Shashi Dhoj Tulachan, called ''Guru Nawang Chhogyall Tenzin'', is the spiritual leader of the

Chhairo gompa Chhairo Monastery (, THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription, THL Tsérok Monastery) was the first monastery of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism founded in Upper Mustang. It was established in the 16th century and is part of present-day Mustan ...

, of

Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...

Tibetan Buddhism, having been given responsibility for the Gompa by the current incarnation who is not a practising lama. He is also responsible for three gompas in Tukuche, his home village on the right bank of the Kali Gandaki, and in the Annapurna trail: *

Sambha gompa Location Kamtsang Dargye Choekhorling Monastery, known locally as Sambha (Samba, Sampa) gompa (goenpa), is situated in Mustang district, Tukuche Village development committee (Nepal), Village development committee (VDC), in the Western Develo ...

(

Karmapa The Karmapa Tulku lineage of the Gyalwa Karmapa is the oldest among the major incarnating lineages of Tibetan Buddhism,The Karmapa, "The Karmapas Lineage", Kagyu Office established in 1110 CE by the 1st Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa. Karmapa means " ...

Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. ...

) - instituted in 1935 * Rani gompa * Mahakala gompa - instituted in 1930 by four members of the Tulachan family including Shashi Dhoj's father, Kamal Dhoj Tulachan

Family heritage

Lama Shashi is a master in Buddhist

thangka A ''thangka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा) is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala. Thangkas are traditionally kept unframed and rolled ...

painting and is committed to re-establishing residential monk community at

. The Tulachan family is from the neighbouring village of

Tukuche Tukuche, sometimes spelt Tukche, is a village development committee in Mustang District in the Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepa ...

, to the south and comes from a long line of Buddhist artists. His father, Kamal Dhoj Tulachan, and grandfather are responsible for many wall paintings and statues to be found in gompas, chortens and private household shrines in villages of the Thak Kola (upper

Kali Gandaki The Gandaki River, also known as the Narayani and Gandak, is one of the major rivers in Nepal and a left-bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Its total catchment area is , most of it in Nepal. In the Nepal Himalayas, the Gandaki is notable f ...

) area.

Shashi began by assisting his father and elder brother, Krsna Dhoj Tulachan, aged 9, accompanying them to villages around Mustang. By the age of 18 he had received his first solo assignment to paint the Mani Lha K'an of Gemi village,

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...

Mustang monasteries

Evidence of Shashi Dhoj's work in monasteries and gompas of the Mustang area are recorded extensively in RK Rai's 1994 inventory of monasteries in Mustang.

Statuary

Lama Shashi's statue work can be seen at

Lumbini Lumbinī (, "the lovely") is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of Lumbini Province in Nepal. The Buddhist commentaries state that Maya Devi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini around 624 BCE. Gautama is bel ...

and he designs many of the Buddhist statues produced at Karma Samtenling monastery in Kathmandu. A number of his buddhist paintings have been exhibited internationally.

International exhibitions

Nine oversized thangka drawings from the Tibetan Karma Ghadri school of religious painting have been exhibited at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California since 2013.

Japan mandalas

Mandalas painted by Shashi Dhoj Tulachan and his brother Cakra Dhoj Tulachan, are the centrepiece of the Toga Meiso no Sato meditation centre in Toga mura,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Four 4 metre by 4 metre Mandala Thangkas were painted in Toga mura (Toga village), Toyama prefecture over 18 months in 1988 and 1989. The themes of the four mandalas are of: * The Tibetan Book of the Dead * Sukhavati (Amiitabha's Pure Land) * Vajradhatu Mandala (Diamond Realm Mandala) * Garbhadhatu Mandala (

Womb Realm The Mandala of the Two Realms (Traditional Chinese: 両界曼荼羅; Pinyin: ''Liǎngjiè màntúluó''; Rōmaji: ''Ryōkai mandara''), also known as the Mandala of the Two Divisions (Traditional Chinese: 両部曼荼羅; Pinyin: ''Liǎngbù mà ...

Mandala) Shashi Dhoj returned to Toga mura, a sister village of Tukuche; Shashi Dhoj Tulachan's home village; in April 1991 for the opening of the meditation centre. He returned again in 1994 to paint a Mandala of the Two Realms, combining Japanese and Tibetan styles.Togamura brochure (Japanese) n.d.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tulachan, Shashi Dhoj Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Tibetan Buddhists from Nepal Nepalese Buddhist monks Lamas