The Rubin Museum: “Where the Deities Live” — and you can learn to paint them
The Rubin Museum: “Where the Deities Live” — and you can learn to paint them |
- The Rubin Museum: “Where the Deities Live” — and you can learn to paint them
- $100,000 Wallace Stevens Award goes to Gary Snyder
- September’s Sipress
- Sitting Up
- A report from Amnesty International’s D.C. Town Hall Event with Aung San Suu Kyi (with video)
| The Rubin Museum: “Where the Deities Live” — and you can learn to paint them Posted: 28 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT  A White Tara by Carmen Mensink The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City will be hosting a Tibetan thangka painting workshop from October 19–21. The workshop is just one of many great events the Rubin Museum, which focuses on Himalayan art, has hosted since it opened in 2004. See "Where the Deities Live," our profile of this treasure of a museum, to learn more about it. The workshop's participants will learn how to draw the White Tara according to the traditional Tibetan thangka-making process. In Buddhist philosophy, making a picture of White Tara or practicing her meditation can prolong your life or help you overcome illness. The course will lead students through gallery observations, the historical, cultural and religious context of thangkas, and the process of making studio art using grid measurements. It costs $ 175 ($ 150 for museum members.) For more information and to register, click here. Sound interesting? Then you might also want to see our November magazine, which will hit newsstands next week and features "The Great Perfection of Creativity," a teaching from Geshe Tenzin Wangyal about unleashing creative energy we can use anywhere from the office to the art studio — as well as a teaching on Tara from Lama Palden Drolma. Read More @ Source
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| $100,000 Wallace Stevens Award goes to Gary Snyder Posted: 28 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT
Our congratulations to him for this latest honor. (He also recently received PEN New England's "Henry David Thoreau Prize" for Literary Excellence in Nature Writing.) Here at the Shambhala Sun we've had the honor of publishing his writing; click through here for links to see for yourself what makes Snyder so special. Gary Snyder in the Shambhala Sun [links open in new windows]:
See also: Naropa University: Where East Meets West and Sparks Fly Read More @ Source
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| Posted: 28 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT
Read More @ Source 
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| Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:00 PM PDT He is a perfect example of sitting up with full attention. All his senses are alert. A truely wonderful companion to sit with as I type this. It is just the purring that tells me there is something going on in that beautifully formed head. That and the gentle swish of his tail on the keyboard. Now I am wondering if he is trying to communicate something. Wanting to be let out perhaps. Ah Smudge, you have grown mellow in your old age. And let's face it, a tiny bit tubby too! And that's about as personal as I am going to get. Yes, here sits a cat, the monastery cat, eyes lowered in repose. Read More @ Source
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| A report from Amnesty International’s D.C. Town Hall Event with Aung San Suu Kyi (with video) Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT  Photo by Joshua Eaton. By Danny Fisher Last week, I had the great honor and pleasure of attending Amnesty International's town hall event with Burma's Nobel Peace laureate and engaged Buddhist icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Held at the Newseum in Washington, DC, and moderated by MSNBC's Alex Wagner, the event came only a day after "Daw Suu" met with President Barack Obama and received U.S. Congress's highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. Suu Kyi is the leader of Burma's National League for Democracy, and currently sits in the lower house of the country's parliament. Her election came after she had spent 15 of the 21 years between 1989 and 2010 under house arrest. During that time, she became the symbol for Burma's struggle for democracy and freedom from the repressive ruling junta. In addition, she became the world's most recognized prisoner of conscience during that time—thanks not only to her Nobel Prize and the international media, but also the efforts of Amnesty International. The town hall, then, celebrated a special relationship between guest and host. This was acknowledged right up front as the husband and daughter of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the members of the imprisoned Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot, presented "the Lady" with a bouquet of flowers. Pussy Riot is now the focus of many of Amnesty's urgent actions, just as Suu Kyi herself once was, which gave the gesture both emotional heft and a sobering effect. "I don't see why people shouldn't sing what they want to sing," Suu Kyi said, speaking about the group. "I would like the whole group to be released as soon as possible." In her prepared remarks and responses to the questions put to her, Suu Kyi addressed a range of issues with the eloquence and wit that have made her figure of inspiration around the world. Among other things, she addressed the issues of international trade with Burma ("There are no easy answers, but one answer I've thought of is transparency"), Buddhist thought and prisoners of conscience ("Unless you eliminate hatred you won't be able to eliminate political prisoners; unless you eliminate the root of hatred [which is fear] you won't be able to eliminate hatred"), military intervention for human rights ("I do not understand people who defend human rights through violence"), criticizing governments ("I think governments don't count as people—they must be prepared to take criticism"), and the importance of reading for young people in the crowd ("Don't look at just the internet—read"). Throughout the event, there was much laughter and applause—the audience palpably liked her. If there was any unsatisfying moment during the event, it came during the inevitable question about the current persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Burma. The Lady blanched at the word "persecution," and said: "Accusations don't diffuse problems, and condemnation does not always bring reconciliation." This may be true, but Human Rights Watch published a damning report only weeks earlier, which noted that "recent events in Arakan State demonstrate… state-sponsored persecution and discrimination," including killings, rapes, and mass arrests of Rohingyas, a more direct, less politick response from Suu Kyi was needed. She fared better as she continued, though, and hinted at the possibility that she believes the law that denies Rohingyas Burmese citizenship is in violation of the 15th Article of the UN Declaration of Human Rights: "Are our citizenship laws in line with human rights standards?" Suu Kyi said Burma should ask itself. (Responding to an earlier question, she had said categorically, "For me, human rights is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.") Additionally, she said that she felt the country should investigate the issue of border crossing, and discern whether or not the Rohingyas in Burma were in from Bangladesh or elsewhere illegally. Suu Kyi also expressed a belief that what is happening now is based on one crime that was committed and never dealt with properly. "The rule of law should have been applied in the first instance of communal violence," she said. An unqualified success, Amnesty's event with "Daw Suu" was characterized by its warmth, relevance, and vision. (Billed as a gathering intended to inspire "the next generation," Amnesty deftly used social media throughout, encouraging attendees to tweet the town hall using #rightsgeneration.) The sheer impact of Suu Kyi taking the stage should have been the high point – even a year ago, this would have been inconceivable – but Amnesty managed to create a container in which the awe and inspiration factors seemed to increase exponentially throughout. You can watch the full town hall below. Read More @ Source
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Poet Gary Snyder has been awarded the Academy of American Poets' $ 100,000 Wallace Stevens Award. (Click 
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