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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThe painting features two prominent monks dressed in monastic robes, seated side-by-side on elaborate lotus thrones. They are surrounded by registers of smaller deities and lineage figures, with the central pair gesturing with their hands in symbolic poses. The composition employs a vibrant color palette, characteristic of early Tibetan thangka painting, to emphasize the spiritual authority and lineage of these figures.
This artwork serves as a primary visual document of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, representing the transmission of wisdom between master and disciple. It illustrates the importance of lineage in Vajrayana Buddhism, where the legitimacy of spiritual practice is tethered to a direct line of historical teachers.
Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol)
The figures and deities depicted reflect the iconographic pantheon essential to the meditative practices and death-rites outlined in the broader Kagyu and Nyingma traditions.
Object
Opaque watercolor on cloth
religious
Digital Source
Unknown · Public domain
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 14, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.