Archive for the 'Tibet' Category

Robert Beer – Outsider In.

A one hour radio interview with Robert Beer broadcast on London’s Resonance 104.4fm at 10pm on Wednesday 2nd May 2012. James Tregaskis invited Robert to talk about himself, his life & his work.

The result is a moving & illuminating foray into the mind, heart & soul of one of the pre-eminent researchers of our day in the matters of life & death & what happens after we die.

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Robert Beer has studied and practised Tibetan Art for the past forty years. He is now recognized as one of the foremost scholars in this field.

Author and illustrator of the Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, and the Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols. He has illustrated Indian Mahasiddhas in the book Buddhist Masters of Enchantment.

Over the past fifteen years Robert has been working closely with the most talented thangka painters of the Kathmandu Valley, the Newar artists of Nepal.

He is now curating an exhibition of his work & theirs, currently running at the October Gallery in Old Gloucester Street, until 26th May 2012.

In this interview Robert recounts his life story; he discusses his pivotal experiences including an lsd ‘kundalini crisis’, the death of his little sister &, much later, the death of his beloved elder daughter.

About out of body experiences, near death experiences and lucid dreaming; about his experiences of past lives & the life between those lives, the spirit home.

During the exhibition Robert will be giving four talks, on the 5th, 8th, 18th & 26th of May 2012; details here at October Gallery Events. Entry £Free (donations welcome).

Visit the exhibition, essential viewing; go & listen to Robert’s talks.

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Tsurphu Norbu Drabje

The making of the third appliqué at Tsurphu monastery, Tibet.

The companion piece for the Giant Mahakala appliqué (ceremonial piece). This drabje is used in conjunction with all wraithful deity ceremonies in Tsurphu’s main assembly hall.

Terris Temple is the first Westerner to learn the art of Thangka painting. He studied in Nepal 1966-75 with various traditional Masters. He has been involved with the Karma Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism since his initial meeting with the 16th Karmapa in 1969. Terris also does “flower and bird painting”. Along with his wife Leslie Nguyen Temple they are the artists to HH the 17th Karmapa, and working on the making of Tsechur Drabje again for Tsurphu, replacing lost heritage. With its completion Tsurphu’s treasures lost during the Cultural Revolution will be replaced and actively used once again for the benefit of all sentient beings. Besides this project they are presently making a feature documentary film about Tibetan Art with His Holiness the Karmapa.

Terris is the executive director of Liberation Arts, a non profit organization using art to create, preserve, and educate about culture, the arts and environment.

HH Karmapa is the spiritual adviser of the organization.

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Tibetans

In June 1968, I had been in India for one year.  I do remember seeing a few Tibetans who were selling knitwear in the streets of old Delhi.   I did not have time to get to know them like my friend Arthur Mandelbaum who was teaching English to refugee’s in India at that time. Among these people were monks that were educated in the Tibetan traditions probably far beyond our mere university level, but they were studying English.  As we know, later that exercise became important for those of us who were fortunate to receive Buddhist teachings that were spoken in English by former students of Arthur.

Dalai Lama / Dudjom RinpocheI did have the opportunity in 1974 to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama, when he spoke to a small audience at the TROEPEN MUSEUM in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  His talk was ecumenical and to me much like a visit with a friend, needless to say, I was very impressed.  A year later after returning to New York City thanks to my friend Loren, I followed his suggestion to take refuge as a Buddhist from a Tibetan lama named Kalu Rinpoche. Continue reading ‘Tibetans’

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Geshe Jamspal Interviewed – Jan 2010

Arthur Mandelbaum wrote: “This interview has an introduction in it. You can say that Geshe Lobsang Jamspal is a great scholar of Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist texts. He was a teacher at the Sanskrit University, Benares, during the late sixties and early seventies. He’s been in the USA since 1974. Since getting his PhD from Columbia University, he has been teaching there and translating. He revisited the Sanskrit University in January 2009. I videoed the interview with him on 3rd February 2010 at his residence at Columbia”.
 

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Geshe Jamspal at the Sanskrit University 2009 photos  of his return visit.

Geshe Jamspal CV/Bio (PDF view or download).

LINKS FOR GESHE JAMSPAL

Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center

Columbia University Faculty

The Tibet Center

LINKS FOR SANSKRIT UNIVERSITY

University Web Site

Times of India – New SSU-VC Vows to End Corruption (13 Feb 2011)

Kei Kataoka – アジア研究情報ゲートウェイ (info on SSU library).

WIKIPEDIA LINKS

Sampurnanand Sanskrit University

Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (Sarnath, Varanasi, India).

Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamala (Texts from Sārasvati Bhavan library, SSU).

Sarasvati Susama (Sanskrit Research Journal, SSU).

Pandit Baldev Upadhyaya (Director/Professor Emeritus, Research Institute, SSU).

Herbert Güenther (German Buddhist Scholar – Headed SSU Buddhist Dept 58/63).

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