S C U L P T U R E O F T I B E T
Vajrayana in Tibet embraced both sculpture and thangka painting as a means to help the visualization process of their meditations. The earliest source of Tibetan sculpture came from Nepal in the 7th Century after Padmasambhava brought Buddhism to Tibet.
The Tibetans learned their skill of sculpture directly from the Nepalese artists who came to Tibet during the 12th-13th Century. The most famous of all Tibetan sculpture is the Jowo image of the Buddha, who resides in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, built during the time of King Songsten Gampo, who ruled during the 7th Century. One of Songsten Gampo’s two wives, Princess Wencheng, who was Chinese, was the one who gifted Songsten Gampo with the Jowo Buddha sculpture.
