The bla ma mchod pa tshogs zhing in the Sangs rgyas ye shes’s tradition. An univestigated dge lugs pa tradition

ABSTRACT In the Dge lugs pa tradition, the bla ma mchod pa is an instruction related to the higher yogatantra class. The bla ma mchod pa literature mainly stems from the root text of the First Paṇ chen Bla ma Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan (1567–1662), to which almost all the images connected to the tshogs zhings, that is the representation of a spiritual field for the accumulation of merits, can be ascribed. However, the Paṇ chen Bla ma’s root guru Sangs rgyas ye shes (1525–1590) also codified a bla ma mchod pa text. His instruction on the tshogs zhing are quite different compared to his disciple’s tradition. Yet, today only a few images dated to the 19th-century can be related to Sangs rgyas ye shes’s instructions. In this paper I propose a first comparison between the 16th century Sangs rgyas ye shes’s text and one of these late images, a starting point for a research on an almost completely unknown tradition.