Tibetan Dragon Canon: A Symphony of Imperial Power, Belief, and Art in a Golden Age

Imperial manuscript in gold ink
Qing dynasty, the 35th year of the Qianlong reign (1770)
H: 28.4 cm; W: 75.7 cm
National Treasure
Gucang 000112-000113、000116

This manuscript edition of the Kangyur was commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor in the thirty-second year of the Qianlong reign (1767) and completed under the supervision of the Imperial Household Department over a period of approximately three years. The first case contains the imperial preface, Preface to the Great Kangyur Canon, dated the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month of the thirty-fifth year of the Qianlong reign (1770). According to the text, the project was undertaken to celebrate the eightieth birthday of the emperor’s mother, Empress Dowager Chongqing.

Imperial archives record that this gold-ink manuscript Kangyur was copied from the text of the Tibetan Dragon Canon (Longzangjing) commissioned during the eighth year of the Kangxi reign (1669), while its physical dimensions followed those of a gilt manuscript Kangyur produced in the seventh year of the Jingtai reign (1456) and then housed in the western side hall of the Zhongzheng Palace. The canon comprises more than 35,800 folios, all transcribed by the Sutra and Mantra Bureau of the Hall of Diligent Service (Maoqin Dian).

The inner protective boards and scripture curtains were produced by the Suzhou Imperial Silk Manufactory. The silk fabrics used for the scripture wrappers and binding straps were likewise supplied from Suzhou and fashioned by the Imperial Workshops. The painted images on the inner protective boards were executed at the Imperial Workshops by lama painters responsible for Buddhist images in the Zhongzheng Palace. Upon completion, the manuscript was enshrined in Ciyin Tower, located behind Xianruo Hall.

Today, twelve cases of this monumental edition are preserved in the Museum’s collection, while the remaining ninety-six cases are housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Qing dynasty (1644-1912)
H: 35 cm; W: 88.5 cm
National Treasure
Gucang 000025

The Compendium of the Collection of Various Mantras and Sūtras (Zhupin Jizhoujing) belongs to the Tibetan Buddhist genre of Dhāraṇī Collections (gzungs bsdus). Rather than a single scripture, it is an anthology that brings together a wide range of texts, including dhāraṇīs believed to confer protection, remove obstacles, and increase merit; independent chapters containing mantras extracted from Mahāyāna sūtras; and certain texts associated with the treasure-text (gter ma) tradition. This volume was compiled according to a version edited in the later years of the Jonang master Tāranātha. A distinctive feature of this recension is the inclusion of the contents catalogue “may all you wished be fulfilled (dkar chag dgos 'dod kun 'byung),” which places the Mañjuśrīnāmasamgīti at the beginning of the collection and assembles more than 160 texts consisting of dhāraṇīs, mantras, and shorter Buddhist scriptures. This version of the Dhāraṇī Collection proved highly influential and continues to be reprinted and circulated throughout Tibetan Buddhist regions today.

According to the Tibetan colophon, this volume was printed from woodblocks in the seventh month of the thirteenth year of the Kangxi reign (1674) using black ink on specially produced thick paper. Its folio dimensions are comparable to those of the Tibetan Dragon Canon (Longzangjing), making it one of the largest Tibetan woodblock editions known in terms of printed frame size. The compiler is identified as Lhaje Sanggyé Gyeltsen (lha rje sangs rgyas rgyal mtshan). The title lhaje means “physician,” suggesting that he is the same individual recorded in Manchu archives as the “emuqi lama,” one of the three principal monks responsible for the production of the Tibetan Dragon Canon. The term emuqi derives from the Mongolian word for “doctor.” This Mongolian monk, renowned for his medical expertise, undertook several missions to Tibet and is also known to have treated the Kangxi Emperor, earning considerable trust within the imperial court. He passed away in the sixteenth year of the Kangxi reign (1677) and was buried at Mount Wutai.

The volume is wrapped in three layers of textile coverings. Painted eight auspicious symbols decorate the exposed edges of the stacked folios, and the manuscript is protected by both outer and inner boards above and below. On the upper inner protective board, a donor figure appears beneath Śākyamuni Buddha, holding a mandala offering tray and a ceremonial scarf (khata). Based on his attire and crown, the figure is likely intended to represent the Kangxi Emperor. Beneath Vajradhara appears a Tibetan monk wearing the distinctive yellow hat of the Geluk tradition, possibly alluding to the compiler, Lhaje Sanggyé Gyeltsen.

Although this court edition follows Tāranātha’s original arrangement in assigning the collected texts to sections labeled from Ka through Pho, certain scriptures and dhāraṇīs were revised or replaced. Additional works were also incorporated, including hymns dedicated to important Geluk lineage masters such as Tsongkhapa and Gendun Drub, reflecting the doctrinal orientation of the Qing court at the time of its production.

Qing dynasty, the 55th year of the Qianlong reign (1790)
H: 25 cm; W: 73 cm
National Treasure
Gucang 000123、000142

The full title of the Tripitakas in Manchu (Qingwen quanzang jing) is Imperially Commissioned Complete Canon Translated into Manchu (Yuzhi qingwen fanyi quanzang jing). According to its Manchu title, it may be more accurately rendered as The Great Kangyur Translated into the Manchu Language (manju hergen i ubaliyabuha amba g’anjur nomun). Today, it is commonly known as the Manchu Buddhist Canon.

