Mi la ras pa's representation in Mang yul Gung thang xylographs: Preliminary remarks on the stylistic changes of 'the Laughing Vajra'

This essay stems from two correlated projects, namely Tibetan Book Evolution and Technology (TiBET) and Transforming Technologies and Buddhist Book Culture: The Introduction of Printing and Digital Text Reproduction in Tibetan Societies, both based at the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit (University of Cambridge) between 2010 and 2015. This essay focuses on Mi la ras pa’s illustrations found in xylographs printed in the Mang yul Gung thang kingdom (South-Western Tibet) in the 16th Century. It examines sixteen images of Mi la ras pa produced in four different printing houses between 1540-41 and 1581, and divides them into two stylistic types, the former of which is in turn divided into two subtypes. Illustrations are analysed according to some recurrent elements.