard of harmony both in the colouring skills and in the beautiful transformation of the sacred-schematic form into a refined emotional expression. (Badmazhapov). Tsaga U ugu s Bur.cayan ebiigen) typically rather heterogeneous iconography is presented in a syncretic manner as a symbol of the magical and ritualistic importance of the deity particularly for the Buryat Buddhist tradition. The exact emergence of this ancient shamanistic chthonic god (Bur. sabdakov) of fertility and longevity in the Buddhist pantheon is difficult to determine, considering that there are very few dated examples to compare them against .83 However, a stylistic comparison of the thangkas crafted within the temporal boundaries of 18th and 19th centuries certainly indicate an earlier accommodation of the deity within the Buddhist ceremonial practices and that not earlier than this particular time did the pictural representation of Tsangan Ubugun, a el the hite elde s , find its place inside the temples or in the canonical iconography. On the propagation of the cult in Buryatia, N. L. Zhukovskaya documented the prevalence of the cult among certain archaic groups and determined that the function of this ancestral character was later acculturated in Buryat milieu in agreement to the pa adig ati keepe s of the faith Bur.srunma) models, such as Chinese Show-syn, the Tibetan Pehar and to the Ti eta s ste ious Tsam57 ceremonial dance s di i ities. 58 Despite the fact that the White Elder cult was included only in the third level of the official Buddhist pantheon, it often assumes a preeminent aesthetic role though the majestic sculptures and the various innovative compositional thangkas and texts preserved in Ivolginsk, Kizhinginskom, Aga and Tsugolskom datsans. 81 Some idea of sophistication of both style and technique can be gleaned from the archival aesthetic materials in the Museum of the History of Buryatia containing twelve multi-temporal matrixes of i o og aphi i ages of the hite elde s : lat as shell, Tsaga U ugu s od is lothed in Chinese dress giving him a motionless look with the finger gestures similar to those of peaceful deities; visually, he is marked with a green halo and a crown-like head-d ess plus a d ago s head staff and shoes of a stylized decoration and the periphery of the scrolls are separated from the centre by the decorated compositions similar in form to the back of a throne reminiscent of a temple entrance (Skt. torana)121 The transposing of Tsagan Ubugun in Buryat Buddhist visual expression in the scrolls of 19th century materialized in the graphism combined with a gradually thickening of the colours alongside the edges, as if powdered with lazurite dust, which refract through the pale and 6 watery paint consistency. This is a proclivity among the Buryat artists for suave masses with linear, elegant light-malachite shaded silhouettes and native red and black suave sartorial details, illuminated by light white outlines. The Buddhist symbolism emblematized here, such as the rosary, i additio to the usual set of att i utes, su h as a d ago heads staff a d a oo, i di ate the a tist s pronunciation of the sacred canonical plastic directives. The Tibetan symbolic dominative specificity emerged in the late 19th and beginning of 20th century, depicted emblems of longevity are introduced by Jina Amitayus (Tib. rgyal-ba Tshe-dpag-med) peripheral portrayal in the upper corner of the thangkas, a fact that substantiate the rarefication of the autochthonic elements in the virtue of the assiduous blossoming of embodied Tibetan Tantric art in Buryat artistic tradition. 92 The incipiency of Buyiat Buddhist art fracture began under the Russian propagandist directive, a el the o st u tio of the fi st so ialist state i the o ld o ife ated du i g the O to e Revolution of 1917. The significant secular and religious literature, the artistic fulfilment of architecture, painting and sculpture within the framework of Buddhism and beyond that, the k o ledgea le lai al o eligious individuals (Rus.narody) suffered severe consequences which ulti atel o du ed to a ass a ihilatio : F o to , ot a si gle Buddhist o aste existed on the territory of the region of the east of Lake Baikal (including the Aga [Bur.Aginsk]Buriat Autonomous Okrug of Chita Oblast) and the region to the west of Lake Baikal [Bur.Pred aikal e i ludi g the Ust -Orda Buriat Autonomous Okrug of Irkutsk Oblast). 