The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Tsong Khapa, Founder of the Geluk Order

c. 1440–70

Central Tibet

Gum tempera and gold on cotton
Overall: 91.5 x 75 cm (36 x 29 1/2 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1981.33
Location: Not on view

Description

The Buddhist order to which the Dalai Lamas belong was founded by Tsong Khapa (1357–1419), whose image is seen here as the large central figure holding his hands in the teaching mudra. He wears the pointed golden hat that is the insignia for monks of the Geluk order. At the level of his ears are the sword and book, emblems of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom. These emblems allude to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that accorded Tsong Khapa the status of being an emanation of Manjushri. This extraordinary, sumptuously rendered painting, made only decades after his death, retains elements of portraiture in the facial features that become formalized in later works, especially from the mid-1600s onward, when the Geluk monks dominated the Tibetan theocracy. He is surrounded by lineage masters, many in lively gestures of debate, whose analyses of doctrines and practices led to Tsong Khapa's final formulation of the Lam Rim text on the stages of the path to enlightenment, which is foundational to the Geluk order.
  • ?–1981
    (Ted Bieler Studios, Ontario, Canada, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1981–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1981.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 69, no. 2 (February 1982): 39–82. Reproduced: p. 70; Mentioned: p. 83, no. 141 www.jstor.org
    Huntington, John C., Dina Bangdel, and Robert A. F. Thurman. The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 37, pp. 164–165
  • Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 239). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 1-December 22, 2014).
    The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (October 5, 2003-January 11, 2004); Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (February 8-May 9, 2004).
    The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
  • {{cite web|title=Tsong Khapa, Founder of the Geluk Order|url=false|author=|year=c. 1440–70|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1981.33