Amazing events @moaubc.bsky.social —talks, panels, and tours—coinciding with #AASVancouver!

#tibet #himalaya

How to Live in Hard Times - Mangalam Research Center How to Live in Hard Times: Examples from Buddhist Lives The talks in this series respond to our need for inspiration in this moment, as scholars and as human beings. Each scholar has identified an his...

It’s okay to find solace! The extraordinary Kurtis Schaeffer (UVA) speaking tonight about the 9th Je Khenpo of #Bhutan on “How to Live in Hard Times”

Many thanks to Mangalam for the online option!

www.mangalamresearch.org/how-to-live-...

#buddhism #himalaya

A must-see—incredible contributions by Laura Lodoe & Kunsang Kyirong, historical and contemporary content, fully bilingual signage, & remarkable curation by Dr. Fuyubi Nakamura.

MOA hosting special events during #AAS2026 and Dr. Nakamura organized a conference panel.

#himalaya #tibet #ubcmoa

Definitely Padmasambhava

A Buddhist painting centered on a large circle divided into six sections like spokes of a wheel. In each section are small figures, human, animal, and various non-humans. At the center are representations of poisons and their effects. The diagram is superimposed on the front of a humanoid figure with bulging eyes and a fanged mouth.

Thinking a lot about karma and opportunities to witness it ripening…

Thus, #ThangkaTuesday features the Wheel of Becoming (Bhavachakra; སྲིད་པའི་འཁོར་ལོ།) which illustrates #Buddhist ideas of cause & effect, realms of rebirth, aka samsara.

📷: Natl Gallery Prague via HAR

#himalaya #buddhistart #karma

It’s sublime, isn’t it? Next time you and your crew are up, give me a shout—our place is nearby

So it actually should be called the Pingala sequence…

Another site doing things with AI that none of their users want—this time academia.edu making AI-generated “podcasts” about our scholarship…

#AcademicSky

A person wearing a plaid skirt and black sweater stands with their back against the wall, labeled “me”, facing them is another person wearing similar clothing but with the addition of black tights. The second person is labeled “Any Company”. They are standing so that they are viewed from behind, and are holding a tuba up on their shoulder so that its bell obscures the first person’s face, seemingly swallowing them. The tuba is labeled “AI”. Personal note: AI is a an energy hungry hallucination-prone bullshit machine being forced on us by desperate VC d bags and tech bros who want to recoup their investments. AI makes us dumber.

This is horrid. Open access is a gift and the ideal, but if academia dot edu is doing this, I’m likely to tap out. Maybe direct Academia users to our personal or professional sites, if either have the ability to host files?

Detail from a Himalayan Buddhist painting, showing a seated woman wearing a colorful green top, blue outer garment, and red trousers with gold details.

#ThangkaTuesday transatlantic edition. It’s wheels up from Bhutan & this Yeshe Tsogyal keeps coming to mind—her gorgeous garments, especially the subtle striping on her wrap, and the adornments in her hair. Simply sublime!

📷: me, pvt collection, Bhutan
#himalaya #himalayanart #bhutan #buddhistart

Traditional Bhutanese Buddhist painting, vertical format, focused on a large scale human teacher wearing red & orange robes and a red hat, surrounded by other Buddhist teachers and deities shown in smaller scale.

#ThangkaTuesday was on hiatus—now back with this beauty from the newly opened Wangduechholing Palace Museum in #Bhutan. It took us a while, but we think we know which Je Khenpo it is. (18th!) Thanks to the WPM team for the guided tour & invitation to speak.

#buddhistart #himalaya #fulbright

Excited to see this talk on Tibetan scripts by Pentsok Rtsang!

#himalaya #tibet

Detail of a painting showing three Buddhist practitioners, seated cross-legged, wearing red robes, and holding musical instruments and offerings. They are all looking at a being with two arms and legs, facial features on its torso, and a huge spurting phallus where a human head would generally be located.

Belated #ThangkaTuesday entry comin’ in hot with a tiny detail of three cave-dwelling, red-robed yogis propitiating a rather remarkable phallus (man? spirit?)

#himalaya #buddhistart #bhutaneseart

We dodged a bullet—imagine what continued funding for the arts would have contributed to. All those people thinking about & responding to, and (shudder) finding joy in, the human condition…

Great that this will reduce creative expression & thoughtful engagement even more rapidly 👊🇺🇸🔥

Opening a tab now; thank you!Looking forward to reading it, @waymarks.bsky.social

#himalaya #tibet

Ugh, yes—that one in particular!

