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“In the Realm of the Buddha” opens at Freer & Sackler

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“In the Realm of the Bud­dha” Open­ing Week­end Explores the Sacred Arts of Tibetan Bud­dhism

The Smithsonian’s Freer and Sack­ler gal­leries will offer a series of free pub­lic events on the open­ing week­end of “In the Realm of the Bud­dha,” a cel­e­bra­tion of the sacred arts of Tibetan Bud­dhism, on view March 13 through July 18.

Two exhi­bi­tions of Tibetan sacred art will open March 13:

  • “The Tibetan Shrine from the Alice S. Kan­dell Col­lec­tion” invites vis­i­tors to step inside the hal­lowed spaces of a mag­nif­i­cent Tibetan shrine room, pre­sented to the pub­lic for the first time.
  • “Lama, Patron, Artist: The Great Situ Panchen,” offers a rare look at the life and legacy of an 18th-century Tibetan painter.
High­lights of the open­ing week­end cel­e­bra­tion include the cre­ation of a sand man­dala, dance, film, a con­ver­sa­tion with shrine col­lec­tor Alice Kan­dell and oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn more about fam­ily shrines and musi­cal instru­ments from the Himalayas. Open­ing week­end events are scheduled
as fol­lows:

Fri­day, March 12 World Pre­miere of Buddha

In per­son: David Gru­bin, film­maker, and Gae­tano Kazuo Maida, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Inter­na­tional Bud­dhist Film Festival
On Fri­day, March 12, at 7 p.m. in the Freer’s Meyer audi­to­rium, the gal­leries will present the world pre­miere of the film Bud­dha, a new two-hour doc­u­men­tary cre­ated for PBS by award-winning film­maker David Gru­bin and nar­rated by actor Richard Gere. The film pro­vides insights from con­tem­po­rary Buddhists-including Pulitzer Prize–win­ning poet W.S. Mer­win and His Holi­ness the 14th Dalai Lama. It is sched­uled to air on PBS April 7 and was pro­duced in con­junc­tion with the exhi­bi­tion “Pil­grim­age and Bud­dhist Art,” orga­nized by the Asia Soci­ety Museum in New York City, open­ing in March 2010. Bud­dha is part of the film series, “Tibetan Bud­dhism: Films from Around the World,” pre­sented by the Freer and Sack­ler, in con­junc­tion with the Inter­na­tional Bud­dhist Film Fes­ti­val (United States/2009/112 min./video/English). For a com­plete sched­ule visit www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp.

Sat­ur­day, March 13 Tibetan Gyal-Shay Dance

To ensure an aus­pi­cious begin­ning, the exhi­bi­tion will open with a 15-minute per­for­mance of Tibetan Gyal-Shay dance at 10:30 a.m. on the Freer steps (Mall side). The dancers will lead a pro­ces­sion through the Haupt Gar­den to the Sack­ler Gallery entrance. (Rain loca­tion: con­course level of Rip­ley Cen­ter.)

The Sacred Art of Mak­ing a Mandala

Con­se­cra­tion cer­e­mony: Sat­ur­day, March 13; 12 p.m.

Pub­lic view­ing hours:
Sat­ur­day, March 13; 12:30 — 2 p.m.,  3 — 5 p.m. and
Sun­day, March 14 — 20; 11 a.m. — 1 p.m., 2 — 4 p.m.

Dis­il­lu­sion­ment cer­e­mony: Sun­day, March 21; 12 p.m.

Man­dalas are cir­cu­lar pat­terns that Tibetan Bud­dhists use for med­i­ta­tion and spir­i­tual devel­op­ment. Vis­i­tors can expe­ri­ence the open­ing rit­ual of this sacred Bud­dhist tra­di­tion in a brief con­se­cra­tion cer­e­mony at in the Sack­ler pavil­ion. At spec­i­fied hours through­out the day, the pub­lic is invited to watch as the Ven­er­a­ble Ngawang Cho­jor, a man­dala mas­ter, painstak­ingly cre­ates a com­plex design with col­or­ful grains of sand. Pub­lic view­ing hours will con­tinue in the Sack­ler pavil­ion March 14 — 20, until the man­dala is com­plete. On Sun­day, March 21, the man­dala will be swept away in a dis­il­lu­sion­ment cer­e­mony, sig­ni­fy­ing the imper­ma­nence of all things.

