* Definition
Tangka (a Tibetan word meaning "silk, satin or cloth painting scroll") have been in vogue in Tibet for centuries, but no one knows when and where they evolved. In Tibetan, "tang" means "unfolding" or "displaying". Tangka is created with the intention of showing the painting art to the public. This shows the importance of frescos, rock paintings and painting scrolls. Archaeologists who found pottery bearing patterns in the Karub Site dating back some 5,000 years came to the conclusion they were the embryo of the Tibetan painting art. The content of most Thangka is mainly the images of Buddha, or reflection of lift stories of eminent monks and folk customs. The structure of Tibet Thangka is precise, balanced, plumpy and changeful. The painting methods are mainly bright color and line drawing.
The types of Thangka are very multifarious. Except colorful drawing Thangka, there are also breded Thangka, pasted-embroidered Thangka, leather thread Thangka, applique Thangka, and pearl Thangka., etc.

* History
Nobody knows where and when Tang originated, but comparing with Tibetan painting, the history of Tangka can be traced back to as long as Tubo period. From the relics of Karuo in Qamdo,we can find the trace of Tangka. Until 7 century, Songzang Ganbu united the whole Tibet which a new period in Tibetan history began. Later Songzan Ganbu married Nepal princess Chizun and Tang dynasty princess called Wencheng which futher strengthed the connection of politics, economy, and culture between Tibetan and Han nationalities. The two princesses came to Tibet with a lot of Buhhda scriptures, architecture technology,soothsaying and lawmaking, medical scriptures and many skilled artisans. These greatly stimulated the development of Tibetan society. During the Tobo period a lot of monasteries like Yongbu Lakang, the Potala Palace, Papengka Palace, Qiangbamingjiulin Palace, Qingpu,zhama, Pangtang and other palaces were built which certainly futhered the painting development. According to the 5th Dalai lama " Songzan Ganbu painted a White Lamu statue in his blood and later,the Living Buhhda called Guozhuxi hided this painting inside his White Lamu statue. At the present, we can no longer find this tangka painted by this great Tobo king , but we can concluded that Tangka first appeared in Songzang ganbu period because during this period, the Tibetan Buhhdism greatly developed and with the development of Tibetan Buhhdism, Tibetan Buhhdism culture also flurished . At that time freso alone could not satisfied the need of those disciples. So another kind of art Tangka appeared which is easy to carry ,hang, and collect. From this time , Tangka became a famous art in Tibet.
At the middle of 8 century or 9 centure, that is the priod of Chisong Dezan and Chire Bajin period, because of the support of Tobo royal family, great progress had been made in the making of Tangka, at the later period, Zanpo Langda ordered to destory the Buddha statues and monasteries , most of the valuable Tangka at that time was destoried . So now we can not find Tangka made at that period. until to the middle of 9 century, after the destory of Tobo Kingdom, the whole Tibet was splited into many small parts and the social economy suffered great damage. Tangka saw no progress in Ming Song and Yuan dynasty.

During Ming and Qing dynasty, in order to strength the control of Tibet, the central government adopted the system of approving Tibetan chieftain to strength the control over Tibet. During the Ming dynasty , the central government approved altoghter eight Tibetan chieftans and during the Qing dynasty, the central government approved Dalai Lama, Panchan, and Hutu Ketu.

These methods made contribution to the development of the Tibetan society. So the Ming and Qing dynasty saw a great progress in the development of Tangka and Tangka of this period of time had three characteristics. One was the number of Tangka became larger, the other was different schools having developed at that time, and another is the apperance of many painting organizations. From the existing Tangka , they most of them were made during the Ming and Qing dynasty.

* Content
The content of Thangka has various subject matters such as historical incident,personage biographies, religion doctrines, Tibetan natural conditions and social customs, folklores, mythical stories etc.,involving politic, economic, history, religion, literature and art, social life and many other respects. So Thangka is praised as a visual encyclopaedia.

