Tibetan Buddhist Art and Modern Art Buddhas

The Hermitage- Buddhist events, retreats as well as my personal house in the Wisconsin countryside. Consecrated land dedicated for Buddhist activities and meditation. Norbu Retreat House, located a few minutes from the Hermitage on 65 wooded acres will be ready spring of 2011.

Tibetan Buddhist art is meant to be standardized with traditional proportions and coloring. They are meditation references that relate to the qualities and 32 marks of the Buddha and uplift the mind. I can appreciate some of the modern art Buddhas but really... so many do not depict serenity, wisdom and peace. Instead they show the face of the artist... sensual, distorted, suspicious, druggy looking eyes... blech!! ~~~~
""Tibetische buddhistische Kunst soll einem Standard entsprechen und traditionelle Proportionen und Farben haben. Diese sind Hinweise für die Meditation, die sich auf die Qualitäten und 32 Zeichen eines Buddha beziehen und den Geist erheben. Einige der Buddhas in der modernen Kunst gefallen mir, aber wirklich... so viele von ihnen stellen keine Heiterkeit, Weisheit oder Frieden dar. Stattdessen zeigen sie das Gesicht des Künstlers... sinnlich, verzerrt, misstrauisch, mit bedröhnt aussehenden Augen... Schrott!!" - Domo Geshe Rinpoche ---"

Comments

  1. carolegs52December 31, 2010 at 9:41 AM

    As an artist and a Buddhist I appreciate this point of view.
    So much of art is essentially a statement of the artist's ego: "Look! I AM!"
    In my painting I might be painting a self-portrait as an assignment, but I look for what is beyond myself in my work. Not always easy to find.

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