SMC 45

This volume traces the history of a set of Tibetan tsakalis, cinsisting of sixty-five initiation cards that survived the mass destruction of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The set was eventually brought to Europe, the details of its origin having been lost. These tsakalis belong to the material culture of the Thangzhung Nyengyü tradition, part of the Dzogchen practice common to both the Bon religion as well as certain schools of Buddhism. Used as a tool for transmitting knowledge from master to student, the cards  document the transmissiion tineage of the Zhangzhung Nyengyü teachings.

The contributions to this volume each study the same object, but with different methodological approaches and tools to reveal its many facets. The authors are specialists in a range of fields including anthropology, art history, codicology, heritage science, artificial intelligence and archaeometry. This holistic research approach places the object with the rituals and people who used it to reconstruct a full account of its production, use and preservation.

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FrontmatterI

ContentsV

Preface1
Khenchen Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche

Introduction3
Agnieszka Helman-Ważny

Chapter 1: Tsakali Illuminated Cards: Physical Description, Function and Context13
Agnieszka Helman-Ważny, Charles Ramble, Christian Luczanits

Chapter 2: The Teachings of the Dzogchen Zhangzhung Nyengyü System and Their Transmission27
Charles Ramble

Chapter 3: Art-historical Analysis of the Tsakali Collection41
Christian Luczanits

Chapter 4: Multispectral Imaging (MSI) and Statistical Image Processing to Analyse Pigment Distribution and Diverse Material Features59
Kyle Ann Huskin, Ivan Shevchuk

Chapter 5: Analysing the Visual Patterns of the Zhangzhung Nyengyü Tsakali Collection Using Machine-Learning Approaches73
Hussein Mohammed, Agnieszka Helman-Ważny

Chapter 6: Multiscale Microscopic Analysis of the Paper and Fibres of the Tsakali83
Agnieszka Helman-Ważny

Chapter 7: The Application of Small- and Wide-angle X-ray Scattering to the Study of the Paper Support and Pigment Distribution95
Sylvio Haas, Agnieszka Helman-Ważny

Chapter 8: Analysis of Paper Components with FTIR (DRIFTS) Spectroscopy115
Claudia Colini, Lucas F. Voges, Stephan Seifert

Chapter 9: Multi-instrumental Analysis of Pigments and Dyes123
Olivier Bonnerot, Sebastian Bosch, Sowmeya Sathiyamani

Chapter 10: Radiocarbon Dating of Tsakali Paper133
Tomasz Goslar, Agnieszka Helman-Ważny

Epilogue141
Agnieszka Helman-Ważny

Appendix: Handlist of the Tsakali Cards with Transliterated and Translated Text of Inscriptions151

References217

Contributors225

General Index229