* Classification
The common appearance of Tangka is the style of scroll and at the bottom, much blankness is left. This kind of Tangka is usually 75 centimeters long and 50 centimers wide; except the scroll style of Tangka, there is banner style and this kind of Tangka is 1.1 meters long and about 3.5 meters wide.
According to the material , Tangka can be divided into two classes. One is made of silk and this kind is also called gos-thang; The other is made of pigment which is also called bris-thang.
1. gos��thang
According to the different kinds of silk, gos-thang can be divided into five class
(1). tshem-drub-ma is made of different kinds of silk weavon by hand.
(2). lhan��dr��ub��ma or dras��drub��ma: In making this kind of Tangka, different kinds of silk first are cut into different shapes and then are connected with needle.
(3). lhan��thabs��ma: This kind is a little similar to the second , but in making this kind of Tangka, different shapes of silk are agglutinated by the gluewater.
(4). thag��drub��ma: This is a Tangka weavon by hand.
(5).dpar��ma. In making this kind of Tangka, moulding board is necessary and using moulding board to print the pictures into the silk.
The largest Tangka of gos��thang kind is called gos-sku and because it is too big , it can not be put on . In fact, it is only used on some special religious rituals. In the potala Palace, there is a gos-sku with a length of 55.8 meters and a width of about 46.81 and this Tangka was made during the 5th Dalai Lama and the picture depicts lod-dpag-med.
2.bris��thang
According to the color of the background, bris-thang can be divided into five classes.
(1). tsho-thang: The background is multicolorful.
(2). gser-thang: The background is yellow.
(3). mtshal-thang: The background is vermilion.
(4). dpar-thang : The background is black.
(5). dpar-thang: The method making this kind of Tangka is the same as that of water printed

gos��thang. The only difference is in that gos-thang is printed on the canvas while the bris-thang is painted on the canvas.
the largest bris-thang is three meters long and two meters wide while the smallest one is about 30 centimers long and 20 centimeters wide.

* Genre
Different styles of Thangka representative different schools of paintings in Tibet. The painting schools of Tibet can be divided into :
. Karzhi school
Karzhi is one of the schools of Tibetan paintings and sculptures styles. It is said this school follows the painting style which had been used by Karma Mikye Dorje in the Figure Measurement composed by himself and was famous for painting calm and kind-hearted personal figures.

. ChenZher School
ChenZher School is founded by ChenZher ChanMou of KhongKarLdo in Tibet. This school was born out of ManThangPa painting style and prolongs the painting style of ManThangPa.

. Mansale School
The fouder of Mansale School was Qiangpa��Quyang Gyel-tshap. Their painting style is close to the ManNiang School with characteristic of boorish lines,powerful faces,taller figures,dense color and fine painting techniques.

. Karlri School
Karlri School was founded by the Living Buddha LanMuKar ZhaXi who combined the technique of measurement in Tibetan painting style with those of colouring and arrangement in chinese painting of the Han nationality. It has characteristic of large picture and various contents. The personage been painted almost had comeliness and pretty face and implicit smile .

. JeJuBi School
JeJuBi School is a school of painting founded by Karma Quyhang Dorje who absorbed the painting style of Kashmir on the basis of Tibetan painting .
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. Manlu School
Manlu School is the total call of ManNiang School and Mansale School.

. DenLu School
The painting style of Scholars named ChiJar and ManThang��CharKar and so on is called DenLu School. They had written many art books like Figure Measurement Favonian Beads etc.

. ShiGamPa School
The painting style of ShiGamPa and schools which kept this painting style are totally called ShiGamPa School. It is also called Nepal School because of been influenced by the painting style of Nepal.

. Deri School
Deri School is a school which combined the painting style of Karlri school and ManThangPa school.They mostly pay attention to the sculpt,expression and connotation of the persons painted. There are many famous painters in this school like Tenzin Norepu, RongPa��SonamJeBau, ZhiLapriwuChairang, ThangLaChaiWang etc.

. ManNiang School
It is the earlist painting school in Tibet which was founded by ManlaThongZhu in the 14 th century.The persons painted in their works were almost with a smile as anger , with a slim and graceful figure and verisimilar expression , wearing magnificent clothes, been colored refinedly , and the yardstick of every position of the body is moderate.

* Facture
The following is about the usual way to make Tangka

. STEP 1. PROPER MOTIVATION
Prior to beginning any work with the tradition of Thangka Painting, it is imperative that the artist cultivate proper motivation. Contemporary western art oftentimes emphasizes self expression and individual perspective. The first step is to allow oneself to be open to learning an artform that has been passed down from teacher to student for many generations. The practice of thangka painting is to learn to see what is, rather than to communicate one's particular version. In effect, students has to unlearn his or her preconceptions about art, or what it is to be an artist. The vanity of the artist becomes obsolete. For example, thangkas are never signed, but are consecrated by ceremony upon completion.

