The Copper-Coloured Palace: Iconography of the rNin ma School of Tibetan Buddhism (Set of 3 Vols.)

The rNin ma pas are the only minority school of Tibetan Buddhism whose iconography differs markedly from the mainstream iconography re presented by the gSar ma pa or new schools. Scholarly works on rNin ma iconography are quite rare and have so far never covered the whole of the Nin ma pantheon.
This book has been written as an attempt to fill this gap, trying to supply introductory as well as comprehensive information, meant for people interested in Tibetan Buddhism, whether lay persons, practitioners, or scholars. Apart from individual descriptions of the most important deities, the emphasis of this study has been laid on the pantheon as a whole, because its structure is crucial for understanding the differences between rNin ma pa and mainstream iconography.
The book includes more than 2000 photographs most of which were taken by the author herself in various monasteries and nunneries of the rNin ma school in India and Nepal and by Elke Hessel in Tibet. More than two hundred images provided from other sources have been added. As far as possible, the iconography of the deities and mandalas has been verified through written sources, among them the large rNin ma text collections of the Rin chen gter mdzod and the rNin ma rgyud 'bum.
In seven chapters on the iconography of Buddhas, the systems of peaceful and wrathful deities, Padma-sambhava, the eight most important cycles of meditation deities (bKa' brgyad), the protective deities and the teachers, the book describes, on the one hand, the peculiarities of the rNin ma school, but also, on the other hand, the parts of its iconography it shares with the other schools.

Prof. Dr. Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt, born in 1955 in Gottingen, Germany, is a scholar of Religious Studies, History, Indology and Tibetology. Having studied in Erlangen and Bonn and holding a Ph.D. in Comparative Religion from Bonn University, and a Habilitation from Marburg University, she now teaches in the department for the Study of Religions in the Institute for Comparative Cultural Studies in Marburg University, Germany.
Former publications include a monograph on goddesses and female symbolism in Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, a critical edition of the IHan kar ma catalogue of early Tibetan translations of Indian Buddhist texts, a catalogue of a Tibet exhibition in Marburg, two anthologies and more than hundred research articles, contributions to lexicons and other small scriptures. Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt has spent some years of research in India and Nepal, specializing in Tibetan Buddhism, women in Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu and Buddhist religious iconography and, more recently, religion in Hindi cinema. A current research project focuses on religion and violence, especially human sacrifice, and includes non Asian cultures as well.
The present book is the fruit of an almost life-long occupation with the religious history and iconography of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist deities.

Tibetans first became significantly aware of Buddhism in the seventh century CE. With the arrival in Tibet of great Indian masters Shantarakshita and Guru Padmasambhava in the eighth century, the philosophical teachings of Buddhism came to be well-established in the country. Under the patronage of the Tibetan emperor Trisong Deutsen, Shantarakshita and Padmasabhava laid the foundation for the flourishing of the Nalanda tradition, with its emphasis on a combination of philosophy, psychology, and meditation practice.
Within Tibetan Buddhism there is a complete practice of the whole of Buddhism. It includes the Vehicle of Hearers and the Vehicle of Bodhisattvas and within the latter, there is a division into the Vehicle of the Perfections and the Vehicle of Secret Mantra, or Tantra.
It is clear that the Vajrayana or Mantra Vehicle spread to China and Japan, but from among the four classes of tantra, only the first three-Action, Performance, and Yoga-reached those countries. It appears that, outside India, only Tibet received and preserved all four classes of tantra, including Highest Yoga Tantra. Later, this mode of practicing a union of sutra and tantra in complete form spread from Tibet to the Mongol areas - including Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia, the Kalmyk peoples, and so forth.
There are four schools of Tibetan Buddhism: Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Geluk. Each of these, in turn, has many divisions. Nyingma, for instance, presents nine vehicles-three sutra systems and six tantra systems. Also, within the Nyingma tradition there are systems derived from discovered texts. Despite the fact that we can identify such differences among these four schools, each is a system of the complete practice of a unification of sutra and tantra. In terms of their view of the way things are in reality, each of them upholds the view of the Middle Way Consequence School (Prasangika-madhyamika) In terms of motivation and altruistic deeds, all follow the pattern of generating the awakening mind of bodhichitta and practising the six perfections.
The awakening mind of bodhichitta, or the altruistic aspiration to become enlightened, is the root of the vast series of compassionate practices. The doctrine of emptiness is the root of the practices of the profound view. In order to develop the mind that realizes the suchness of phenomena, it is necessary to engage in meditation. However, to achieve meditative stabilization and bring great force to these practices, there is the special practice of deity yoga, in dependence on which, it is possible to achieve a meditative stabilization that is a union of calm abiding and special insight. Vajrayana offers a way to channel our natural vitality and transform the powerful energy of our emotions as means for attaining awakening. The huge numbers of deities that are depicted in the Mantra Vehicle teachings are, therefore, representative of these energies in a purified state.
The main reason for practising deity yoga is to achieve Buddhahood, which is the way to be of full service to other sentient beings. In general, the tantric path comprises the yoga the profound and the manifest. The profound is the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence, and the manifest is the simultaneous manifestation of that wisdom as a mandala or divine circle. The aspect of consciousness that appears manifests as a deity, the mandala palace and so forth, while the aspect of that same consciousness that ascertains realizes their lack of inherent existence. The practice is done within deity yoga and subtler levels of mind are used, making progress over the path to Buddhahood quicker.
In Tibet the presentations of mantra came to be divided into the Old and the New Translation Mantra Schools according to when they were translated. The Nyingma is the Old, Sakya, Kagyu, and Geluk are included in the New, because they arose after the translations of Rinchen Sangpo (958-1055 CE).
The newer schools do not differ significantly among themselves with respect to the sutra systems, but with respect to tantra they differ slightly. Their basic structure is the same. The school in which it is difficult to see such a similarity is the Old Translation School of Nyingma. In rough terms, practices can be divided into view, behaviour, and meditation. There is not much difference between the Old and New Translation Schools concerning behaviour and meditation. However, their philosophical views might seem to vary to a greater degree because they employ different terminology.
That the very roots of Nyingma are valid and accord with reality is well-known since prior to the development of the New Translation Schools, there were many great scholars and adepts such as the twenty-five disciples of the precious master Padmasambhava-King Trisong Deutsen and so forth-who became adepts in their very lifetimes in dependence only on the Nyingma path. Nowadays too, there are many who show signs of having achieved spiritual heights through following the Nyingma path. Thus, we can acknowledge that Nyingma traditions such as Dzogchen or Great Completeness are pure systems of practice. If a yogi can develop fully qualified realization based on a path, then that path is a pure one.
Another way in which the tantric traditions of the Old and New Translation Schools differ is in the deities they employ. Little scholarly attention has been paid until now to what is unique about the deities of the Nyingma pantheon and how they differ from the deities of the newer schools. I appreciate the effort the author has put into researching this and compiling what she has discovered in this book entitled, 'The Copper-Coloured Palace'. I am sure practitioners and students of the Nyingma tradition, as well as readers who take an interest in Tibetan religious art will welcome the work. I congratulate Dr. Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt for opening up this previously little explored area of Tibet's rich religious tradition.

"Outside Tibet, a little over 100,000 Tibetans are in exile. So the very heavy responsibility on their shoulders [is to] preserve that heritage. We are not studying a dead tradition. There are still great philosophers, great meditators, great artists, great dancers, great musicians alive, from the complete tradition. But next generation, that might not be. So this is not just the heritage of six millions [of] Tibetans. It is part of the world heritage. And therefore it is worth to be saved. We must save it."