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Statue making master Penpa Dorje

As a child in Tibet, Penpa Dorje fashioned images of clay and mud while watching his family's herds. In 1973, he was confirmed as TibetÌs master statue maker by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Norbulingka Institute provides the environment that a master like Penpa Dorje requires to do his work. In Tibet, such masters worked with a team of several artists supported by the guild system. In exile, Norbulingka Institute is in a unique position to provide the support necessary to maintain a team of artists and apprentices who can create colossal gilded copper statues. The fourteen-foot statue of Buddha Shakyamuni in the main temple of Norbulingka Institute required more than a year of work by the master and four artists and apprentices.

Beaten from sheets of copper, the disassembled parts of a metal statue are gilded using traditional Tibetan techniques. A mixture of mercury and gold is applied to the copper, and the mercury burned away, leaving only the gold. The dull finish is hand-polished to a brilliant shine and the faces are painted with gold paint. The inner surfaces of the statueÌs parts are coated with an auspicious mixture of plants and a prayer and offering ceremony is performed. Medicinal plants, printed mantras and offerings are placed inside the statue as it is assembled. Built in a manner that allows easy disassembly, some of the metal statues that exist in refugee communities today may one day be carried to a free Tibet.

Statues of religious figures are central to Tibetan culture. We derive great personal happiness and merit by making contributions towards the construction of a sacred image for a personal altar or monastic temple. In Tibet, where the guilds have been eliminated and the arts are suppressed, these grand works are no longer undertaken. Today, few people have the knowledge, skills and support to accomplish this work, so NorbulingkaÌs statue makers dedicate themselves to providing sacred images to the Tibetan community and practitioners of Buddhism around the world.