This Refuge Tree or 'Merit Field' (Tib. shog-shing) depicts the assembled deities and lineage gurus of the Gelug or 'virtuous path' school of Tibetan Buddhism. This thangka was painted probably in Eastern or Central Tibet in the 19th or early 20th century, and is meticulously accurate in its iconography, with a skillful use of fine gold lines employed to depict the auras, ornaments and hand attributes of each figure and deity. These deities are arranged in horizontal rows upon the branches of a great lotus-tree that arises from a lake, with the various assemblies of lineage gurus appearing on clouds above.
At the apex of the tree sits Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the great philosopher and founder of the Gelugpa or 'reformed' yellow hat tradition, who bears Manjushri's wisdom attributes of a sword and scriptural text, and he bears the small images of Shakyamuni Buddha and Vajradhara enshrined inside his heart. Directly below Tsongkhapa are nine of his main disciples, and below these are the four main 'Highest Yoga Tantra' yidam or meditation deities of the Gelugpa tradition: Hevajra (left), Guhyasamaja, Vajra Bhairava, and Chakrasmvara (right).
In the next four rows that descend below are the principle deities of the 'four classes of tantra': (1) Highest Yoga (anuttarayoga); (2) Yoga (yoga); (3) Performance (carya), and (4) Action (kriya) Tantras. In the next four descending rows are the assembled deities of the Sutra Tradition, which consist of: (1) the Thirty-five Confessional and Eight Medicine Buddhas; (2) Bodhisattvas; (3) Pratyekabuddhas or 'solitary realizers', and (4) Arhats. In the next row are the male dakas and female dakinis, or 'heroes and heroines'. And in the bottom row of the tree are the main dharmapalas or protector deities of the Gelugpa Tradition.
© text by Robert Beer
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