Keywords: Portrait of the Indian Monk Atisha.jpg Portrait of the Indian Monk Atisha Tibet Distemper and gold on cloth Image 19 1/2 x 13 15/16 in 49 5 x 35 4 cm Framed 32 13/16 x 21 11/16 in 83 3 x 55 1 cm Atisha was the abbot of the great Vikramashila monastery in north India one of the mahaviharas who granted the learned degree of pandita here indicated by his yellow hat In 1042 he traveled to Tibet at the invitation of the Western Tibetan king Yeshe ˜Od to help purify Buddhist practices there Atisha ™s authority was rooted in his lineage an unbroken chain of pupil-guru relationships going back to the Buddha himself This portrait of Atisha among the oldest preserved shows him as an enlightened being with golden skin and halo seated on an elaborate jeweled throne His right hand is held in the teaching gesture and he holds a bound palm-leaf manuscript in his left http //www metmuseum org/collection/the-collection-online/search/38006 http //images metmuseum org/CRDImages/as/original/1 20DP310527r2_61A jpg direct link early to mid-12th century author PD-old-100 Mandala thangka from Tibet Tibetan Buddhist paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art 12th-century paintings from Tibet Files uploaded by Yann Forget Atisha |