A linear graphic of a stork alighting upward and to the right, seeming to fly away from three lines of text in a serif font that read “nopety” “nopety” “nope” copyright of @effinbirds.com

Some of the quotes are bonkers. And the terminology!

“archaeological discoveries”
“excavated”
“uncovered”
“their discovery”
“the find”

📷 : (c) the limitless talent that is @effinbirds.com

I cannot boo loudly enough.

🫤

A Bhutanese traditional vertical format painting of Buddhist deities and masters. The main figures, a deity pair, are largest in scale at center and are flanked by a series of smaller lineage figures. A yellow seated deity is above their heads, and a buddha, a bodhisattva, and a meditational deity are below.

From the Yum Chenmo above to the trio of figures below, this Dorje Sempa yab yum is atypical. At least 2 artists contributed, with a steadier hand rendering the main deity pair as compared to the flanking Kagyu & Drukpa Kagyu lineage figures.

📷: NMB

#ThangkaTuesday #himalaya #bhutan #buddhistart

Auctioning the Buddha's relics is perpetuating colonial violence (RNS) — For the Buddhists who deposited these relics — as for Buddhists today — the gems, bone and ash all belong to the Buddha and shouldn’t just be sold to the highest bidder.

Sotheby's is about to auction off remains of the Buddha taken by colonial officials from India in 1898. "For the Buddhists who deposited them-as for Buddhists today-the gems, & his bone & ash, all belong to the Buddha & shouldn’t just be sold to the highest bidder." religionnews.com/2025/04/22/a...

The puddling drapery gets me—it mimics the vegetation

Isn’t it? That’s part of why it’s been in my mind so often for so long…

Two hands hold up a small embroidered thangka for the camera. The fabric ground is black and torn in places, while the figure, stitched in golden thread, depicts a cross-legged, two-armed, crowned deity sitting on top of a lotus.

Generosity is the theme of this #ThangkaTuesday. This charming Vajradhara (རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་།), Holder of the Indestructible, is in a private collection shown to me years ago. I adore its simplicity & beauty, and that little extra head tilt. My gratitude to those who have shown me so much.

#himalaya #bhutan

Maybe more mantras will help

#bhutan #himalaya

Congratulations!!

Sculpture of a six-armed yellow deity in a small shrine. A red flame halo surrounds her as she stands on a lotus base with her right leg bent at the knee and her left knee down, such that her left heel is raised up at her midline.

A Himalayan Buddhist vertical format painting with the same half-kneeling figure at large scale in the center. Two members of her retinue, one red and one black and both smaller in scale, appear below her, their bodies in similar positions. At bottom center is a six armed male protector figure. Above the main image's head is a small Buddhist monk wearing a yellow hat and robes. Clouds and lotus flowers appear across the background of the upper half the painting, while the midground and foreground includes foliage, animal life, and auspicious imagery.

While his practice seems to be sticking around (wonder why?), one that peaked and faded was Parnashavari (ལོ་མ་གྱོན་མ།), the leaf-clad deity associated with #healing epidemics & disease, whose image hung at the entrance to Bhutan's main hospital.

📷: L: Gyantse Kumbum, me
R: Rubin Museum of Art via HAR

A small painting of a dark blue male deity wearing a red garment on his lower body. He's sitting cross legged "lotus style", wherein the top of each foot rests against the calf of the opposite leg so that the soles of his feet point skyward. Below him is a red lotus and a golden "halo" of light appears behind his body, while another, smaller, flame-edged halo emerges from his shoulders and encircles around his head. His right arm extends out at shoulder level, his hand grasping the handle of a vajra-hilted sword that he brandishes above him. In his left hand is the stem of a lotus, bends up and to the right, terminating in a pink bloom that holds aloft a rectangular traditional Himalayan Buddhist book.

Since 2020, I've noticed more images of & initiations for Black Manjushri (འཇམ་དབྱངས་ནག་པོ།), a form of the #Buddhist bodhisattva of wisdom believed to help those experiencing #anxiety, depression, or other disturbances in their mental state.

#himalaya #thangkatuesday
📷: Zanabazar Museum

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An Important Update from IIE | IIE Effective March 14, some IIE team members who work on ECA-funded programs will be furloughed.

Most if not all IIE workers have been furloughed with no access to their email: www.iie.org/news/march13...