Tibet Museum holds photo exhibition on ‘Self-Manifested Jowo Wati Sangpo’ in Dharamshala

The Tibet Museum of the Tibetan government in-exile organised a photo exhibition titled “The Noble Self-Manifested Jowo Wati Sangpo” in Dharamshala on Wednesday. Secretary Lobsang Jinpa from the Office of the Dalai Lama inaugurated the exhibition.

Jowo Wati Sangpo is a special “self-arisen” statue of Avalokitesvara, that Tibetan spiritual leader the 14th Dalai Lama keeps with him close to his residence in Dharamshala. It is also placed in the main Tibetan temple, Tsughlakhang, on several important occasions.

According to historians, this is one of three celebrated statues in the presence of which the 5th Dalai Lama undertook an Avalokiteshvara retreat. During the retreat, he reputedly saw King Songtsen Gampo emerge from the heart of this Wati Sangpo statue. Jowo, the self manifested Noble Wati Sangpo was invited to Lhasa in 1656, in order to avoid the danger of Gorkha incrusion and the 5th Dalai Lama served as the caretaker of it.


Speaking to ANI, Tenzin Topdhen, the Director of Tibet Museum, spoke about the significance and objectives behind the exhibition. He said that significance of this exhibition is humongous as the self arisen Nobel Wati Sangpo is 1389 years old. He noted that many people have full faith in Jowo Wati Sangpo. However, some of them have weak knowledge about him.
He said, “This exhibition is about the nobel Wati Sangpo who is a self-arisen Jowo of Tibet. The significance of this exhibition is humongous because the self arisen Nobel Wati Sangpo himself is 1389 years old. It was during the 7th century when our 33rd King Songtsen Gampo invited Wati Sangpo from Godavari village in Nepal to Tibet and since then Jowo Wati Sangpo become one of the prime worship deity of Tibet and today we exhibit the biography about the Jowo Wati Sangpo because many people have religiously full faith in Jowo Wati Sangpo but many of them have a very weak knowledge about this legacy and contribution towards the Tibetan cause for 1389 years.”

“So, we the Tibet Museum tried to highlight few of important episodes of him in the Tibetan history. Right now this self arisen Nobel Jowo Wati Sangpo resides very close to his Holiness Dalai Lama’s residence. So his Holiness the Dalai Lama always says I am a messenger of this self arisen Nobel deity and when he recites some compassionate mantras or prayers he sometimes sees this self arisen Jowo Wati Sangpo smiling to him,” he added.
Thubten Nawang, a Tibetan research scholar, spoke about the historical challenges faced during the importation of this revered figure from Tibet and emphasised its invaluable status in Tibetan history. The monk, Nawang, has also written a book on Jowo Wati Sangpo which was released by the 14th Dalai Lama.

In an interview with ANI, Thubten Nawang said, “This exhibition is very interesting about the special statue of Jowo Wati Sangpo. Here we can see details about his biography, there are many texts and details about his clothes. There is a full dress displayed here which was offered by the 11th Dalai Lama. There are two maps that describe how it was brought to Tibet from Nepal in the 7th century and how it came to Dharamshala in India in 1959 when China occupied Tibet. So it’s quite interesting to see more than 1300 years old history here.”
It is believed that this statue changes its facial expressions. Asked about the facial expressions of the statue, Thubten Nawang further said, “I have composed a book regarding Jowo Wati Sangpo. I got three ancient biographies and I mentioned their experiences in the book also.”
“One Lama has written about five hundred years ago that sometimes the statue cries, sometimes it’s nail is long and sometimes it’s smiling and sometimes it looks like it’s very sad. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has also mentioned many times that this statue changes expressions. So we got real experience also,” he said.