13d However, in the proximity of year 1946 the Soviet Union, on the fictitious clisheistic pretexts of freedom of consciousness and of religious practice, has allowed rebuilding or reopening of two ritual settlements, Aginski and Ivolginski, nonetheless suffocated by Russian Committee on Affairs of Religions and Cults st i t watchful eye. As a esult of de ades of egle t a d dest u tio a bronzes, thangkas and religious books were destroyed and those which survived were either hidden private households or locked away in small provincial museums, where they were hardly ever exhi ited. 13eIn retrospect, specifically this dramatic period of coercition, censor and devastation of the religious and aesthetic destinies of the Buriats, has called for, following the disintegration of the Soviet machine of repression, a return to remembrance, restoration and revival. De facto, the first gli pses of e i al, additio all e titled i o e i al , as athe a esto ati e e dea ou of the almost extant Buryat religious life.13f Atsagat Datsan was once a revered scriptorium and centre of Buriat Buddhist scholarship, whose extant fine manuscripts are displayed in Ulan-Udes s lite a museum. Like Tamchinski, the datsan was completely eradicated in 1930s, yet taking rebirth under the patronage of Ayvan Darzhiev (Tib. Ngawang Dorji, 1853-1938), the Atsagat Buddhist lama who became the devoted confidant and one of the seven mentors to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.14 The multi-architectural religious complex , Ivolginski (Ivolga) Datsan was founded as epicentre of Siberian Buddhism, hosting not only Tibetan aesthetic atmosphere but also a Korean-style wooden Etigel Khambin Temple honouring the 12th Khambo Lama of all ‘ussia , Pandito Khambo Lama Itigelov, whose undecayed body is exhibited as a remnant of extraordinary spiritual attainment. 15 However, revival did not meant merely a matter of rehabilitation of datsans or restoration of the ecclesiast tradition, but rather a transformative process of maturation towards the philosophical and ritualistic frame of Buddhism, whose spiritual eminence acted as an adjuvant and parasol for the Buryat community. Buddhist art in Buryatia, which had fallen into oblivion until the perestroika, emerged again from obscurity and begun to attract attention to both scholars and Tibetan spiritual school leaders. While Buddhism in Buryatia was entirely monopolized by the Gelugpa School and Kalacakra Tantrism, it would be presumptuous to assert that no other schools of Tibetan Buddhism have been extant in Buryatia. There are indeed very few historical accounts and Buddhological literature dedicated to the presence of Nyingma and Dzogchen communities, albeit insular, representing offspring of several intercessions for the establishishment a Tantric School in Buryat territory (1920s, 1960s-early 1970s). 16 7 As part of resurgence of national sentiment hi h a ked the second e i al period since the 1988 onwards, the painful echoes of repression and of forced mass isolation into the Soviet gulags operated as an in memoriam nourishment among the Buryat Buddhist representatives: Oppression was exceptionally severe and monks and high lamas such as reincarnated khubilgans were forced to go into exile, to secular life, and a number of them were executed and sent to Stalinist concentration camps, were only few survived [...] Before the break of World War II, the sacred buildings underwent a process of violent liquidation. 18c Through the prism of Stalinist socio-political dictatorship, the castigated lamanate has submitted itself to a mentality maturation process, expanding or rather metamorphosing its thinking, philosophy and art, rising beyond its narrow historically evolved ideological space. The traditionalist revival of Buryat Buddhism began at the end of 1980 when under the influence of perestroika and in the context of the gradual thawing of the formerly repressive regime, ritual and artistic life recommenced its restoration. Despite the massive destruction of monasteries and temples throughout the Stalin époque, the principal repositories of the cou t s a tisti he