Tibet's Secret Temple Murals Revealed

Tibet's Secret Temple: The Long-Hidden Tantric Murals of L... http://hyperallergic.com/252891/tibets-secret-temple-the-long...
MUSEUMS
Tibets Secret Temple: The

Long-Hidden Tantric Murals of
Lukhang Palace
Carey Dunne November 27, 2015
A detail from the murals in the Dalai Lamas private meditation chapel, painted circa 1700, depicting
yogis in 23 yoga positions, titled The Secret Keys of the Channels and Winds. (all images courtesy of
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Thomas Laird and the Wellcome Collection and used with permission)
On an island in a pond behind the Potala Palace in

Lhasa, Tibet sits the Lukhang Temple, or Temple to
the Serpent Spirits, a secret meditation space
created by the Dalai Lama in the 17th century. For
hundreds of years, this temple was closed to anyone
but the Dalai Lama himself. Vibrant murals covered
its walls, depicting yogis in impossible-looking poses,
gurus and kings, crystals surrounded by rainbows, and
the vagina that gave birth to the world. Used to
initiate Dalai Lamas into yogic and tantric practices in
the Dzogchen school of Tibetan Buddhism,
very few got to see these murals.
Now, though, images of these long-hidden murals are

accessible the world over, thanks to American
photographer Thomas Laird, who in the spring of
1986 was the first to ever shoot inside this sacred
chamber. A new exhibit at Londons Wellcome
Collection, Tibets Secret Temple: Body, Mind and
Meditation in Tantric Buddhism, puts life-size digital
facsimiles of the Lukhangs murals and their esoteric
teachings on display. The temple itself was
constructed as a three-dimensional mandala, a sacred
geometrical shape representing the Buddhist
universe, with three tiers represent the three
dimensions of enlightenment outer reality, inner
experience, and a transcendent dimension beyond
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time and space.
A detail from the murals in the Dalai Lamas private meditation chapel, painted circa 1700, depicting
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Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava accepting obeisance after he has subjugated the Lu King, or Naga
King (a serpent spirit).
Despite its being a visual repository of Tibets most

esoteric spiritual teachings, the Lukhang temple is not
well known even to those who have travelled
frequently to Tibet or who study its Tantric Buddhist
traditions, Ian Baker, exhibition co-curator and a
scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, tells Hyperallergic.
Even the few who do know about the windowless,
isolated Lukhang and manage to see its murals in
their original location wont get as detailed a view as
Lairds digital facsimiles offer. The original murals
have become increasingly damaged by successive
varnish veneers and are now encased in aluminium
framed glass panels, Baker explains. The chamber is
very underlit and, unless one brings a flashlight, its
hard to see the intricate detail.
Laird captured thousands of individual frames of each

mural, then created life-size digital facsimiles on
lightboxes, some as big as 1030 feet (~39.1m). The
Wellcome exhibition also includes 120 objects
associated with Tibetan Buddhism, including scroll
paintings, statues, and manuscripts.
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The Lukhang Temple, with Potala Palace in the background
The murals reveal a dimension of Tibetan Buddhist

practice that directly opposes the monastic traditions
most people associate with Tibet. They celebrate
Tibets non-monastic Tantric and yogic practices,
which were long kept secret. But as His Holiness the
Dalai Lama said to me when the issue of publicizing
images of the Lukhang first arose: The time of
secrecy is over and is not relevant in western society.
Unless these practices become better known they will
be completely lost. That would be a great tragedy,
Baker says. Generally, the Lukhangs guardian monks
have been very supportive of our efforts to document
the murals and to share these images with the outside
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world.
Potala Palace, Tibet, Watercolor c. 1860
The visionary Tibetan behind the creation of the

murals Desi Sangye Gyamtso, then the political
regent of the Fifth Dalai Lama and discoverer of the
Sixth Dalai Lama was renowned for preserving the
highest achievements of Tibetan civilization, whether
in art, medicine, or spiritual practice. I think he
would be pleased that conditions in the world have
advanced to the point where such teachings can now
be openly represented without fear of censure, Baker
says. That was unfortunately not the case in Tibet
during his own lifetime, as he was summarily
beheaded under the orders of a rival political
leader. As for the murals now being displayed in a
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museum, I think he would recognize the spirit that

museums embody in their very etymology as places
of the muses The Lukhang temple performed a
similar role as a place for inspiration.
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A Tibetan Medicine Thangka, or scroll painting, depicting the traditional Tibetan medical system and
its representations of subtle physiological processes essential to optimal health.
Lamas at Talung in Sikkim, East India.
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A sculpture of Chittapatti Skeletons.
Carpet of Flayed Woman.
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Another medicine Thangka outlining energy channels and their points of convergence (or chakras)
within the body. (click to enlarge)
Tibets Secret Temple is on view at the Wellcome

Collection, London, from November 19 to February 28,
2016.
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Tibet's Secret Temple: The Long-Hidden Tantric Murals of L... http://hyperallergic.com/252891/tibets-secret-temple-the-long...

Tibets Secret Temple: The

On an island in a pond behind the Potala Palace in

Now, though, images of these long-hidden murals are

time and space.

Despite its being a visual repository of Tibets most

Laird captured thousands of individual frames of each

The Lukhang Temple, with Potala Palace in the background

The murals reveal a dimension of Tibetan Buddhist

Potala Palace, Tibet, Watercolor c. 1860

The visionary Tibetan behind the creation of the

museum, I think he would recognize the spirit that

Lamas at Talung in Sikkim, East India.

A sculpture of Chittapatti Skeletons.

Carpet of Flayed Woman.

Tibets Secret Temple is on view at the Wellcome

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