Buddhism Focus of Spring Events

Explore Buddhism through photography, artifacts, lectures, and films

 

 

To complement the exhibition The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan, on display at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco from February 20 to May 10, UC Berkeley is presenting a variety of events featuring Buddhism in a range of media. Campus events will include films representing Buddhist existentialism, lectures by Buddhist scholars, photography from Buddhist Bhutan, and an exhibition of rare Buddhist artifacts from the Himalayas.

 

Bhutan, a landlocked Buddhist nation in South Asia, has guarded its borders against much of twentieth-century development. But in this time of societal transformation, the Tantric Buddhism practiced in Bhutan is quietly evolving. The exhibit Portraits of Buddhist Bhutan, on display in the Institute of East Asian Studies gallery from February 19 to April 15, features a collection of photographs by the Bay Area photographer Mark Tuschman. On March 4, John Johnston, Curator of Asian Art, San Antonio Museum of Art, and Jacob Dalton, Assistant Professor of Tibetan Buddhism at UC Berkeley, will discuss the cultural, religious, and historical context for Tuschman’s arresting images. Portraits of Buddhist Bhutan is open to the public; for additional information see the Center for Buddhist Studies website.

 

Seminal and controversial issues in Buddhism and Buddhist meditation theory will be the subject of a five-week film and lecture series, Thinking about Not Thinking: Buddhism, Meditation, and Film, led by Professor Robert Sharf, UC Berkeley’s Chair of Buddhist Studies. Sharf’s popular series not only discusses Buddhist content in film, but also uses Buddhist views of meditation and meditative experience to reflect on film. The films discussed will include:

 

  • After Life (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 1999) (March 2)
  • I Heart Huckabees (David O. Russell, USA, 2004) (March 16)
  • Fearless (Peter Weir, USA, 1993) (March 30)
  • Memento (Christopher Nolan, USA, 2000) (April 13)
  • Waking Life (Richard Linklater, USA, 2001) (April 27)

 

Thinking about Not Thinking is presented in conjunction with an undergraduate course offered through the College of Letters & Science Discovery Course program and is open to the public as space permits. For tickets, please see the Pacific Film Archive website.

 

Finally, the Berkeley Art Museum will feature the exhibition Taking Refuge: Buddhist Art from the Land of White Clouds from February 25 to May 3. Taking Refuge will display a selection of extremely rare and beautiful Buddhist art from the Himalayas, including a vast array of artifacts depicting deities, teachers, protectors, and saints. For more information, see the Berkeley Art Museum website.