The true value of Thangka in the eyes of a young female Tibetan painter

Seqinglamu is a 21-year-old woman from a remote part of the Tibetan plateau in China’s Sichuan Province. Along with another 59 peers, she recently celebrated their graduation ceremonyafter 8 years of intensive study at the JinZe Art Center, located in the most modern city in the country, Shanghai.

Her graduation work, a piece of Thangka painting illustrating Sakyamuni Buddha has stunned professional art collectors. But Seqinglamu refuses to go commercial with her art. Instead she wants to develop further with her teacher, Jianyang Lezhu Rinpoche, who showed her the true value of Thangka.

Seqinglamu’s starting point is remarkably humble, having met a lot of obstacles on her journey. Born into a poor family of herders in one of the most remote and under-developed parts of China, Seqinglamu’s parents had no hopes for her beyond securing an early marriage.

But the young and independent woman dreamed of studying, later achieved by securing a place at the Rangtang Jonang Intangible Cultural Heritage Center, where she learned the art of Thangka painting.She feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to study this highly-respected art. “Although our study of Thangka painting has come to an end, I still want to understand and study Thangka painting more deeply” she says.

“I hope I can help others through painting … I always feel I should work harder, because this is my dream.”

Rangtang County is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture where the majority of its population is ethnically Tibetan. The area is known for its Buddhist architecture and Thangka painting, where skills have been passed down by lamas in Buddhist monasteries for around a thousand years, and being regarded as of high-level academic research value.

The cultural center where she and 600 other students have studied Tibetan Buddhist culture was founded by Jianyang Lezhu, Vice-Chairman of the Sichuan Tibetan Buddhism Culture Society. He believes Seqinglamu has a talent for the painting style. “As a female representative, she is courageous and intelligent,” he says.

The abbot has high hopes for his students, saying “We want to show them the possibilities of life, Buddhism's interpretation of life, how to get to know and understand yourself, what society is, how external things affect us, and how we receive information.”

The students paint at least seven or eight hours a day, with highly dedicated workers like Seqinglamu painting over ten hours a day. It is not without its obstacles however; the winters in Rangtang get so cold that the paint freezes.

“There are unavoidable difficulties and obstacles in the process of learning,” says Seqinglamu. “A Thangka has to be painted carefully. The movement of your fingers and your thoughts should work together. Sometimes when I can’t paint something, I feel bad.”

Jianyang Lezhu Rinpoche says he never considers Thangka painting as a craft or skill. He prefers to think of it as a way to understand our own body and mind. Through Thangka painting we can enter into our own inner self and express our body and mind without barriers, which is acore significance and value of Thangka.

With the graduation certificates obtained, Seqinglamu, along with the other 59 graduates can now begin a career as a painter of Thangkas to earn money for herself and her family, and to draw attention to the unique culture of her birthplace. But mostly importantly, she has obtained the most important skill of life, an understanding of oneself.

World renowned Chinese art curator, Johnson Chang, explains that these students, with the very solid foundations they’ve already acquired, have a footing in a civilization which can stand and absorb from the world. And that foundation is a more important thing than purely absorbing things from the outside. And only with this foundation can you exchange, can you learn, and then contribute in the international culture arena.

Seqinglamu’s story is revealed in the visually stunning “Changing Destiny: Thangka Painting Gives Student Her New Path”, a short documentary produced by BON Cloud about her class, the first to graduate from the Center. These pioneering graduates have drawn the attention of national and international media, putting the spotlight on the unique culture this region has to offer.

Thangka paintings

Thangkas are Tibetan Buddhist scroll artworks painted onto cotton or silk. These religious paintings can be traced back to the tenth century A.D. and typically depict a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala. Thangka schools have been growing in the Tibetan areas of Sichuan in recent years helping many young people out of poverty.

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Janet Yang
BON Cloud
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