itage, a considerable number of metal and wooden sculptures, devotional paintings of appliquéd fabrics and illuminated books on paper may still be seen in situ. Apart from the resurrection of surviving material in the Buryat Buddhist shrines, the primary concern of enhancing the spiritual lives of eminent monks ultimately contributed to a strong experience of artistic and educational intercharge with the cognate Buddhist nations. Indeed, this is a period, when, not only that Ivolginskyi and Aginskyi Monasteries effectively recommenced their activity, but were allowed a cultural, religious and artistic interchange with the Mongolian educational entities such as the Gandantegchinling Spiritual Academy in Ulaanbataar and with the paramount Buddhist higher education institutions in Dharamsala. Following the Tibetan erudition systematization, the Buddhists temples were reconverted into universities where Tibetan, Mongolian languages and Sanskrit, the Five Great “ ie es (religious philosophy, grammar, Tibetan and Mongolian medicine, technology of arts and aft a d Fi e “ all “ ie es (poetry, stylistics, metrics, dances and music, astrology) were intensely studied It may be recalled that throughout the 19th century religious restoration, several of the o ld s a ie t sa ed o je ts deli e ed f o Ti et a d I dia e e kept i Bu atia, among them being the a colossal metal statue of Buddha Maidari, the wooden Sandal Buddha statue Zandan Zhuu located in the Egita Monastery- Yeravin Aimak and proclaimed by the Buryat Buddhist Sangha as one of the three National Buddhist Treasures Sacraments, the canonical Ganzhur of 113 volumes and Danzhur of 300 volumes, containing encyclopaedic manuscripts of medieval Buddhist teachings in philosophy, medicine, logics, linguistics, astrology and other fields of knowledge. Buryatia acted as a repository for the preservation of Tibetan medical knowledge through the aesthetic iconic illustrations epitomised in the unique medical Chzhud Schi and Vaidurya-onbo, and in the only full copy of Atlas of Tibetan Medicine of the two preserved in the world, presently at rest in the Museum of History in Buryatia. (Official site of the national Agency for tourism) A special attention should be given to the Buryat iconography of the Sandalwood Buddha (Bur. Zadan Zhou) dated from the late 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, since the exquisitely carved and polished statues, along with vivid paintings offer a priceless experience which have no verbal analogies. Aesthetically, the beautifully proportioned sculptures emerge from the sa ed at osphe e of Buddha “ak a u i s life. Although according to the hagiographic tradition, these sculptures were crafted by the divine Visvakaraman out of sandalwood, gold and seven precious stones, no visual prototype has yet been found in Buryatia or Tibet, which makes the aesthetic experience from both the form and the composition, intriguing and complex. While the quintessential Tibetan styled sculptural representation is addressed to Buddha Candanaprabha, often denominated as Sandalwood Shining or King Udayana Buddha, the painted iconography presents two compositional patters with diversity in both the decorum and the secondary figures: 8 Buddha Sakyamuni surrounded by his disciples Sariputra and Maudgalyayana in the Chinese style temple interior on a high carved altar framed with columns and railing including a canopy and a full set of altar precious ones and offerings, and secondly, Buddha with his retinue in a natural atmosphere, a landscape with blooming trees, golden veined rocks, clouds resembling coral brush and flowing dense dark-blue waters. In canonical Tibetan Buddhist iconography the structure of form – which is a construct of the hand decorum, corresponds to the placing of the centrum and the peripheral elements into the iconic space. Solely an arcane esoteric ritual enables the mutual reversibility of the two space elementals and allows the artist to journey between the many levels and enforce several types of sacred meanings. From this perspective, the style-format motifs in Buryat iconographic and decorative tradition cultivating the Sandalwood Buddha are comprehensible as regards to coordination and asymmetry of the parts and the whole, as