The second part of one's motivation has to do with cultivating respect for the practice of Thangka Painting. It might be safe to say, that traditionally, a Thangka, regardless of content, has but one intent in it's execution...to communicate to the viewer an aspect of enlightened mind. This can happen with every detail of a thangka, such as a flower, a brushstroke as well as a complex deity. The actual deities themselves are not considered solid, theistic beings, but rather represent the enlightened potential that exists within all of us. For that reason, much care is taken to delicately execute each line, and one's work is never done haphazardly, or frivolously. The artist holds the feeling that their work will point out the self existing sacredness that exists in our world, providing inspiration and the appeasement of inner turmoil.

. STEP 2.THE FACE OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA
Behind every Thangka is a geometrical graph called a tigse, or measure in Tibetan. Each deity has an architectural map of relative proportions, that provide the structure of a finely executed image. The geometry behind the deity is regarded as sacred, as it evokes symmetry, balance and precision. Some tigses create actual mandalas (sacred circle) to evoke certain mental effects.

The student must painstakingly learn the proper proportions of the Buddha, the basis of all other forms.

. STEP 3. THE BODY OF THE BUDDHA
The body of the Buddha includes a tigse as well. The tigse varies slightly between teachers and lineages. It is suggested that the student memorize the lines and proportions of the Buddha. By doing so, he becomes self correcting, and internalizes the basic structure of all of the peaceful deities.

. STEP 4. LEARNING TO SEE AND EXPANDING OUT
A student might spend many years perfecting his drawing skills before he has permission to paint. With the help of a teacher, he learns to see line properly and practices other common images used in the environment of a Thangka.

. STEP 5. BEGINNING BRUSHWORK
Once the student has shown some accomplishment with drawing, he is given permission to begin brush and ink work. He outlines the pencil with a very fine bristled sable liner brush. The student develops confidence and patience as he becomes familiar with linework.

. STEP 6. PREPARING A CANVAS
Thangkas are most often painted on cotton cloth, that is closely woven, but fine. The cloth is washed and stretched on a wooden frame. The cotton is primed with a melted rabbit skin glue resin, but some contemporary artists use acrylic gesso. There should be at least three thin coats of primer, each coat allowed to dry, and sanded before applying the next. The canvas is then polished with smooth stone to remove any imperfections.

Mural Design by C. Moku from Enlightenment Stupa in El Rito, New Mexico

. STEP 7. LEARNING DRY AND WET SHADING
The teacher offers guidance about iconographically correct color, and the special techniques with wet and dry shading. Wet shading uses large brushes, and creates a flat, base wash of color. Dry shading is similar to pointillism in western art.

. STEP 8. THE FIRST THANGKA
Under close supervision, the first Thangka is executed. It has been traditional, that the first mark on a Thangka would be the sacred Tibetan "seed" syllable of the deity directly in the center of the Thangka. This is painted very lightly, in gold. Each deity is said to have a corresponding syllable, but sometimes they are not available, or known.

The student transfers a completed ink drawing directly onto the canvas by pressing the drawing to the back of the canvas, and letting light shine through. A light box can be used for this purpose. The image is then traced onto the canvas with pencil.

The sky is said to be the first element to be painted. This represents the Mahayana Buddhist teaching, that "all form arises from emptiness," and thus the sky must be complete before any other element can be manifest.

. STEP 9. OPENING OF THE EYES CEREMONY
The student often refrains from painting in the pupils of the main deity's eyes which is saved for last. The teacher will often fill in this final touch of the Thangka, thus bringing the deity "to life."

The Thangka is then blessed or consecrated by a master teacher, or Lama. More syllables are written on the back of the Thangka, usually placed on the forehead, throat, heart and above the navel of the main deity.

A fully consecrated Thangka is considered extremely sacred, and it not to be treated with disrespect. It should be hung in a high position, or carefully rolled, folding a silk cover over the front. Thangkas are never placed on the floor, or stepped on or over.

. STEP 10. LEARNING ABOUT ICONOGRAPHY
A devoted Thangka Painter can spend a lifetime learning this profound tradition. One can always perfect color or line technique or study the method of painting environmental elements, different deities or sacred mandalas.

. STEP 11. FRAMING A THANGKA WITH BROCADES
Silk brocades are used to create a scroll frame. The size if the frame is proportionate to the size of the Thangka. The frame is covered with a silk or satin cloth, and two red ribbons. When is Thangka is displayed, the satin cloth is folded at the top, and the ties are allowed to fall in front of the thangka.

Sometimes there are one or two separate panels of brocade on the front and center of the frame. These symbolize the entry into the "mandala," or the opening into the experience of sacred world.

The main color of the brocade frame is traditionally blue, representing the sky element as before-mentioned. There is a red border, and a thin white cord at the very center of the thangka window. These represent the union of the male and female elements. Red symbolizes the female, and white the male.

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