The Dalai Lama's secret temple : Tantric wall paintings from Tibet

A treasury of Tibetan Buddhist art exists in the form of Tantric wall paintings located in the private chapel of an island temple built by the Sixth Dalai Lama. The Lukhang murals were designed to guide the Dalai Lamas in a deeply secret form of mystical contemplation called Dzogchen. "At the heart of this book are 150 color photographs of the Lukhang temple and its murals, taken in the most challenging conditions by photographer Thomas Laird. Ian Baker's text, which places these remarkable works within their historical, cultural and artistic context, is augmented by translations of the original Tibetan inscriptions that accompany many of the wall paintings. Introduced by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose commentary on specific images enriches this work immeasurably, the book is further embellished by lively ink brush drawings by contemporary Tibetan masters." "The detail, color and impact of this treasure of Tibetan Buddhist spirituality can at last be experienced outside the Lukhang's secret chapel."--Jacket "On a willow-covered island in a sacred pond behind Tibet’s Potala Palace is a pagoda-roofed temple that was built in the eighteenth century. Unknown artists created a series of mysterious paintings on the walls of the temple’s private chapel, and these masterpieces of Tibetan art are reproduced in this extraordinary publication. The chapel was reserved exclusively for the Dalai Lamas as a place of meditation and spiritual retreat, and for centuries the murals guided them in mystical contemplation" -- Publisher description During the brief reign of the Sixth Dalai Lama, who built the Lukhang Temple in the 18th century, unknown artists created a series of mysterious paintings on its chapel walls; comparable in quality and ambition to the Sistine Chapel in Rome. This title reproduces these masterpieces of Tibetan art.