well as the g aphis a d the pu e olou less a d o -satu ated h o ati s. Bad azpha o The li ea l chromatic composition of the Buryat Zadan Zhou thangkas, could be distinguished from the garment particularities of the central figure and the abundance of gold as a graphic simulation of the water surface, the visual effect of which is one of opulent grandeur and ostentation. Apart from the seducti e gold, the Bu iat a tists adopted the i ed li es a a ged i h th i al t a sitio s between thick purple rigs and vibrating, iridescent colours which illuminate the crown, halo, strings, jewellery. This particular qualitative style in the Buryat iconographic development unambiguously ascertain that the commitment to canonic rigour and the high degree of mastery did not suffice for accomplishing a perfected sacred art. A fine representative example reflecting the Buryat exalted style, Bodgdo Zonkhobae, or the Precious Teacher Sumatikirti, Vajra Keeper indicate that the inspiration came largely from the Gelug establishments with unconventional incorporation of reconstructed autochthonic traditional values. Since Gelugpa acquired the official status of the state religion and was legitimized by the Dalai La as s p esidiu 16a, it was mainly from this source that Buryat Buddhist iconographic milieu was primarily fertilized. However rigid the religious demands of the aesthetic imperatives, we perceive in Buryat artistic expressions an irrepressible eccentric, spontaneous and idiosyncratic style in their use to express their spiritual visions and aspirations. The most noticeable of these styles is the strict symmetrical display of all elements of composition and a consistency in the way Buryat artists e de ed the la ds ape: Whatever the subject of the thangka, triangular pockets of dark blue water are almost always scattered in the foreground of the painting. 17Among other features inspired by the art of the famous Gelug East Tibetan Labrang monastery, are the low mossy hills of the taiga, occasionally covered with pine trees, the distinctive linear or cumulous clouds floating above them, and the rich and varied textile designs which cloth the deities.18 The mount of the Gelugpa Lamaistic female Dharmapala, Sridevi Lhamo (Tib. dPal ldan lhamo) along with the White Tara (Bur. Sagaan Dara Ehe), whose presence are central in the Buryat lyrical compositions and rich coloured thangkas of 19th century, reflect distinctly Tibetan tastes and aesthetic mannerisms: the refined delicate balance, the colouring with pale-pink predominating instead of the ubiquitous reds of earlier styles. 18j Ornamented with abundant leaf, bright contrasting colours and strict proportions, these Tibetan Gelug inspired artefacts were and continue to be regarded as the most prized achievements of Buryat aesthetics. It was in 1979, zzthe annus mirabilis for Buryat Buddhist sangha that the 14th Tibetan spiritual lider, Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (Ti . Bsta dzi rgya tsho) sojourned in the Buryat land and consecrated the territory, advising on a women lamanate datsan initiative which would later concretize in the erection of Zungon Darzhaling, the Tibetan translation being The Noble Prosperous Convent.The harmonized architectonics of the Zungon Darzhaling is based on a synthesis of the Tibetan sacred magnificence, characterized by proportionality and plasticity, contrasting with the Chinese pagodic style, characterized by levelling roofs, light colours, and whimsical plans. ............ 9 Although Buddhism has not been deprived of its moral purpose during the repressionist regime, it has been infused with substantial ideological agreements, as a consequence of the Soviet cynical divide et impera invasive policy towards the satellite ethnoses as a means of ensuring its political quintessence. In this course of time, the ministerial appointments and the progressist lotus esse es (Rus. obnovlentsi) became more and more mingled and a utopian-political magical character emanated from the Buryat Buddhist milieu. The idea of a great Buddhist TibetoMongolian-Russian confederation, accentuated at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, was broadly based upon the most preeminent utopian expectations, the Shambhala myth. Mythogenesis