Caishatanchenghuizhi
01 · Historical Records
In the 15th century, the colored sand mandala craft of Shigatse began to be transmitted when Tashilhunpo Monastery was first built, and it has continued to the present through master-apprentice transmission. The mandala is established for Vajrayana practice, and its drawing must follow the proportional rules recorded in the tantras; monks must first study mandala theory, metrology, and mandala painting techniques before they can independently complete a mandala. Colored sand mandala painting has therefore been a religious art transmitted strictly within the monastery from the very beginning.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The mandala is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit term for the Buddhist mandala or sacred site; the making of mandalas is one of the ritual practices of the Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, representing the flat or three-dimensional world of the Buddhas through hand painting, bronze casting, sand building, and wood carving. Shigatse City in the Tibet Autonomous Region is the main area where colored sand mandala painting is practiced. Colored sand mandala painting is based on Buddhist doctrine, takes the imagined mandala of the Buddha-land as its blueprint, uses fine colored sand as its pigment, and follows strict production procedures. The mandalas it depicts are hard to build but easy to destroy—beautiful yet fragile, vanishing in an instant—and most concretely reveal the empty nature of 'illusoriness and impermanence' in the Tibetan Buddhist world. At every major Buddhist ceremony, the monks of Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse depict the wondrous world of the Buddhas with millions upon millions of grains of sand. The making of a colored sand mandala follows rigorous procedures including prayer, drawing lines, painting, display, and scattering the sand, and requires the cooperation of several to dozens of trained monks to complete. Before construction begins, the monks first draw vertical lines, diagonals, circles, and other geometric patterns on the pedestal as the basis for composition and positioning; they then trace the outline and begin painting from the center, gradually working outward. The pigment is fine colored sand poured from horn-shaped iron tubes. Every step is carried out in accordance with the tantras transmitted by the Buddha, unchanged to this day. The mandala's composition is orderly, alternating squares and circles, with precise geometric structure—truly a microcosm of the world. Its colors are brilliant and dazzling, possessed of deep artistic charm. In general, the five basic colors—blue, yellow, red, green, and white—correspond to the Five Direction Buddhas and the Five Wisdoms. This religious art has been passed down through the generations without interruption. Colored sand mandala painting is closely bound up with the religious activities of Tibetan Buddhism and is a vivid expression of its doctrine. With a long history, a complex process, and rigorous procedural requirements, it embodies the superb artistic talent and religious devotion of the monks who make it, and has historical, artistic, social, and cultural value.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Colored sand mandala painting is based on Buddhist doctrine, takes the imagined mandala of the Buddha-land as its blueprint, uses fine colored sand as its pigment, and follows strict production procedures.
Prayer, ruling, painting, revealing and pouring
Five rigorous stages requiring dozens of trained monks, the ground ruled first with verticals, diagonals and circles.
Six colours in fourteen gradations
The sands include hand-ground gold, turquoise and agate; six base colours in fourteen gradations give the palette of the mandala.
Hard to build, quick to vanish
Costly to build and swept away at once, the sand mandala embodies the insubstantiality of the Buddhist world, leaving nothing behind when the rite ends.
Ciwang Renzeng and his manual
Ciwang Renzeng has measured and drawn the monastery's annual mandalas since 1996 and compiled a manual on the technique and its transmission.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Colored sand mandala painting is made with specially selected fine sands, including hand-ground precious metals and stones such as gold, turquoise, and agate. There are six colors in all—white, black, blue, red, yellow, and green—and, apart from white and black, the other four are each divided into three shades: dark, medium, and light, making fourteen blendable colors in total.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the 15th century, the colored sand mandala craft of Shigatse began to be transmitted when Tashilhunpo Monastery was first built, and it has continued to the present through master-apprentice transmission. Ciwang Renzeng (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in August 1967, from Namling County, Tibet Autonomous Region. He has systematically mastered the distinctive colored sand mandala painting techniques of Tashilhunpo Monastery. Since 1996 he has served as the 'Tibo' (measuring master) of the Tantric College of Tashilhunpo Monastery, responsible for the monastery's annual mandala paintings, chiefly those of the Wrathful Vajra (Guru Dragpo), Hevajra, and Chakrasamvara. At the same time, in accordance with the overall arrangements of Tashilhunpo Monastery, he has systematically organized the mandala painting process and transmission history, compiled the book 'Mandala Painting,' and systematically introduced the techniques and connotations of the monastery's principal mandalas. He is a representative inheritor of Colored Sand Mandala Painting, an item of the fifth national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. Over many years of colored sand mandala work, he has systematically trained more than ten inheritors and brought along more than fifty apprentices in the craft.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Ciwangrenzeng 05-2715
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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