Looking at Art

My meeting with Sakya Trizin was postponed until tomorrow morning because of the lengthy preparations for the seven day Vajra Nairatmya ritual at Sakya Center, Rajpur. That however didn't postpone my lecture this afternoon. It was strange to be lecturing to over 120 monks in a place that I used to call home. I have lectured to monks before but not that many. Their ages ranged from kids to adults. I had to vary the lecture so as to include everybody equally as the targeted audience.

The first image above is of Avalokliteshvara belonging to the RMA. The second image below is from a set of nine paintings sometimes thought to have been originally created or commissioned by Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne. The painting is in a Chinese style although almost any painting associated with Situ Panchen is incorrectly said to be in a Karma Gadri style. There are many reasons for this, too many to discuss at this time. This second painting is a recent Tibetan copy of an older painting located at a monastery in Eastern Tibet. The only other known painting (photographed) like this is in the Rubin Museum of Art (see first image). Don and I purchased it specifically for the Situ Panchen exhibition which is currently showing. It will be interesting to carefully compare the two images.

The lower painting is of the 5th Khamtrul Rinpoche and done in a Cho Tashi style from Khampa Gar in Eastern Tibet. (Cho Tashi was a famous Drugpa Kagyu artist from the 17th/18th century). The colours are rich, thick, applied heavily and the composition makes full use of the entire canvas unlike the paintings from Palpung that are called Karma Gadri style.