for the Buryat society, as Lubos Belka asserts, especially of an eschatological and chiliastic nature, reinforces and amplifies in the times of constrainment, he othe ise disparate, heterogeneous myths and ituals a e joi ed a d o ilised z: The la as i Bu atia, Kal kia a d Tu a su essfull sp ead the pa ti ula e sio of the Shambhala myth in the 1930s where they accented the idea of the final battle (Bur. Shambalyn sereg) against the annihilators and persecutors of religion. In Aginskoe Monastery a suburgan (Skt. stupa) was erected, devoted to the soon coming of the final battle. The monks hid one hundread thousand needles into the foundation of the stupa. People believed that the needles will be transformed into the weapons of the Rudra Chakrin at the time of the final battle. Kalmyk and Tuvian lamas have also consecrated ritual offering places (Bur. Obo ) where they proclaimed clearly anti-Soviet prophecies. zz Three major personifications were elevated to the soteriological status by both Tibetan and Buryats, who became the resolute iconographic leitmotif of the late 19th century: the future Buddha Maitreya (Tib. byams pa, Mong. Bur. Maidar, literally The Loving One), the uttermost Shmbhala ruler, the 25th kulika Rudra Chakrin (Ti . khor lo a , Mo g. Bur. ‘igde Dagpo, Eregdy Dag o Khaa , literally The Wrathful One with a Wheel) and the reputed mythological character Gesar from Ling.18a Although the eschatological myth of Shambhala was rarely expressed visually, the very few extant Buryat artefacts such as stupas, thangkas and in the tsagli [Tib. Tsak li] xylographed paintings.18bdisplay an impressive unconventional aesthetic of the three intermingling mythological-eschatological characters. However, in the Northern Buddhism and particularily in Buryat artistic expression, solely the two fundamental typologies of the Maitreya (Bur. Maidar) and Rudra Chakrin eschatology are concentrated on specific types of sacral architecture and colossal sculptural and pictural representations. The adulation of these two deified apocalyptic deities can be discerned in older east Tibetan and Mongolian thangkas, which are the very source of the necessary consistency to the form the Buryat artistic milieu later achieved. Specifically the Aginskoe Monastery, which experienced its biggest architectural and social advancement at the turn of the 19th and the 20th century, is a primary example of conservated manuscript illuminations and highly figurative ritual objects which validate the powerful intermingling of the Wheel of Time (Skt. Kalachakra, Bur. Dui khor su e, Ti . Dus khor gr a tsa g) and of the Shambhala tradition. I would go further and state that not in the phenomenon of political radicalization but within its spiritual and esoteric aesthetic communication and experience, that the Buryat artists understood the recovery of the Shambhala myth in the first third of the 20th century. ...................... 10 T a slated as Ho the Tea hi g of Buddha sp ead i the Bu at land, together with a brief account of so e of the la as ho upheld the tea hi g ; the ‘o a ized te t i itte Mo golia as pu lished by Professor Rincen in 1959, Origin and Spread of Buddhism in Buryatia-A text of Buyandalai Dooramba, Zsuzsa Majer and Krisztina Teleki, Eotvos Lorand University, Department of Inner Asian Studies, Published in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum, Hung. Volume 61 (4), p. 447-497, 2008 The most significant papers of the Buryat Buddhological school are: K.M. Gerasimova, Lamaism atsio al o-kolo ial aia politika tsa iz a )a aikal e XIX i a hale XX eko Ula -Ude, 1957); idem Obnovlencheskoe dvizhenie buriatskogo lamaistskogo dukhovenstva (1917-1930) (Ulan –Ude, 1964); Lamaizm v Buriatii XVIII- nachala XX vv. Struktu a I sotsial aia ol kul to oi siste No osi i sk, ; L.L. A ae a, Kul t go i uddiz Bu iatii e oliutsiia e o a ii i kul to sele gi skikh u iat, Mos o , ; Buddiz i t aditsio e e o a iia a odo Tse t al oi Azii (Novosibirsk, ; Buddiz i s ed e eko aia kul tu a a odo Tse t al oi Azii No osi i sk, , Buddhis I kul tu o-psikhologicheskie traditsii narodov Vostoka (Novosibirsk, 1990); Buddizm i literaturno-khudozhest e oe t o hest o a odo Tse t al oi Azii (Novosibirsk, 1985), Psikhologicheskie aspekty buddizma (Novosibirska, 1991), Filosofskie voprosy buddizma (Novosibirsk, 1984), -N.L. Zhukovskaia, The Revival of Buddhism in Buryatia, English translation from the Russian text by M.E. Sharpe, Antropology and Archeology of Eurasia, vol. 39, no.4, Spring 2000-01, p. 24 One can remark that often the examination of Buddhism in Buryatia is susceptible to nationalistically ti ged pa o s of eupho ia. , Ibid 2 Siberia: the new frontier,George St. George, Van Rees Press, New York, 1969, Ch. 17, p. 272 4a. Galdanova, G. Gerasimova, Lamaism in Buriatia, Nauka Publishing, Novosibirsk, 1983, Ch. 3,p. 12 Ts.