The Hidden Power Scene: The Dual-Seated Portrait of Emperor and Imperial Preceptor and Its Historical Role in Addressing Tibet's Political-Religious Crises
Abstract
This paper proposes an analytical framework that views Tibetan Buddhist civilization as a "pre-modern operating system" with inherent self-adjusting capabilities. From this perspective, monastic murals are defined as "iconographic programs" deployed by the system to respond to crises of legitimacy. This framework demonstrates how the system achieves the re-legitimation of power relations in response to external shocks by manipulating "site-specificity" (the embodied field of space and ritual) and utilizing "constructiveness" (the strategic reshaping of visual narratives). Centered on the narrative of the "Liangzhou Accord" (1247), this study employs an interdisciplinary approach combining visual close reading, historical context analysis, and conceptual decoding to examine its visual reconstruction during three major transitional periods: the Yuan, Qing, and modern eras. By analyzing three sets of "seated together" murals in the Pelkor Chode Monastery, the Potala Palace, and the Norbulingka, the paper reveals how elites translated political realities into sacred narratives using core cultural modules such as the "Two Truths" and the "Patron-Priest" relationship. The function of these iconographic programs exhibits a diachronic evolution: from the proactive foundation by the Sakya School, to the adaptive alignment of the Gelug School, and finally to dislocation and semiotic suspension in the context of modernity. This study provides an illuminating case for understanding the deep logic of how pre-modern civilizations conducted political negotiation and maintained order through visual art.