The Buddhist art of Pakistan (Lahore Museum)

Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Team No Limit Creativity, Business Consultants (NLC360.com, facebook); LahoreMuseum.org (VIRTUAL TOUR)

Lahore Museum exhibits (lahoremuseum.org/No Limit Creativity/NLC360.com)

Lahore Museum Virtual Tour (No Limit Creativity, business consultants, NLC360.com)

 
The Lahore Museum (لاہور میوزیم لاہور عجائب گھر) was originally established in 1865-66 on the site of the hall of the 1864 Punjab Exhibition (Government of Pakistan).
 

Maitreya, 5th cent. BCE (MOW)

It was shifted in 1894 to its present site on The Mall in Lahore, in the Punjab region of India (which 1947's Partition became the country of Pakistan due to upheavals created by British colonial rule).

Rudyard Kipling's father, John Lockwood Kipling, was one of the earliest and most famous curators of the museum. Over 250,000 visitors were registered in 2005. The current building complex that houses the Lahore Museum was designed by the well-known architect Sir Ganga Ram.

Gandhara Buddhist art (WQ)

The Museum is the biggest museum in the new country and full of exquisite Gandhara (Greco-Indian fusion) art. Many rooms have been under repair for a long time, and others still show a rather old-fashioned and often rudimentary display of objects, with captions only in Urdu (the local language).

There are important relics from the Indus Valley Civilization (Indus River Valley), Ghandara and Greco-Bactrian periods as well as some Tibetan and Nepalese work on display. The museum has a number of Greco-Buddhist sculptures, Mughal and Pahari paintings on display. The Fasting Buddha from the Ghandara period is one of the most famous objects of the museum. More

What was Gandhāra?

Gandhāra (Sanskrit गन्धार, Pashto ګندارا‎, Urdu گندھارا‎) was an ancient kingdom in the Swat and Kabul river valleys and the Pothohar Plateau [that border modern Iran in the southwest in the province of Seistan-Balochistan west of ancient Mohenjo-daro].

These are in the modern-day states of northern Pakistan and northeastern Afghanistan (Gandhara Civilization). Its main cities were Purushapura (modern Peshawar), literally meaning "City of Men" (Encyclopædia Britannica: Gandhara) and Takshashila (modern Taxila). More

 

Lahore Museum: A Gallery of Our Culture, Guided Tour cover (library.tcdc.or.th)

View virtual tour properly using Flash Player Version 9.0.28 or later (NLC360.com).

First images of the Buddha, Gandhara, Lahore Museum, Pakistan (Bijapuri Ed Sentner/flickr)

The Zen of Field Tripping ($10 tour)

Roshi Jeff Albrizze, Wisdom Quarterly; The Buddhist Progress Society (hsilai.org)

Hsi Lai Temple ("Going West" Monastery), Hacienda Heights, suburban Los Angeles, CA

Hillside parking lot, main entrance, Hsi Lai (Jesse Kaplan/TheGuibordCenter.org)

  

Courtyard with dining hall behind

PasaDharma provides a place to practice Zen. With an idea of having no ideas but "just sitting," the trip often remains on the mat. However, on Saturday (March 29) the local sangha will take up mats and walk around the grounds of the largest Buddhist temple complex in the western hemisphere: Hsi Lai ("Going West") on a hill that separates the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles from Orange County. This is a field trip.

Carpooling provided from Pasadena at 10:30 am. Those driving themselves are invited to meet at the temple at 11:00 am or join the carpool caravan going east to the temple. Chinese vegetarian lunch at 11:30 am. Tour starts at 1:30 and concludes at 3:00 pm.

• Saturday March 29th, 2014
• 3456 S. Glenmark Drive
• Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

What is Hsi Lai?