-B. Badmazhapov, Buddhist Paintings in Buryatia, Buddhist Himalaya: A Journal of Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods, vol. VII, no. I, II, 1996, p. 7 Although earliest encounters with Tibetan Buddhism are likely to have occurred before 17th century: For already four centuries-a d ot ea s , as the epu li s so iet ele ated i -the Buryats have professed Buddhism; one set of views, found in literature, holds that Buddhism was known to the Buryats as early as thirteenth,sixth, and even second century B.C.-that is, from the time of the Hunnu state in Central Asia , N.L. )huko skaia, The ‘e i al of Buddhism in Buryatia, English translation from the Russian text by M.E. Sharpe, Antropology and Archeology of Eurasia, vol. 39, no.4, Spring 2000-01, p. 23 Deborah Ashencaen and Gennady Leonov, Art of Buryatia, Buddhist Icons from Southern Siberia, Spink and Son Ltd., London, 1996, p.5 7a. Namkhai Norbu, The necklace of Gzi, A Cultural History of Tibet, Ch. V Religion and Politics, A note on Tibetan Theocracy,Narthang Publications, Dharamsala, 1989, p.28 7b The former represented the official religion of the Russian Empire, while the Old Believers derived from the schism within Orthodoxy during the course of the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 1650s .... Ibid.7, p.3 Citation, Ibid. 6 The pan-Mongolism espoused by the Buryats is fundamented on their belief of Mongolian descendancy, citation Ibid 2; The Mongols had accepted Buddhism from their Uygyur neighbours in 1252 and this date is also considered the beginning of Buryat Buddhism as Buryatia was part of Mongolia until the Treaty of Kyakhta in 1727, which isolated the Buryat Buddhists from their maternal 11 base in Mongolia. , victor M. Fic, Professor Emeritus, Brock University , Book review: Tibetsky buddhismus v Burjatsku, by Lubos Belka Journal of Global Buddhism, no. 4, 2003, p. 5 ....... Stephen Batchelor, Article. The Trials of Dandaron, Buddhist Perseverance in Russia, Tricycle, 1992, p. 1 13a. Ibid 2, p.25 th 13b. A.I.Andreyev, Some reflections on Buddhist art collecting and collectors in Russia in the 18 th century-early 20 century, Buddhism and Nordland, 2010, p.1 13c. Ibid 13b, citing Albert Grunwedel, Mythologie du Buddhism en Tibet et Mongolie sur la collection lamaique du Prince Ukhtomsky, Leipzig, 1900 13d. Ibid 13b 13e. Ibid 7 ...... The 12th Khambo Lama is believed to be the reincarnation of the Lama Damba Dorja Zayayev the first Khambo Lama, born in 1702, Naj Wikoff, Pa dito Kha o La a Itigelo s Most P e ious Bod , No th Country Public Radio, St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, 2005 Ibid 2, 16a. Through the courtesy of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama who encouraged the proliferation of Tibetan Buddhist Medicine to Siberia, the edition of the most famous medical thangkas illustrating a commentary on The Gyushi known as The Blue Beryl or the Blue Lapis Lazuli were offered as instructional tool to the Buryat practitioners. After having been removed from the Buddhist Collection of the Museum of Atheism in Ulan-Ude during the Soviet period of repression, the thangka collection has been rediscovered in 1958, however remained undisclosed to the public.