All ‘Buddhist Iconography’ posts

Swayambhu Stupa from a new angle

Friday, May 9th, 2014

This incredible video shows the holiest site in Kathmandu, Nepal – the Swayambhu Stupa – from a completely new angle. Enjoy!

Karma Gardri Sculpture Style

Thursday, December 19th, 2013
4th Shamarpa, Chodrag Yeshe Palzang

4th Shamarpa, Chodrag Yeshe Palzang

The Himalayan Art Resource website recently added a page for Karma Gardri sculpture style. One can find beautiful examples of sculptures of previous incarnations of the Karmapa and Shamarpa. Some examples can be seen below (click to enlarge).

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Lama Jampa Thaye speaks about Buddhist Art at Statue Exhibition in Kennington

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

At the exhibition of Buddhist art in Kennington entitled “Space for Mind, Space for Art: treasures of Tibetan Buddhism, and contemporary responses“, on 29 May 2012, there was a great programme of events and talks about Buddhist art.
We were honoured to have as keynote speaker at the private view Lama Jampa Thaye, a scholar and meditation master trained in the Sakya and Karma Kagyu traditions of Buddhism, who found time in his busy schedule to visit the exhibition and give this wonderful welcoming speech:

The event, a display of some of the finest Buddhist statues ever exhibited in London, was hosted by Diamond Way Buddhism UK. As part of the exhibition, several striking pieces of contemporary art were shown next to the Tibetan Buddhist statues and thangkas. The exhibition was held at The Spring, on Vauxhall Walk in the Kennington area of SE11.

A full report of the event along with photographs will follow soon!

Radiant Goddess and Black Coat

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
Black Coat in union with Radiant Goddess

Black Coat in union with Radiant Goddess

This 19th Century thangka from Eastern Tibet is in the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art. Today’s update to the Himalayan Art Resource website states:

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Karma Kagyu Meditation Forms

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

The pictures below show some of the most common forms used in the meditation practices of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Buddhism. They are from the website www.thanka.buddhizmusma.hu.

Click on any of the thumbnails to enlarge the image.

16th Karmapa Thangka2nd Karmapa ThangkaRadiant Goddess ThangkaBlack Coat ThangkaKarma Kagyu Refuge Tree ThangkaDiamond Mind ThangkaLoving Eyes ThangkaRed Wisdom ThangkaHighest Bliss Thangka

Top row, left to right: 16th Karmapa, 2nd Karmapa, Black Coat in union with Radiant Goddess. Middle row left to right: Black Coat, the Karma Kagyu Refuge Tree, Diamond Mind. Bottom row left to right: Loving Eyes, Red Wisdom, Buddha of Highest Bliss in union with Red Wisdom.

Painting of the 10th Shamarpa Mipham Chodrup Gyamtso

Sunday, June 19th, 2011
10th Shamarpa Mipham Chodrup Gyamtso

10th Shamarpa Mipham Chodrup Gyamtso

This beautiful thangka painting of the 10th Shamarpa Mipham Chodrup Gyamtso (1742-1792), in the Karma Gardri style of Eastern Tibet, was painted in the middle of the 18th Century, and is currently on display at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

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Painting of Gyalwa Gyamtso “Almighty Ocean”

Thursday, May 12th, 2011
Gyalwa Gyamtso

Gyalwa Gyamtso

This exceptional 19th Century thangka, from the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, was painted in Eastern Tibet according to the Karma Gardri tradition. It depicts the single form of “Almighty Ocean”, in Tibetan “Gyalwa Gyamtso” or in Sanskrit “Jinasagara”. Almighty Ocean is a red form of Loving Eyes (Tib. Chenresig, Skt. Avalokiteshvara), the buddha of compassion.

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10th Karmapa Choying Dorje – painting by Pema Rinzin

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
10th Karmapa by Pema Rinzin

10th Karmapa by Pema Rinzin

This impressive thangka painting of the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje was recently uploaded to the New York Tibetan Art Studio blog. It was painted by world-renowned master Tibetan thangka painter and contemporary artist Pema Rinzin. Rinzin’s depth of knowledge and personal mastery of Himalayan art – with its rarely practiced preparation and application of traditional stone ground pigments – is widely recognized by institutions and individual scholars as rare and exceptional.

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