China/Tibet: Thangka of a bodhisattva of the Nyingma School, Lhasa, 18th century. The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the other three being the Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug. 'Nyingma' literally means 'ancient', and is often referred to as the 'school of the ancient translations' or the 'old school' because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century. The Tibetan script and grammar was actually created for this endeavour.

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