High Road to Taos
Here are my three favorite images from a recent trip to Santa Fe to photograph its historic churches: St. Francis of Asis church at Taos, painted and photographed beautifully by many artists for its architecture (in the New Mexico light) Ceiling of San José de Gracia church at Las Trampas, decorated with 18th century designs [...]
Apsaras & Devatas
Apsaras and devatas are the two types of females represented at the Angkor temples. Apsaras are the nymph-like temple dancers and devatas are the statuesque temple guardians. Nearly 2,000 of them decorate Angkor Wat, and many more grace the temples Bayon, Ta Prohm, Banteay Srey, etc. The most striking thing about them is their humanity. [...]
Glorious Alchi
Alchi is the artistic gem of Ladakh. Its temples and stupas are filled with beautiful, well-preserved Buddhist artwork from the 11-12th centuries, pre-dating the Tibetan style that came later. It’s said to be one of the 108 temples founded by Rinchen Zangpo, the 10th century scholar and translator of Buddhist Sanskrit texts. The whole life [...]
Sengge-Gang at Lamayuru
Lamayuru is perhaps the oldest monastery in Ladakh, thought to be a site of the ancient Bön religion of Tibet. Legend has it that Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055), who is said to have built 108 temples in western Tibet, built two temples and five stupas at Lamayuru. One of thos is probably Sengge-Gang, whose wall paintings [...]
Sitapatara
This is the one of the few statues of Sitapatara in Ladakh. She’s from the 17th century and lives inside the shrine at Leh Palace. Sitapatara is worshipped in Tibetan Buddhism as a protectress from harm, diseases and evil spirits. Her hand gesture is symbolic of this. She looks like a female Avaloketesvara with the [...]
Fès Festival of World Sacred Music
One of the world’s top cultural and musical events, the annual Fès Festival of World Sacred Music brings together a wide range of performers, artists and intellectuals from around the globe for nine days in June in Morocco’s most historic city. The theme for the 17th festival was “Wisdoms of the World” and the musical [...]
Butter Sculptures
Torma are sculptures made of flour and butter used in rituals and as offerings in Tibetan Buddhism. They’re made for different purposes and symbolize different Buddhist concepts. After they’ve been “used” they’re placed outside and eaten by birds and animals.
Buddhist Caves at Ajanta & Ellora
Another batch from the archives! These are images from the ancient Buddhist rock-cut caves at Ajanta and Ellora, very famous places so I won’t elaborate.
Ancient Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi
Sanchi, a small village in the state of Madhya Pradesh, is home to some of the world’s oldest and most spectacular Buddhist monuments. The Great Stupa at Sanchi is the site’s main structure and was erected by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka in 250 BCE after his enthusiastic conversion to Buddhism. At its height the Maurya [...]
Norbulingka Institute
The Norbulingka Institute near Dharamsala was established to preserve Tibetan culture and traditional arts. It has workshops for thanka painting and appliqué, woodworking, metal sculpture and textiles, and produces top-notch work, all done by Tibetan refugees. There’s a beautiful shop where the goods are sold, a Buddhist temple, a doll museum, a delicious cafe, a [...]
Sumda Chun
Yesterday I hired a car/driver and traveled with a Ladakhi friend/guide to visit two remote monasteries west of Leh: Sumda Chun and Mangyu. Along with Alchi, they form a trilogy of early Tibetan Buddhist temples dating from the 11th century. The artwork of these temples is totally unlike the other Buddhist temples in the region [...]
Old Goa
This is my only good picture from Goa. It’s a baptismal font in one of the Portuguese churches of Old Goa.
12th Century Meditation Cave
Over the past few days I’ve traveled by bus to Saspol, a sweet little village about two hours from Leh, to photograph this meditation cave. The mountainside above Saspol is dotted with meditation caves and thankfully they’re off the tourist circuit. The one shown here is the largest and contains 12th century murals on all [...]
Sand Mandala
Today I went to check out the creation of a sand mandala at Thiksey Monastery. When I arrived at 8:30 this morning, about six monks were working on it and the middle part was already done. I stayed with them until 4:30. They fed me and talked with me and I tried not to get [...]
Future Buddha
Thiksey Monastery is one of the biggest and wealthiest in Ladakh. It’s of the Gelugpa order (same as the Dalai Lama) and has over 100 monks in residence. This is the three-story, 45 foot Maitreya (Future) Buddha by Ladakhi artist Nawang Tsering. It’s the queen bee of Buddhist sculptures here and probably the most iconic [...]
Central Institute of Buddhist Studies
In 1959, the year of the Chinese takeover of Tibet, the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies (commonly referred to as CIB) was established in Choglamsar, a suburb of Leh. CIB instructs students in Buddhist history and philosophy, traditional Tibetan medicine (Amchi), and the Buddhist arts of sculpture, painting and woodwork. It also acts as a [...]