My Family’s Shrine, My Family’s Culture

Begin­ning Sat­ur­day, March 13, and peri­od­i­cally through­out the exhi­bi­tion, monks and mem­bers of the Tibetan com­mu­nity will dis­cuss fam­ily shrines on dis­play in the Sack­ler Gallery’s edu­ca­tion class­room (sub­level 2). Vis­i­tors can see how con­tem­po­rary Tibetans arrange sacred paint­ings, sculp­tures, pho­tographs and offer­ings in fam­ily altars and learn why par­tic­u­lar items are placed in the shrines. Note: This pro­gram will be repeated March 20, April 17, May 1, May 22, June 5, June 19 and July 10 at 2 p.m.

Sun­day, March 14 - The Collector’s View: Alice S. Kandell

Vis­i­tors may join col­lec­tor Kan­dell and cura­tor Debra Dia­mond at 1 p.m. in the Freer’s Meyer Audi­to­rium for a con­ver­sa­tion about the Tibetan shrine on view in the exhi­bi­tion. The col­lec­tor will share her per­spec­tive on the shrine and the indi­vid­ual objects within it and will sign copies of her book A Shrine for Tibet: The Alice S. Kan­dell Col­lec­tion fol­low­ing the event.

Musi­cal Instru­ments from the Himalayas

At 2 p.m., world music edu­ca­tor Bill Jenk­ins invites chil­dren and adults to explore the sounds pro­duced by drums, cym­bals, long horns, flutes and other tra­di­tional musi­cal instru­ments from the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau in the Imag­i­nA­sia class­room on Sack­ler sub­level 2.

The Karma Kagyu Tra­di­tion on Film

In per­son: Greg Eller, pro­ducer, and Gae­tano Kazuo Maida, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Inter­na­tional Bud­dhist Film Festival
This pro­gram of three doc­u­men­tary films spot­lights the Karma Kagyu, a Bud­dhist tra­di­tion closely asso­ci­ated with the Encamp­ment style of Tibetan paint­ing pre­sented in the exhi­bi­tion “Lama, Patron, Artist: The Great Situ Panchen.” The films will screen con­sec­u­tively in the Freer’s Meyer Audi­to­rium begin­ning at 3 p.m. The Karma Kagyu Tra­di­tion on Film is part of the film series, “Tibetan Bud­dhism: Films from Around the World,” at the Freer and Sackler.
The gal­leries’ explo­ration of Tibetan Bud­dhist art and cul­ture will con­tinue through the spring and into the sum­mer with engag­ing films, talks, tours and hands-on art projects. For com­plete sched­ules, event loca­tions and addi­tional details on all “In the Realm of the Bud­dha” exhi­bi­tions and events, please visit www.asia.si.edu/events.
“Lama, Patron, Artist: The Great Situ Panchen” was orga­nized by the Rubin Museum of Art, New York City. The exhi­bi­tion is part of the Sack­ler Gallery’s Asia in Amer­ica pro­gram, which show­cases the hold­ings of impor­tant Amer­i­can insti­tu­tional col­lec­tions of Asian art.
“The Tibetan Shrine from the Alice S. Kan­dell Col­lec­tion” was orga­nized by the Arthur M. Sack­ler Gallery.
The Arthur M. Sack­ler Gallery, located at 1050 Inde­pen­dence Avenue S.W., and the adja­cent Freer Gallery of Art, located at 12th Street and Inde­pen­dence Avenue S.W., are on the National Mall in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day, except Dec. 25, and admis­sion is free. The gal­leries are located near the Smith­son­ian Metro­rail sta­tion on the Blue and Orange lines. For more infor­ma­tion about the Freer and Sack­ler gal­leries and their exhi­bi­tions, pro­grams and other events, the pub­lic is wel­come to visit www.asia.si.edu.
For gen­eral Smith­son­ian infor­ma­tion, the pub­lic may call (202) 633‑1000 or TTY (202) 633‑5285.

 

 
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