Thangkas are sacred scroll paintings used to help ordinary Buddhist practitioners with their religious practice, and are an important means of religious expression. Each sacred image acts as a focus and support for the practicing Buddhist's faith and is a reminder of the Buddhist's commitment to travel the path set by Buddha. Through the aid of thangkas, the practitioner benefits from acts of worship, and advances closer to the ultimate goal, through strengthened faith, deepened insight and purer vision.

The most important spot in the nomadic family's tent was the Buddhist shrine, a carefully tended wooden altar on which were arranged the family's sacred images. Over the alter hung sacred scroll paintings, and before the shrine, silver offering bowls and flickering butter lamps were placed.

The culture of Tibet can be viewed as a living fossil of an otherwise extinct civilization, preserved mainly because of great isolation. In a cool, dry climate, manuscripts and works of art could remain for centuries without noticeable decay. Tibetans also succeeded in keeping alive religious and intellectual currents that had long ago vanished from India, their source of origin. Even though isolated from the western world, Tibet maintained various contacts with its neighbors, making possible not only the development of traditional Buddhist culture but also a rich tradition of arts and crafts.

Painting occupied a very special position in the arts, because nowhere in traditional Tibet were superior artisans and their beautiful craftsmanship held in such high regard as in the centers of religious culture- the monasteries.

Ordinary Tibetans were often advised by their religious teachers to commission a painting for the removal of physical or mental obstacles, or to create the prerequisites for a long and healthy life. Thangkas were therefore requested for 3 main reasons:

1) sickness or troubles
2) death in the family
3) the need for an image in connection with a particular religious practice.

After the creation of the sacred image, the patron was often expected to practice the recitations and prayers appropriate for that deity. Many paintings were thus inspired by the universal human desire to avoid suffering, to gain happiness and longevity and to ensure a happy state of existence after death.

Those artists with basic skills and knowledge, in addition to possessing a flair for fine depictions of facial features and other details, could easily attract a surplus of commissions. Those always in demand, the most skilled of such artists, could transform an ordinary composition into something vibrant and extraordinary. As their fame spread far and wide, such gifted painters sometimes even acquired the reputation of being " divinely emanated artisans"