A THANGKA OF THE PRAYER MASTER NYAMME SHÉRAB GYALTSEN (TIB. MYAM MED SHES RAB RGYAL MTSHAN; 1356-1415)

Description:

Tibet, 18th/19th c.
69 x 44,5 cm
Nyamme Shérab Gyaltsen was a significant figure in the Bön tradition, a spiritual and religious movement indigenous to Tibet. He is often regarded as one of the key masters and scholars of Bön, particularly during the 14th century.1 The central Buddha-like figure situated in the upper register is Tönpa Shenrab (Tib. ston pa gshen rab). He is considered the primordial deity of the Bön tradition. He embodies the essence of enlightenment and is viewed as the founder of this tradition. The reverse side of the painting is adorned with various consecration formulae and mantras from this tradition. It also contains a dedication verse written in Tibetan cursive script. Tibetan ཨེ་མ་ཧོ། བདེ་ཆེན་Źལ་པོ་Řན་བཟང་Źལ་བར་འƤས༔ མི་Əེས་གǭང་འཛīན་ཤེས་རབས་Ǡ་བའི་སིང་། འཛམ་ŵིང་བོན་űིས་གǢག་Źན་གཉིས་མ་འ།ཤེས་རབས་Źལ་མཚན་ཞབས་ལ་Űས་ǀགས་འཚལ། Transliteration [1] E ma ho/ bde chen rgyal po kun bzang rgyal bar ’dus: [2] mi rjes(1) gzung ’dzin shes rab(2) smra ba’i sing/ [3] ’dzam gling bon gyis(3) gtsug rgyan gnyis(4)ma ’a(5)/ shes rabs(6) rgyal [4] mtshan zhabs la gus phyags(7) ’tshal/ (1) brjed (2) rab (3) gyi (4-5) mnyam med pa (6) rab (7) phyag 1 Translation “Emaho! The Conqueror of great bliss is Künzang Gyelwa Düpa.2 The source of wisdom who has overcome forgetfulness is Mawé Sengé.3 Nyammepa stands as the crown jewel of the Bön tradition of the world. I pay homage at the feet of Shérab Gyeltsen.”
South German private collection, acquired at Schoettle Ostasiatica 1974
Published: Tibetica 27, Schoettle Ostasiatica, 15 May 1974, no. 8397 with illustration - Traces of age, wear