Gold and Bronze Statues of buddha in the potala palace

L imalhakang, a small hall in the Red Palace, does not attract the visitors who pass through the many rooms of the Potala Palace. It is narrow and houses no high statues of Buddha. What s more, it is not elegantly decorated.

Picture 1: Gold alloy statue of Songtsan Gambo: 38 cm high.

However, this is the place that contains the most important statues of Buddha in the Potala Palace.

Buddhism spread from India and Central Plains to Tibet in the 7th century. Over the past 1,300 years, Tibetan Buddhism has flourished. During this period, artisans have created cast and hand-made gold and bronze statues of Buddha.

Tibetans use Lima to describe various kinds of bronze objects, especially bronze statues of Buddha from India. This is why many large monasteries in Tibet are complete with a Limalhakang, housing the precious bronze statues of Buddha.

According to the Record of the Potala Palace, Tibetans cherish bronze and alloy statues of Buddha more dearly than any other kinds of statues of Buddha, and the Limalhakang of the Red Palace contains one bronze alloy statue of Sakyamuni (founder of Buddhism), one bronze statue of Sakyamuni from East India, one bronze statue of Buddha of Infinite Light, and 800 bronze and bronze alloy statues of Buddha from Eastern and Central India, Kashmir and Nepal.

Picture 2: Gilded copper statue of the Goddess of Mercy(10th-century work from Nepal):32cm high.

According to the Biography of the 5th Dalai Lama, he wrote in laudatory terms the Records on the Bronze Statue Hall in the Potala Palace, expressing his special interest in it.

As a matter of fact, Baima Gebo (1527-1592) wrote works on various kinds of Lima and statues of Buddha from India, Nepal, Tibet, the Central Plains and Mongolia. According to him, in regard to color, bronze statues of Buddha come in striped, white, yellow, red, purple and Sangtang Limas; in terms of origin, they are Indian, Mongolian, Nepalese, Han and Tibetan.

The Limalhakang in the Red Palace has a special collection of Limas.

I had the honor to visit the Limalhakang on two separate occasions. I was astonished to see so many bronze statues of Buddha there, reportedly numbering more than 3,000. Some of them are less than 1 meter in size. They originate in the Central Plains as well as India and Nepal. Most of them, of course, were created in Tibet.

Bronze statues of Buddha are widely collected in and outside Tibet, with the Palace Museum holding the largest collection.

Zhang Chaoying has photographed some of the bronze statues kept in the Limalhakang in the Red Palace. Shown here are some of his photos.

Picture 3: Statue of Green Tara(14th-century work from Tibet):32.5cm high.

Picture 1 shows the sitting statue of Songtsan Gambo, 38 cm high. He is a handsome young man, wearing upturned robes with dragon patterns. In his hat there is a seated statue of Amitabha topped with hair symbolizing the Goddess of Mercy. It is representative of Songtsan Gambo, who is known as the Twin-Headed King and the incarnation of the Goddess of Mercy.

Tucked away on the "roof of the world, Tibet boasts a geographical environment unique to itself. However, it is not an isolated plateau, being the place where Chinese, Indian and Central Asian Culture meet and influence each other.

Tibetan artists are good at absorbing the cream of the Chinese, Indian, Nepalese and Central Asian Buddhist arts. This is why the Limalhakang collects many statues of Buddha from India and Nepal.

Picture 2 shows the red copper statue of the Goddess of Mercy: 32 cm high, made in 10-century Nepal. The Goddess of Mercy sits on her left leg, with her right leg bent. She wears a crown topped with the statue of Amitabha, who bares his chest and is cloaked with a long piece of silk. She wears a long skirt with carved lines and patterns.

Picture 4: Alloy Statue of Buddhas warrior attendant (15th-century work):26cm high.

During the Tubo Kingdom, King Songtsan Gambo married Nepalese Prince Bhributti, who went to Tibet with large numbers of artisans. The Jokhang Monastery was built for the spread of Buddhism. This made it possible for the Tibetan Buddhist art to merge with Nepalese Buddhist art. During the Yuan Dynasty in the Central Plains, Nepalese artisan Nganigo went to Dadu in present-day Beijing together with Pagba. He was responsible for making sculptures in the imperial court.

Picture 3 shows the 32.5-cm statue of Green Tara made in the 14th century in Tibet. Wearing a single leaf crown adorned with jewelry, the Tara has large dangling earrings. The upper part of her body is bared, and she wears a necklace. The plump deity has a lotus stem in her left hand and a seal in her right hand. She sits on the left leg, with her right leg stretching out on a tiny lotus in a graceful style. Both the White and Green Tara are incarnations of the Goddess of Mercy, and are much revered in Tibetan Buddhism. There are many statues of White and Green Tara. Tibetans believe both Princess Wencheng and Princess Bhributti are incarnations of the two Tara, who are seen in the Potala Palace, the Jokhang Monastery and many other monasteries in Tibet.

Picture 5: Alloy Statue of the Great Mother of All Deities(work of the Ming Dynasty):29 cm high.

Picture 4 shows the 26-cm statue of Buddha s warrior attendant. It is the incarnation of the angry Buddha, wielding a sharp sword in his right hand and holding a diamond club in his left hand. It is an outstanding work of 15th century Tibet.

Buddhist art flourished in Tibet at this time, and large numbers of frescoes and statues were created. Representative of these are the frescoes and statues of Buddha in the Palkor Monastery in Gyangze.

Picture 5 shows the 29-cm statue of the Great Mother of All Deities with three heads and eight arms. She sits in a lotus terrace on the back of a huge, strangely shaped hog. As the Great Mother has a human body, but a hog s head, in Indian Buddhism, the three heads of the Great Mother feature hog shapes. Its eight arms hold a Diamond Club, bow, careless tree branch, diamond rope, line and other Buddhist objects. The statue was shown in the Palace Museum in 1992, and bears the mark showing it was made during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).