For the glory of Buddha

South China Morning Post
Sunday, 28 December, 2003, 12:00am

Critically acclaimed Thai artist Pichai Nirand has a passion for paint. Jason Gagliardi delves into his world

PICHAI NIRAND IS the Thai art world’s quiet achiever: a painter of surprising versatility and prodigious imagination who couldn’t care less about fads, fashions or critical acclaim. So it’s hardly surprising that he shrugs off congratulations for being named a Thai National Artist this month – an honour reserved solely for the kingdom’s most treasured and time-proven talents – with a shy smile and mumbled deprecations.

‘Honours are nice, I suppose,’ says Pichai, a spry, wiry 67, ‘but for me, it is enough simply to paint. It’s how I can best serve Buddhism and also find a place of harmony for myself.’ Pichai’s vast canvasses are studies in symmetry and beauty, of rebirth, promise and hope. He creates intricate abstractions with brush strokes of purple, turquoise and blue, lined by shimmering gold leaf.

With no resources to protect it, Pakistan struggles with smuggled Buddhist relics

Pakistani officials look at Buddha statues confiscated by custom authorities in Karachi, Pakistan. Lacking the necessary cash and manpower, Pakistan is struggling to stem the flow of millions of dollars in ancient Buddhist artifacts that shadowy criminal gangs dig up from the country’s northwest and smuggle to collectors around the world. AP Photo/B.K. Shakil Adil. By: Sebastian Abbot and Zarar Khan, Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP).-

2012, The Associated Press

Lacking the necessary cash and manpower, Pakistan is struggling to stem the flow of millions of dollars in ancient Buddhist artifacts that looters dig up in the country’s northwest and smuggle to collectors around the world.

The black market trade in smuggled antiquities is a global problem that some experts estimate is worth billions of dollars per year. The main targets are poor countries like Pakistan that possess a rich cultural heritage but don’t have the resources to protect it.

The illicit excavations rob Pakistan of an important potential source of tourism revenue, as valuable icons are spirited out of the country, and destroy any chance for archaeologists to document the history of the sites.

“We are facing a serious problem because Pakistan is a vast country, and we have very meager resources,” said Fazal Dad Kakar, head of the government’s department of archaeology and museums. “We have no manpower to watch the hundreds of Buddhist sites and monasteries in the country, most of which are located in isolated valleys.”

“Painting without the Painter” at Atlanta Soto Zen Center

“Painting without the Painter,” an exhibition of 24 original, fine art images conjured by Atlanta’s only fully transmitted Soto Zen priest, Reverend Zenkai Taiun Michael Joseph Elliston Rōshi in collaboration with sumi ink and the fundamental forces of nature. Each image is a visual koan for viewers to decipher; a tool to dissolve the barriers to enlightenment.

· Exhibition Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 1pm to 5pm from October 12 to November 18; Private tours by appointment

Location
Atlanta Soto Zen Center | 1167 C/D Zonolite Place | Atlanta, Georgia 30306 | 404-532-0040

Korean calligraphy on display in Flushing

PHOTO BY FLUSHING COUNCIL ON CULTURE AND THE ARTS
Master calligrapher Oegil Kim Kyeong Ho’s work will be on display at the exhibition.

Queens Chronicle
Posted: Thursday, October 4, 2012 10:30 am

by Dovilas Bukauskas, Chronicle Contributor | 0 comments
Flushing Town Hall will open the Korean Traditional Illuminated Sutra exhibition with a reception on Oct. 12 that will kick off its series of Korean cultural events.
“Samadhi + Art = Sagyeong,” where “Samadhi” refers to a meditative state of consciousness, will feature 55 traditional Korean Sagyeong Buddhist sutra artworks, which are painted with silver and gold. Sutra refers to the basic texts of Buddhist scripture. Later that night, Oegil Kim Kyeong Ho, president of the Korean Sutra Transcription Research Association, will lecture the crowd on this ancient Korean art’s traditional techniques.

Kim is not just a figurehead for the organization. As Town Hall explains, he is “a sole holder of the distinguished title of Korea Traditional Skills Transmitter designated by the Korean Ministry,” making him a living, breathing example of Korea’s historical cultural heritage.

Asia-Pacific Traditional Arts Festival Special Exhibition:Dunhuang Cave and Buddha Sculptures

At the 2012 Asia-Pacific Traditional Arts Festival (Taiwan)

Buddhist art began from India as a method to disseminate the deeds of the Buddha and the doctrine of Buddhism. After Buddhism spread to China in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the concerted efforts of monks, believers, royal and noble families, traders, travelers, adventurists, artists, and artisans, the Buddhist grotto art started and flourished in caves in Dunhuang, Yungang, Longmen, Maijishan and Dazhu in Sichuan, and has left countless extraordinary Buddhist buildings, sculptures and paintings glorifying the Chinese art history and becoming the treasures of human civilization. Buddhist art in China thus shines over the world art history forever and ever.

