Buddhist Art News

This blog offers a monthly selection of Buddhist stories from the bloposphere. - Buddhist Art News

April 15th, 2008
welcome to the buddhist carnival, a selection of buddhist posts all over the blogosphere.

this month is poetry month. let's start with a zen poem, then, by p'ang yun, who lived from approximately 740 to 808 C.E.

when the mind is at peace,
the world too is at peace.
nothing real, nothing absent.
not holding on to reality,
not getting stuck in the void,
you are neither holy nor wise, just
an ordinary fellow who has completed his work.

you can find this and other zen poems at the zen frog. (more&)

Buddhist Studies - University of California, Berkeley
Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 5:00 pm
Marcus Bingenheimer, Dharma Drum Buddhist College, Taiwan
Buddhism and Technology - Attitudes, Philosophy, and Practices
3335 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley
Co-sponsored by the Center for Japanese Studies

Information technology slowly changes the ways of research and teaching in the Humanities. As new forms of scholarly publication and evaluation emerge, scholars in the Humanities are challenged to rethink the role of technology for their field. Taking cues from the philosophy of technology in the Western tradition, especially that of Martin Heidegger, this talk will probe the possibilities of a dialog between Buddhism and technology. The presentation will make the case for a critical and reflective attitude towards the use of technology and the chance for Buddhist Studies as academic discipline to play a mediating role in the emerging dialog.

Marcus Bingenheimers research interest lies mainly in the history of Buddhism and Buddhist historiography. Beyond that he is engaged in the task of editing and supervising the production of digital Buddhist texts and Buddhist study tools. Dr. Bingenheimer has published on Japanese and Chinese monks of the 7th and 8th century, the Chinese Buddhist historiographer Yinshun (1906-2005) and contemporary Buddhist whole-body relics in Taiwan. He has contributed an entry to the DDB on Yinshun.

A Buddhist arts event for children, in Chicago. - Buddhist Art News

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I love events that encourage children to explore art alongside parents. When the focus is cultural, even better. On April 20th, check out The Vision and Art of Shinjo Ito, a landmark world tour commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Shinjo Ito, a prominent Japanese artist and revered Buddhist Grand Master. Kids can play and explore among the 100 pieces of rare Buddhist art from Japan – including a 16-foot, gold-colored sculpture of a reclining Buddha – as they join in scavenger hunts, animal origami and coloring activities. They'll also have the chance to watch a koto player perform songs on the traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument. (more&)

“The greatest revelation for me was the quality of the artworks from Kashmir’s early Hindu and Buddhist past. For in the early centuries AD, the western Himalayas were not the culturally remote and provincial region they are today. Despite their physical isolation, these mountains and valleys were then a major crossroads where Hellenistic, Persian, Central Asian, Tibetan, Indian, and Chinese aesthetic traditions met and mixed together.”[link]

The New York Review of Books, Volume 55, Number 7 · May 1, 2008
William Dalrymple

The Arts of Kashmir
Catalog by Pratapaditya Pal of a recent exhibition at the Asia Society and Museum, New York City.
Asia Society/5 Continents, 224 pp., $55.00 (paper)

In November 1989, as a young journalist newly arrived in India, I was sent to Kashmir to cover a series of violent incidents in the state capital of Srinagar. Those protests turned out to be the beginning of the disastrous uprising against Indian rule that continues to smolder to this day. In the interval, it has left thousands dead, radicalized an entire region, and brought two nuclear powers to the brink of war.

At the time, however, the violence was still an amateur affair of young, largely secular-minded Muslims armed with unreliable homemade weapons —pistols fashioned from the steering shafts of rickshaws and so on. They were rising up in a disorganized fashion, from village to village, angry at the Indian government’s neglect of Kashmir’s dominantly Muslim population; its blatant rigging of the state’s elections; and its continuing refusal to hold a long-promised referendum on Kashmir’s future. (more…)

UB Post (Mongolia’s Weekly English News), Thursday, April 17, 2008.

Several prominent Mongolian artists will this week have their work displayed in South Korea's April Festival, in a move to build strong ties with the country.