- Peter Fenton, Tibetan healing: the modern legacy of Medicine Buddha, The Theosophical Publishing House, 1999, p.10-11 Ibid. 7 Ibid 7 Ibid 2 Ibid 5 12a. The First Khambo Lama Damba-Darzha Zaiaev (1711-1776), a Buryat from the Tsongol clan, is considered to be the founding father of Buryat Buddhism. Having received his monastic education at the Drepung monastery in Lhasa, he started active propagation of Buddhism among the Selenga Buryats, having built the first monastery in Buryatia, called Baldan Braibun (Buryat p o u iatio of Lhasa s D epu g , also k o as the Tsongol monastery. In 1764 Empress Catherine the Great granted him the title of the first Pandito Khambo Lama of the Transbaikal, after which this date became known as the beginning of the formation of the official Buddhist church in the Russian empire. In 1768, on the request of the Empress, who was fascinated with his stories about Tibet, Zaiaev composed one of the first Buryat written works des i i g his jou e to the La d of the “ o s. This u i ue do u e t p o ided a ea l gli pse i to Bu at pilg i age routes through the Gobi desert to Tibet (Russian translations are available in Sazykin 1986; Vanchikova 2006), Anya Bernstein, Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Anthropology, Religious Bodies Politic: Rituals of Sovereignty in Buryat Buddhism, New York University, May 2010, p. 170-171 a. Lu os Belka, The M th of “ha hala: Visio s, Visualisatio , a d the M th s ‘esu e tio i the T entieth Century in Buryatia, Brno, research paper supported by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange grant, Archiv orientalni, Quarterly Journal of Asian and African Studies, Praha, Czech Republic, 2003, p. 249 18b. Tsakli pictures are used also as miniature thangka, but their principal purpose is rather different from the tha gkas; the a e used as ulti a ds see Ge d-Wolfgang Essen – Tsering Tashi Thingo, Die Gotter des Himalaya. Buddhistische Kunst Tibets. Systematischer Bestandskatalog,Prestel-Verlag, Munchen 1989, p.263), o the a e used as o se atio a ds (see Amy Heller , A set of thirteen century tsakali, Orientations, November 1997, pp. 28-52) z. Ibid 18a , p. 260 zz. V. Ovchinnikov, Shambalyn-sereg-lamaistskaya svyaschennaya voina (Shambalyn sereg – a holy war of Lamaists), Nauka i religiya 15/12, 1973, p.47, translation LB 55. Gumilev 56.Tza i a Eliza eta Pet o a de eed the Tole a e Pate t as ea l as ; the e iste e of this decree has often been referred to in Russian literature, but real evidence has not been found in the archives. Lubos Belka, 12 The Revival of Tibetan Buddhism in Inner Asia: A Comparative Perspective, Asian and African Studies, 11, 2002, p. 18 18c. Ibid 56, p.24-25 13f. The first restauration, also called microrevival took place from 1946 until the end of late 1980, W.Kolarz, Religion in the Soviet Union, Macmillan Press, 1961, 457-458 88. Ts.-B. Badmazhapov, Buddhist Paintings in Buryatia, Buddhist Himalaya: A Journal of Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods, vol. VII, no. I, II, 1996, p. 2 77. L.Sh. Dagyab, Tibetan Religious Art, Wiesbaden, 1977 78. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Visual Dharma. The Buddhist aer of Tibet, Shambhala, Berkley and London, 1995 99. Ibid 8, p. 4 100. Ibid 99 83. Walther Heissig , New Material on East Mongolian Shamanism, Asian Folklore Studies, Bonn Vol. 49, 1990, p.225 The stability of mythological figures, with their old traits, os much more significant because Mergen gegen Lubsangdambjalsan, (1717-1766), the famous author of a Buddhist liturgy in the Mongolian language, attempted already in his time to substitute the exclusively Lamaist divinities Mahakala, Tara, Sridevi, Esrua qormusta tngri, and Ginggis Khan for the ancient shamanist pentad of the five Jayayaci tngri (fate gods) [...] so e sha a s all her the Chi ese other goddess Wa g u iya g iya g White Mother ara e ege or Holy Mother (borda emerge), imploring her together with the old god of feritily and longevity, the Cayan ebugen (Sarkozi 1983, 357-369; Hessing 1987a 589-616), for the help against illness and death for many children. 58. N. L. Zhukovskaya, Cagan Ubugunov, M,N.M., 1988 81. Nemanova Eleanor Allekovna, The Semantics of the image of the White Elders in the traditional culture of the Mongolian peoples,Library catalof of Russian and Ukrainian Theses , Ulan-Ude, 2004, p. 2 57. The ancient religious mask dancing Tsam is one of the significant religious rituals reflecting Buddhist teaching through correct apostolic images and essence. Tsam mask dancing is included in the art form called Doigar depicting independent imagination as one of the 10 kinds of wisdom according to ancient Indian philosophy. 