In the thirty-seventh year of the Qianlong reign (1772), the Qianlong Emperor observed that Buddhist canons in Mongolian, Tibetan, and Chinese had already been published, while a Manchu version had yet to be produced. He therefore entrusted the project to the Third Changkya Khutukhtu, Rolpai Dorje (lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje, 1716-1786), who established “the Manchu Scripture Translation Bureau (Qingzi Jingguan)” within the Imperial Household Department, located inside the Xihua Gate of the Forbidden City. A total of ninety-six participants—including imperial princes, high-ranking officials, and translators proficient in Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan—were assigned to the undertaking. Using the Chinese Buddhist canon as the primary source and consulting both Mongolian and Tibetan editions of the Kangyur, they translated, edited, and compiled the text into Manchu. The translation was completed in the fifty-fifth year of the Qianlong reign (1790), comprising 699 Buddhist scriptures. In December of the same year, however, a fire at the Translation Bureau destroyed part of the woodblocks and some already-printed volumes. The damaged materials were subsequently re-engraved, and the entire project was not fully completed until the fifty-ninth year of the Qianlong reign (1794). The canon consists of 108 cases and was printed in vermilion ink on both sides of each folio. Only twelve complete sets were produced in the first printing, of which just two are known to survive today. One is preserved in the Three Realms Chapel (Sa gsum lha khang) of the Potala Palace, lacking one case. The other is divided between the two Palace Museums: thirty-two cases are held by the National Palace Museum, while the remaining seventy-six are preserved in the Palace Museum in Beijing. More than forty thousand original woodblocks and illustrated printing blocks from the imperial workshop survive and are still housed in the Beijing Palace Museum.

The contents of the Tripitakas in Manchu consist primarily of Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna scriptures, with comparatively fewer tantric texts than are found in the Mongolian and Tibetan Kangyur traditions. Its physical format follows the traditional Indian-style pothi format. The folios are placed between upper and lower inner protective boards and wrapped successively in an inner cloth cover, a ceremonial khata scarf, upper and lower outer protective boards, an outer cloth wrapper, binding straps, and finally a padded cotton cover. The outer boards are made of wood coated with red lacquer and decorated in gold with the eight auspicious symbols and Sanskrit mantra inscriptions. The inner boards consist of wood covered with yellow brocade and are overlaid with three embroidered scripture curtains. On the upper inner board appears a gilt Manchu devotional inscription accompanied by painted images of two Buddhas or bodhisattvas, while the lower inner board is decorated with four painted protector deities.

Height 29.7-36 cm; Base diameter  11.8 cm
Zhongtong 002109-002116

Eight Auspicious Emblems

According to Buddhist tradition, after Śākyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment, Brahmā and Indra offered a thousand-spoked golden wheel and a white conch shell spiraling to the left, respectively, to request that the Buddha turn the Wheel of Dharma and teach. The Earth Goddess, in turn, presented a treasure vase filled with the nectar of immortality. In early Indian Buddhist art, such motifs commonly appeared in scenes depicting the Buddha’s enlightenment. Over time, these symbols acquired increasingly rich layers of meaning and came to represent aspects of the Buddha’s enlightened body. The parasol symbolizes the Buddha’s head; the pair of fish, his eyes; the lotus, his tongue; the conch shell, his speech; the treasure vase, his neck; the victory banner, his body; the Dharma wheel, his feet; and the endless knot, his mind. The Eight Auspicious Symbols also came to signify offerings made to the Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist art, they are frequently depicted as attributes held by the Eight Offering Goddesses, as seen, for example, on the lower inner protective boards of the Tshu and Dzu cases of the Tibetan Dragon Canon (Longzangjing).

Within the tradition of Chinese Buddhism, a distinctive Sinicized form of the Eight Auspicious Symbols had emerged by the Ming dynasty. Examples can be seen in works such as the 1418 manuscript Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra displayed in the third section of this exhibition. These motifs became common decorative elements in carving and textile design and were no longer confined to Buddhist ritual objects. They appeared widely on paintings, silks, porcelains, lacquerware, cosmetic boxes, and even women’s hair ornaments.

The Eight Auspicious Symbols comprise the Dharma wheel, conch shell, parasol, victory banner, lotus, treasure vase, pair of fish, and endless knot. They are often referred to simply as wheel, conch, parasol, banner, lotus, vase, fish, and knot. The motifs may be depicted individually or combined into a single composition. In Tibetan artistic conventions, a unified representation often incorporates seven of the symbols—lotus, knot, fish, parasol, banner, wheel, and conch—arranged together in the form of a treasure vase.

In this exhibition, distinctive Qing court renderings of the Eight Auspicious Symbols can be seen painted along the exposed edges of the stacked folios in the Tibetan Dragon Canon, Collection of Various Mantras and Sūtras, Qianlong Kangyur, and Tripitakas in Manchun.