Japanese biologist and visionary artist Iwasaki Tsuneo (1917-2002) created a scientifically informed visual commentary of core Mahāyāna Buddhist teachings on form and emptiness. Resonances he observed between scientific and Buddhist views of reality-interdependence, impermanence, and the fluid nature of phenomena-inspired him to painstakingly shape images with miniature calligraphy of the Chinese characters of the Heart Sutra. This enigmatic, concise, and profound scripture is treasured for its expression of wisdom and compassion.
Member Events
When:
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Instructor:
Paula Arai
When:
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Instructor:
Sugata Ray
In the 18th century, vast tracts of forested lands were reclaimed for human habitation in Braj, the pilgrimage center in north India where the divine Krishna is believed to have spent his youth. How did the theology of Krishna worship—one that visualized Braj as a kunja or the primeval bower where Krishna and Radha dally eternally—contend with such a sweeping alteration of the pilgrimage center’s precarious ecology? By way of addressing this question, this talk focuses on the emergence of enclosed gardens in Braj in a time of drastic deforestation. This new garden form, as Dr. Ray will show, allowed devotees to simulate Radha’s journey...