121. Ibid. 88, p. 4 92. Ibid 88, p. 5 18j. Ibid 88, p. 4 zz. It was in June 1979 That HH the Dalai Lama visited Buryatia for the first time (and he was the First Dalai Lama to come to the country). This occurred at a time when the Chinese authorities accepted his proposal to send a fact-finding mission to Tibet , being an attempt to find a peaceful solution to the Tibetan question. The visit was not an official one, as the Dalai Lama was actually transiting the Soviet territory on the way to Mongolia , however the Soviet authorities allowed him to make two brief stopovers - in Moscow and Ulan-Ude . In his memoirs "Freedom in Exile" the Fourteenth Dalai Lama recalled that upon arrival in Moscow "I felt as if I was back in the familiar world. I recognized at once the same repressive atmosphere that I had come to know so well in China From Moscow he journeyed to Ulan-Ude , the capital of the Buryat Republic, where he spent a day in the Ivolga monastery ( Ivolginsky datsan : "Although I was unable to communicate directly with anyone, I found I could understand their prayers as these were said in Tibetan … The o ks also ote i Tibetan . On top of this, I discovered that we could converse very well with our eyes. As I entered the monastery, I noticed that many of the monks and lay people in the congregation were in tears. This was just the sort of spontaneous expression that Tibetans a e p o e to a d I felt i ediate ki ship , see Alexander I. Andreyev , The Buddhist revival in Russia (late 1980s - 1990s) and Tibet, Buddhism and Nordland 2007, p.5 161. Laird, Thomas, The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, Grove Press, N.Y, 2006, p. 139 13 Vaishravana also known as Vaishravana and the Eight Horsemen -Painting on cotton, Buryatia, 18th century This composition demonstrates a clearly indigenous Buryat style, considering the unusual subdued turquoise and blue palette and the use of naive aesthetic vocabulary. The spacious composition and the stylistic execution of elements such as the upturned lotus petals of Vaishravana s throne can be ascribed to Mongolia and East Tibet. The cult of Vaishravana, (Tib. Rnam-thos sras) the leader of the Yaksha race and worldly Guardian of the North, was extremely illustrious in Buryatia, since it is to the north of Mongolia and Tibet that the Buriat steppes and mountains are located. The deity Vaishravana Riding a Lion has a retinue of eight armour clad horseman. Seven of the eight horseman (Skt. Ashvapatis), protectors of the eight directions, face forward but one always has the head turned away. At the upper part of the thangka resides the blue-faced ferocious Vighnantaka in his two arm form, standing in the Pratyalidha attitude, carrying the Tarjanipasa in his left hand and Vajra in his right hand. 14 th th Lhamo – Painting on cotton 18 -19 century The thangka reproced here depicts Magzor Gyalmo, Palden Lhamo (Skt. Shri Devi), the goddess of music and eloquence according to Vajrayana tradition. Wrathful in appearance with one face and two hands, she rides atop a yellow mule inside a bone and skeleton palace surrounded by a host of fierce retinue figures: twoanimal faced dakinis, the four Queens of the Seasons, the makara-faced dakini Makaravaktra on the frontispiece and the lion-faced red dakini Simhavaktra with a kartrika and a snare in her hands in the upper extremity. The goddess is intimately consociated with Gelug Tibetan order, since as female guardian spirit of the sacred lake, Lhamo La-tso, avowed the First Dalai Lama Gendun Drup in one of his visionary experiences that she would protect the reincarnation lineage of the Dalai Lamas. 161 15 th th Buddha Shakyamuni- Painting on cotton, late 18 -early 19 century 16 This particular thangka presents an interesting amalgamation of Sino-Tibetan and Buryat styles. The fine and compound polychrome painting is complete with a precious setting characterized by the liberal use of gold for th the o a e tatio of Buddha s lothes, e e pla of the century Sino-Tibetan paintings. Separately, the linear shapes of the cumulus clouds, the mossy hills and the triangular regulation of water and the use of ground mica added to blue pigment in order to create a lustrous visual effect, are distinctive elements of originality essentially rendered in most Buriat paintings. 17