To be held in Seoul from April 17 to 24, the exhibition involves contemporary artisans such as Ts.Enkhjar, G.Lkhagvasuren, Ts.Munkhjin, Ts.Enkhjin, Ts.Narmandakh and Sh.Chimedorj. (more&)

While “Japan’s government steered clear of the latest controversy, saying it was a matter for the Nagano authorities and the International Olympic Committee” “local government official Kunihiko Shinohara said he was “shocked” by the temple’s move.” (AFP News, 18 Apr 2008). The government’s silence implies that this decision was local: from the community and temple. We wonder if this instance of Buddhist protest will inspire a similar reply from other temples across Asia, e.g., the Wat Pho (The Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, both scheduled on the torch route on 19 April. Perhaps a more likely rallying point is the city’s Democracy Monument, also along the route. - Buddhist Art News

Japanese Temple Refuses Olympic Torch

ABC News, By CHISAKI WATANABE Associated Press Writer
TOKYO Apr 18, 2008 (AP)

The Associated Press - A major Japanese Buddhist temple withdrew Friday from a plan to host the Beijing Olympics torch relay, citing safety concerns and sympathy among its monks and worshippers for Tibetan protesters facing a Chinese crackdown.

Zenkoji Temple has refused to serve as the starting point for the April 26 relay, said Kunihiko Shinohara, secretary-general of the Nagano city organizing committee for the event. The relay has drawn protests around the world against Chinas crackdown on Tibetan demonstrators.

“We respect the temple’s decision. This means the starting point will change,” he said after he met with Zenkoji monks. (more…)

eTirths website offers a Pilgrimage guide to the temples of India. - Buddhist Art News

April 10, 2008

Deities: Lord Shiva, Vishnu
Location: Hajo, Assam
Built in: 1583
Built by: King Raghu Deva
Best time to visit: October to April
STD Code: 0361

Hayagriva Mahadeva temple of Hajo is about 30 miles to the west of Guwahati. It is situated on the Monikut hill near Hajo of Kamrup district.

It is known that the temple was constructed by the King Raghu deva Narayan in 1583. According to some other historians. King of Pala dynasty constructed it in 6th century. It is a stone temple and it enshrines an image of Hayagriva Mahadeva.The rows of elephants are seen on the body of the temple and they are fine specimens of Assamese art.

This temple is important for both the Hindu and the Buddhist community. Within the temple is an image of Vishnu which quiet closely resembles the one at Jagannath Temple in Puri in Orissa. For the Buddhist of the region, the temple is important because they believe that it was here that the Buddha attained Nirvana. The temple suffered destruction at the hands of Kalapahar who was also responsible for destroying a number of other temples in India. (more&)

This is London, 14 April 2008
By Vicky Shaw

The exhibition will celebrate Tibet's history, religion and culture

Photographs of Tibet's history, religion and culture and the consequences of Chinese rule go on display next month.

Tibets Forgotten World will take place at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington Gore, south-west London, on May 22.

The free event aims to show Tibets rich culture, architecture, Buddhist religion and its various traditions, including festivals and opera. (more&)

A movie review from the website Kung Fu Cinema. - Buddhist Art News

The Monkey Goes West (1966)
Movie Reviews | by Mark Pollard | 2008.04.14

When the mighty Shaw Brothers take on one of China's greatest literary treasures, something magical is bound to happen. THE MONKEY GOES WEST is the first entry in the studio's epic, three-part screen adaptation of "Journey to the West," a 16th-century novel recounting the efforts of a Buddhist monk and his magical companions to travel to India and bring back Buddhist sutras. The story is essentially China's "Odyssey," "Wizard of Oz" and "Pilgrim's Progress" all rolled into one. The film is a boisterous adventure classic for adults, rich in colorful characters, lush SB production design, vintage fantasy special effects, and cheerful Chinese operatic tunes. (more&)

Buddhist Studies - University of California, Berkeley
Saturday, April 19, 2008, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Symposium on Literati Buddhism in Middle-Period China
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor
Co-sponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies
Institute of East Asian Studies
Townsend Center for the Humanities

This conference seeks to examine the intersection between elite culture and Buddhism in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. This relationship has several dimensions: literati who pursued Buddhism as a complement or alternative to state-sanctioned studies; engagement with Confucian learning by Buddhist monks; the role of Buddhist sites in literary and artistic imaginations; the use of poetry and calligraphy by Buddhist monks; the role of Buddhist monasteries, temples, and cloisters in local society; and the material instantiations of the relations between monks and the literati.

Detailed conference information is available at