WQ at Hsi Lai full moon observance

This massive Taiwanese Mahayana Buddhist temple encompasses 15 acres and a floor area of 102,430 square feet. The temple's dynastic Ming (1268-1644 CE) and Ching (1644-1911 CE) architecture is reflected in its buildings, gardens, fountains, and statuary. Chinese speakers may regard Hsi Lai as "Coming to the West," signifying the dedication of the Buddha's Light Mountain (Fo Guang Shan) Buddhist Order to spread the teachings of the Buddha to the Western world. It is incluseve and provides Theravada as well as Mahayana teachings, having established the first Buddhist universities (University of the West) in the US. The founder, Ven. Master Hsing Yun, had previously established Fo Guang Shan, the largest monastery in Taiwan, which encompasses over 600 acres.

Going West under a full moon (WQ)

The temple was built to serve as a spiritual and cultural center for those interested in learning more about Buddhism and Taiwanese/Chinese cultural practices. This form of Mahayana came to be called "Humanistic Buddhism" aimed at creating a "Pure Land" on Earth. Built to fulfill these goals in the USA, the temple's objectives are to benefit society through charitable programs, nurture missionary activity through education, spread Dharma through rich cultural observances, and to edify people through traditional Buddhist practices.

RSVP (Roshi Jeff Albrizze at 626.529.4074 or jeffalbrizze@hotmail.com) so an advanced count can be provided to the temple.

CARPOOL: Meet at the Pasadena School District parking lot, 351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena, cross street East Del Mar Blvd.

MEET: Main entrance outside first Buddha Hall at 11:00 am; the group will then proceed together to dining hall for lunch, followed by tour starting at the Information Center at 1:30 pm.

DRESS: Out of respect dress comfortably but appropriately: avoid tank tops, shorts, or mini-skirts, smoking, and please avoid bringing meats of any kind or outside foods and beverages.

DONATION: $9 (cash only) per person covers delicious all-you-care-to-eat buffet Chinese vegetarian lunch. Museum admission is an additional $1. There is also a temple gift shop with prayer beads (malas), Dharma books, statuettes, souvenirs, and art.

Humanistic Buddhism & Leadership Online Certificate Program (uwest.edu)

Mindfulness, Suffering, Engaged Buddhism

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Thay (Plum Village), Krista Tippett, OnBeing.org, NPR

Mindfulness, Suffering, and Engaged Buddhism

Host Krista Tippett (onbeing.org/CCP)

Vietnamese Zen master, peace activist, and poet Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay, "teacher") was forcibly exiled from his native country more than 40 years ago. On Being (NPR's discussion of faith and existence) visits the Buddhist monk at a Christian conference center in a lakeside setting in rural Wisconsin.

• Listen to the On Being radio show PODCAST
• Learn more On Being (Speaking of Faith)
• Deer Park Monastery, California

ON TOUR NOW (tnhtour.org)

Thay offers stark, gentle wisdom for living in a world of anger and violence. He discusses the concepts of "engaged Buddhism," "being peace," and "mindfulness." This message gets through to violent, hyper-vigilant police officers eager to kill at a moment's notice. Thay agrees to lead them on a Buddhist mindfulness retreat that manages to change their lives and their capacity to carry guns as "warrior" or "fierce" bodhisattvas (beings bent on enlightenment, not as Tippett defines it already enlightened beings staying on Earth). A person may take vows to become a bodhisattva, which generally means refusing enlightenment and liberation for the presumed sake of helping others. It would make more sense to help oneself and others by striving for enlightenment. But such is Mahayana Buddhist logic that martyrdom has been mistaken for a nobler goal. This historical Buddha was a bodhisattva not forestalling his own enlightenment but for the sake of becoming a supremely enlightened teaching buddha. This meant foregoing attaining as a disciple or as a nonteaching (pacceka) buddha. But it never meant dissuading others from attaining or from striving to reach the goal as quickly as humanly possible, bringing the ten perfections to maturity. More

Thich Nhat Hanh comes to Pasadena, CA on Oct. 4, 2013