Refuge tree

Each lineage has its own distinctive form of composition but they usually include the "Three Jewels" (Sanskrit: triratna): Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the "Refuges" common to all major schools of Buddhism.

In this text, he described the Field of Accumulation in a configuration on the peak of a tree[1] with Shakyamuni Buddha representing the Root Lama as the main figure.

[2] These rows consist of eight classes of beings: Gurus, Yidams, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Pratyekabuddhas, Sravakas and Sthaviras, Dakas, and Dharmapalas.

[2] A popular Gelug structure of the Refuge Tree composition also includes three separate assemblies of teachers above the main figure.

The Karma Kagyu Refuge Field was described in the form of a five-branched tree by 9th Karmapa, Wangchug Dorje in his 16th-century texts Lhancig Kyejor Tri (Wylie: lhan cig skyes sbyor khrid) and Paglam Dropa’I Shingta (Wylie: ‘phags lam bgrod pa’I shing rta).

Based on known examples of Karma Kagyu Refuge Trees, it appears that the type of composition became popular in the sect only after Jamgon Kongtrul wrote the 19th century text, Ngedon Dronme (Wylie: nges don sgron me, English: The Torch of Certainty[4]) a commentary on the 9th Karmapa's texts.

The earliest known paintings of Nyingma Refuge Trees appear to be from the 19th century and are based on the description from the Longchen Nyingtig preliminary practices as explained in The Words of My Perfect Teacher[5] by Patrul Rinpoche.