Boundless Weaving: Buddhist Visual Culture in a Tibetophone World, 9th to 13th Century

Abstract

This dissertation examines the pivotal role of Tibetan Buddhists in shaping the Buddhist visual culture of medieval Inner Asia from the mid-ninth to the early thirteenth century, a period traditionally perceived as politically fragmented and unstable. Challenging the conventional historiographical models that portray Tibet as experiencing religious and cultural rupture after the collapse of the Tibetan Empire, this study argues that it was during the period that Tibetans emerged as key intermediaries in the transmission and transformation of Indian esoteric texts and images, weaving them into an expansive religious and visual network throughout Inner Asia. Integrating visual, textual, and archaeological sources, this dissertation is organized into four case studies. Chapter One reassesses the Tibetan “Dark Age” by analyzing the recently excavated Bumpache Paintings from Central Tibet, revealing artistic and cultural continuities in the post-imperial period Tibet that question the traditional narratives of the region’s sudden decline. Chapters Two through Four trace how esoteric Buddhist imagery was transformed through innovative and localized reinterpretations among Tibetophone Buddhist communities across Inner Asia. Chapter Two examines the evolving iconography of the Crowned Buddha, demonstrating its fluid adaptability across diverse textual traditions. Chapter Three explores the evolution of Sitātapatrā from a protective dhāraṇī to a fully personified icon, a transformative shift inspired by a significant collection of newly translated sādhana texts, which provide unique and precise depictions of various tantric deities. Chapter Four revisits the so-called “Dance of the Sixteen Heavenly Devils” at the Mongol court, not only by tracing its origins to Indo-Tibetan esoteric ritual manuals, but also by studying how the visual representations of the assembly were formalized and standardized in the mid-twelfth century Tangut-Xixia State. At the core of this study is the concept of the “Tibetophone world,” a transregional and transcultural network in which the Tibetan language functioned as a lingua franca for the study and practice of Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism in medieval Inner Asia. Through case studies in Dunhuang, the Tangut-Xixia State, and Mongol-ruled China, this dissertation not only foregrounds the agency of Tibetan Buddhists in shaping a cohesive religious and visual tradition. At the same time, it also demonstrates that the Tibetophone world was not a monolithic Tibetan construct, but a collaborative space where diverse ethnic groups—including Tibetans, Chinese, Tanguts, Mongols, and others—actively participated in transforming Buddhism and its visual culture. By doing so, this study redefines the concept of “Tibetan,” not as a fixed ethnic or geographic category, but as a fluid and evolving cultural identity shaped by sustained transregional exchange.