NYC exhibition depicts ancient Buddhist caves

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NEW YORK, USA -- The China Institute Gallery has been transformed into an ancient cave, taking visitors back more than a millennium to a dazzling world where Buddhist worshippers adorned the walls with colorful frescoes, silk prayer banners and lavishly painted life-size clay sculptures.

"Dunhuang: Buddhist Art at the Gateway of the Silk Road" features a replica of an 8th century cave carved into the limestone cliffs at the edge of the Gobi Desert southeast of the oasis town of Dunhuang from 366 to about 1300.

It is one of 735 Mogao Caves constructed during what is known as the high Tang period (705-781), designed for devout Buddhists to gather and worship. Nearly every inch is covered in art, with a canopy ceiling resplendent in floral and diamond shapes. One end is filled with life-sized sculptures of a Buddha flanked by two monk disciples wearing luxuriously patterned robes, two bare-chested figures and two ferocious-looking guardians in military armor.

While there have been exhibitions that have featured individual pieces from the Mogoa Caves, this is the first exhibition in the United States to put all the elements of the cave shrines into context, said Annette Juliano, a professor of Chinese art history at Rutgers University.

It shows the "relationship between the architecture, the pictures, the subject matter and the (ritual) practices . the actual use of the cave, rather than just an abstraction," added Juliano, who visited the caves for the first time in 1980.

Many of the caves are exquisitely preserved but others are fragile due to neglect over the centuries and the conditions of the surrounding desert and sand dunes. To protect them from further erosion, tourist access is limited to several dozen caves a day that are rotated regularly.

The exhibition also features a 6th-century replica of an elaborate square altar called the Central Stupa Pillar that highlights the religious ritual of circumambulation - an act of veneration - in which the faithful walk clockwise around the altar that contains four niches, each holding a Buddha.

"Walking around the stupa pillar helps to empty your mind to allow visualization, to focus on the images of the Buddhas," said Juliano, who contributed an essay to the exhibition catalog.

Exact, hand-painted reproductions of wall motifs and story scenes complete the exhibition space in this gallery. Among the highlights is a Thousand Buddha pattern that covers an entire wall and is symbolic of the deity's omnipresence. Among the narrative paintings is the tale of the Deer King and his journey toward enlightenment.

Authentic silk prayer banners, a handwritten Buddhist scripture in near mint condition, a Yuan dynasty fragment of a mathematical document, small clay figurines, Persian silver coins that bear witness to foreign travelers on the Silk Road, patterned floor tiles and oil lamps used to light the dark caves round out the small two-gallery exhibition.

The Mogao Cave shrines, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, were largely unknown in the West until they were discovered in 1900 by a Hungarian archaeologist, Sir Aurel Stein.

Dunhuang, located at the north and south crossroads of the Silk Road, was a strategic hub of trade and religion. Stein, who made several treks through Central Asia, had heard rumors of a cave room sealed in the 11th century containing tens of thousands of manuscripts, scrolls, silk paintings and textiles dating in Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit and other languages.

A local caretaker had uncovered the treasure trove after discovering a crack in the wall of a corridor leading to a larger cave. It's not clear why the room was sealed, but scholars speculate they were walled up to protect them from the threat of invasion from nomadic people.

Stein was able to persuade the caretaker to sell a portion of the material in exchange for money for the cave's upkeep. In subsequent years, almost 80 percent of the contents were taken out of the country by foreign adventurers. Today, the treasures are found in various museums and libraries around the world.

The exhibition, organized by the Dunhuang Academy, runs through July 21. A second exhibition in the fall will focus on paintings and sculptures by contemporary artists inspired by the caves.

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Gandhara Art Exhibition in Seoul

Esther Park settled down in Pakistan in 1999 and has never looked back she is pursuing her PHD. She has many a feathers in her cap in boosting the soft image of Pakistan all over the world.

She has written poems and co-authored books about Gandhara culture home of world oldest civilization. The selected photographs taken by Gulraiz Ghouri and German professor Dr Hauptman will be displayed during the month at an art exhibition at Na Mu gallery inside Jo Gye temple and will continue for 10 days.

The most interesting thing about the photographs is that it depicts the peace and tranquillity in Swat region in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province which has been disturbed since long owing to militancy.

The exhibition is done with the sole objective to give an insight off the area to Buddhist community in Korea which Esther Park believes can attract large numbers to Pakistan.

Buddhism in China, Korea and Japan has its birthplace in Pakistan and Monk Maranantha born in Chota Lahore, Mardan in Khyber Pukhtoonkwah was the person to spread Buddhism in all these three countries.

?The exhibition is special,? said Esther adding,? It is displayed in Seoul with Buddhist perspective in mind and its importance to Buddhism religion as a whole.?

The idea is to show the world that Pakistan has great religious tolerance and Buddhist religious places in the region are safe and there is no threat.

Esther Park has plans to write a book about the region covering the Buddhist perspective as there is no literature to date available about the area covering the Buddhism religion. The material available has been written by western writers and it lacks the Buddhist philosophy and faith.

The Mahayana Buddhism originated from Pakistan and Esther Park documented many a sites that are off great spiritual importance to Buddhists in Korea. She aspires to write the book for all Buddhism followers in China, Japan and Korea and is working on getting funding for the project.

Esther in her endeavours has also formed Gandhara Arts and Cultural Association which is headed by Anwer Saifullah Khan and association member Zulfiqar Rahim needs special mentioning who played a vital role in Esther Park endeavours in pursuing her passion about Gandhara civilization.

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Exhibition on Buddhist literature

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PATNA, India -- The Nav Nalanda Mahavihara, a esteemed university, will organize exhibitions and seminars on Buddhist literature with a view to popularizing Buddhist studies.

This was decided at a meeting of the Nav Nalanda Mahavihara Society held at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. Governor-cum-chancellor Devanand Konwar presided over the meeting.

Shantiniketan University professor of Buddhist Studies Suniti Kumar Pathak, HRD secretary S Shivkumar, superintending archaeologist S K Manjul, Mahavihara director R Panth and registrar S P Sinha attended the meeting.

The Mahavihara, which held its first convocation recently, would take necessary steps for all-round academic development and attracting talented students and researchers from all over the country. The details of the development plan would be placed before the managing board of the Mahavihara.

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