The Serlingpa Acala in Tibet and the Tangut Empire
A vision of Acala, the Unwavering, emanating ten furious figures and trampling the elephant-headed Gaṇapati, is a common sight in the art of Tibet and the Tangut Empire (ca. 1038-1227, in Chinese sources known as Xixia 西夏) up to the end of the 13th century. This form of Acala is said to have been ta...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2022
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| In: |
Dynamics in the history of religions
Year: 2022, Volume: 12, Pages: 366-399 |
| Further subjects: | B
Altaische & Ostasiatische Sprachen
B Asia B Sprache und Linguistik B Allgemein B Asien-Studien B Art history B Religionswissenschaften B Uralische B Ostasiatische Geschichte B History |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | A vision of Acala, the Unwavering, emanating ten furious figures and trampling the elephant-headed Gaṇapati, is a common sight in the art of Tibet and the Tangut Empire (ca. 1038-1227, in Chinese sources known as Xixia 西夏) up to the end of the 13th century. This form of Acala is said to have been taught by the Serlingpa guru (Tib. Bla ma gSer gling pa) of the eponymous ‘Golden Isles’ of Southeast Asia. Its praxis was transmitted to Tibet by his famous Bengali student, Jowojé (Tib. jo bo rje) Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna (982-1054), who was simply called Dīpaṃkara in the Tangut Empire. As so few traces of these individuals and their praxis traditions were preserved outside the Tibetosphere, it can be asked whether this distinctive vision of Acala was ever taught by a Southeast Asian teacher. The study of this figure allows light to be shed on a rare convergence between the northern and maritime routes of the Silk Road. This chapter examines the writings on Acala attributed to the Serlingpa guru and Dīpaṃkara in conjunction with numerous related works of art, some of which have not previously been associated with the tradition of the Golden Isles. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Dynamics in the history of religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004508446_013 |