|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Treasury |
||||||||||||||||||
As
a major state-protected unit of cultural relics, Dege Sutra-Printing House
enjoys rich and precious collections of cultural relics which mainly include
the following categories: Wood-Cut Block-Printing Editions: These are
the main part of the cultural relics of Dege Sutra-Printing House, consisting
of chiefly book editions and a few painting editions. The former includes
6 kinds: Kanjur, Tanjur, selected works, book series, comprehensive and
separate editions of The Tri-pitaka In Tibetan (The Great Tibetan collection).
All the book editions are divided into two types in terms of colour: the
ink edition as the main and the cinnabar edition which is limited to Kanjur,
The 100000 Pratantras, The Eight Thousand Eulogies of Prajna-Paramita
Sutra and Tanjur: The Stotra Unit (Praises to the Buddhas). But in terms
of size they are divided into three types: the "arrow-stick"
edition whose length is about 60~70cm equal to the length of an arrow-stick
and whose breadth is about 11~18cm; the "elbow" edition which
is about 40~50cm long equal the length of an average human elbow and 7~10cm
broad; and the "small" edition about 30cm in length and 5~6cm
in breadth. The thickness of the above three editions is 2~3cm with the
top having a 10cm-long handle for easier removal. The book edition of
a part (volume) is cut on both the positive and negative side and each
block of book edition has two leaves while the lines of words on each
leaf are usually decided by the part (volume), mainly being 4,5,6,7, and
12 lines/leaf with the 4, and 6 lines/ leaf as the main and the 12 lin es/leaf
for The Eight Thousand Eulogies of Prajna-Paramita Sutra only. The book
editions are not short of many rare and precious editions, unique copies
or model copies like The Filiation of Indian Buddhism, The Origin and
Development of Buddhism in the Han Region, Gyusyi, The Eight Thousand
Eulogies of Prajna-Paramita Sutra, The Great Tibetan collection (the joint
name of Kanjur and Tanjur) and so on. The painting editions originally
kept in Dege Sutra-Printing House were 376 blocks and 677 blocks were
added after 1980, They are divided into three big types: the Thangka painting
edition, the Mandala painting edition and the Tibetan Prayer Flags (Wind-Horse)
painting edition, of which Thangka is the largest in size, Mandala the
next and Tibetan Prayer Flags the smallest. Most painting editions are
one-side cut with a few being dual-side cut and most of them are ink-editions
except a few which are cinnabar-printed. Their major subject-matters are
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Dharma-Protectors, eminent monks of Tibetan
Buddhism and historical figures etc., whose artistic expressions mainly
belong to the artistic style of the Karma Gadri Painting Style of Dege
Especially, the integration of the traditional Tibetan painting Thangka
with block-printing is an important breakthroug h
and innovation of the block-printing editions of Dege Sutra-Printing House.
Representative works include The 12 Changes of Sakyamuni. The Preaching
of the Incarnated Sakyamuni, The Arhats, The Eight Main Forms of Padmasambhava
and The Subjugation of Monsters and Devils by King Gesar etc., Besides
painting editions there are also not a few book edition illustrations
on both sides of the title page or the flyleaf. They are usually of Buddhas,
Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Dharma-Protectors based on the contents of the book
or of the portraits of the writer or translator. The most typical are
the illustrations in The Eight Thousand Eulogies of Prajna-Paramita Sutra
with almost every page having illustrations on both sides of the words
which total over a thousand including the portraits, besides those of
the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Dharma-Protectors of great Buddhist scholars,
great translators and Adepts (Mahasiddha) of various generations of India
and other countries, providing really valuable materials for study.
The mural paintings of Dege Sutra-Printing House cover
an area of 950 square metres of which 95% belongs to old paintings and
the rest to new creations. They are mainly distributed in the Sutra-halls
of various sizes and on the upper part of the walls outside the Sutra-keeping
house .All the paintings are works of the “Karma Gadri” Painting school
except one Green Tara belonging to the early "Men" school.
As to the artistic style of these paintings, as summarized by Situ Chokyi
Jungne, the stroke and colour application of the "Karma Gadri"
school has absorbed the style of fine brushwork painting of the inland
while applying Indian painting style in the layout of special environment.
In general, they have succeeded the tradition of the "Man"
and "Qin" schools, having at the same time the advantages
of the above three styles and a clear feature of their own. For instance,
their human profiling is rich and colouring clear-cut and elegant to
give the whole painting a strong subject sense. The main deities of
paintings are mainly Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats and Dharma-Protectors
etc., Representative works include The Sakya Buddha in the lower storey
of the grand Sutra-hall and The Buddhist Stories in lower storey of
the lesser Sutra-hall. There are many clay-sculptured Buddhist statues in the grand and lesser Sutra-halls. Of the 14 statues in the grand Sutra-hall the principal deity is Buddha Sakyamuni and on both sides are Vajrapani, The hands Avalokitesvara, Buddha Amitabha, Padmasambhava, Manjusri, Green Tara, Tsongkhapa, Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen, LongQin RunJunpa, Milarepa,Tangtong gyalpo, Situ Chokyi Jungne and Chokyi Tenpa Tsering respectively. And the 61 statues in the lesser Sutra-hall mainly represent one Buddha and two disciples, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Dharma-Protectors, Padmasambhava and his eight forms, and his two consorts: Mandarava and Yeshe Tsogyal, and the founders of the Er sect a branch of the Sakyapas. The main building of Dege Sutra-Printing House covers an area of 1632 square metres with a total construction area of 5886 square metres. The House, facing south, is a courtyard-styled construction complex and an integration of Dege temple and popular residence bearing a strong flavour of traditional Tibetan architectures. The beams, columns, pillars, rafters, doors and windows of the building are all well carved and decorated with coloured paintings. It already has a history of 270 years. Apart from the abovementioned relics the House
also owns a few other valuable cultural relics such as gold-gilded bronze
Buddha statues, classic literatures written in gold or silver, ancient
instruments and Thangka paintings.
|
||||||||||||||||||
| History
Treasury < Technology Protection Photo gallery |
||||||||||||||||||
| |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||