Film screening: The Sacred Sites of the Dalai Lamas

At Cinema Arts Centre (Long Island, NY)
Date: October 17, 2012
Schedule: Showtimes (change daily)

Wednesday, October 17 at 7:30pm
Trailer: WATCH NOW
A Pilgrimage to the Oracle Lake

An amazing cinematic journey to the sacred caves where where the early Buddhist masters meditated and achieved enlightenment

Guest Speaker: CARIN WINTER, Owner, Embrace Yoga

$10 Members / $15 Public
Tickets also available at 800-838-3006, or at the CAC Box Office

Join a remarkable pilgrimage visiting the sacred sites of the Dalai Lamas in Tibet.This fascinating journey explores the caves where the early Buddhist masters meditated and achieved enlightenment. Enter the monasteries where the Dalai Lamas and others taught, and – at an altitude of over 17,000 feet – look down into the famous Oracle Lake of Lhamo Lhatso where every Dalai Lama had prophetic visions.

“An outstanding work of art. A ‘must see’ film for anyone interested in Buddhism, Tibet, or Tibetan culture and its people.” – Elephant Journal

“Visually rich…offers a glimpse of things so rarely seen…is probably the closest one can get without actually going on a pilgrimage.” – Tricycle Magazine

[link]

East’s excavations suggest Buddhism was early bird

remnants of statues at sella katharagama Kovil

The Island (Sri Lanka)
By Sandun Jayawardana Sunday, 07 October 2012

Three years after the end of the war, archaeologists are hard at work in the country’s Eastern province. Teams from the Department of Archaeology have been exploring areas that were previously inaccessible for decades due to fighting. As these excavations are taking place, controversies regarding the history of these areas and who exactly arrived first are once again starting to arise.

Some historians and archaeologists claim that there were a large number of Buddhist temples in the region which were subsequently destroyed by invading armies from South India, whose leaders built Hindu temples on top of the ruins of the Buddhist places of worship. This claim is in turn disputed by others, who say that Hinduism in the region predates Buddhism by centuries.

Take a look at Adam Yauch’s “Bodhisattva Vow” skateboard decks…

Detail of Adam Yauch/Bucky Lasek collaboration: Lyrics to “Bodhisattva Vow” on skateboard ridden by X Games multi-medalist and Tibetan Freedom advocate Bucky Lasek. Image Copyright © Tony Hawk Foundation 2012. Photo by Miki Vuckovich, courtesy of Tony Hawk Foundation.

Shambhala Sun

Last month, we told you about how three skateboard decks customized, triptych-style, by the late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch — in collaboration with skater Bucky Lasek (a voice for pro-Tibetan freedom, just as Yauch was) — were to be auctioned by the Tony Hawk Foundation. Originally, no photos were available but the Foundation has shared with us a couple of shots of what awaits the highest bidder.

The Matho Museum Project: An Innovative Approach to Restoring Buddhist Art

Asian Art Newspaper, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 – 18:02

LADAKH IS accurately described as a remote border land of Northern India, hidden amongst formidable mountain ranges. Yet despite its isolation, it is strategically located between some of the most important mercantile towns of South and Central Asia. For hundreds of years, caravans journeyed across the Ladakhi area carrying salt, spices and silk, but it was also along this route that Buddhism and diverse artistic traditions travelled. Ladakh was connected to the Silk Road cities of Kashgar and Khotan, to Guge in Western Tibet, Kashmir in India and to the great Buddhist centres of Gandhara, Gilgit and Uddiyana. Consequently, stylistic elements from all these areas are apparent in the art of Ladakh. Here, overlooking the Indus valley, the Matho Monastery has been a haven for followers of the Sakya order of Tibetan Buddhism since the 15th century and is home to an important oracle in the region.

Missionaries of the great Emperor Ashoka are believed to have introduced Buddhism into Ladakh during the 3rd century BC and Ladakh was crucial to the transmission of Buddhism from India to Tibet, in both its 1st and 2nd diffusions. Monasteries flourished and Ladakh became an enclave of the Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist tradition which focuses on the Buddhist tantras as opposed to the sutras through which it is said to be possible to attain enlightenment in a single lifetime. Because of its location within India, Matho and many important monasteries with diverse stylistic collections of art have escaped the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.

The Kapilavasthu Buddha relics and Sir Alexander Cunningham

The Island (Sri Lanka)
September 28, 2012, 12:00 pm

by Upali K. Salgado

An unforgettable event of recent time was the veneration of Sakyamuni Gotama Buddha’s relics that had been found about one hundred and fifty years ago, at Kapilawasthupura, the home of the Great Master. The unshakeable devotion or Sardha, Buddhists displayed, standing patiently in very long queues, each over three kilometers long for about eight hours, and also the spirit of giving dane, and karuna, shown during day and at night time by simple folk to comfort the weary devotees with handouts of biscuits and water was truly heart warming. When seeing all this activity happen, I silently gave thanks to a famous British Archaeologist, Gen. Sir Alexander Cunningham, KCIE, CSI. He was born in 1814 and served in British India, being decorated in 1847 when the Anglo Sikh war took place. Remembering him today, 127 years after his demise, this story will interest many a Buddhist.