scholarly journals Generative Meditations: Exploring Generative Art From the Perspective of Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benjamin Jack
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Computational Creativity ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Generative Art ◽  
Generative Processes

<p>the purpose of this thesis is to document and explore the subjective struggles I have encountered in my own practise as a generative artist rather than to provide an objective overview of computational generative art. Hopefully this process will give some context from the ground up (from an artist’s perspective) to some of the larger questions that I and others in the field are asking about generative art.  From the preliminary questions arising from these struggles I begin to explore and develop a generative art practise that primarily focuses on the topics of human experience and ideas directly related to human experience. This is opposed to using generative processes to explore ideas fundamentally based on computation (a-life, emergence, computational creativity, and data etc..). The foundation of, and reasons behind, such a focus are based on the non-realist and non-materialist philosophical tenets of Tibetan Buddhism, in particular the philosophy of the Madhyamika-Prasangika school of thought. The purpose of developing a generative practise based on the philosophy and symbolism of Tibetan Buddhism is to find a method to create personally relevant artwork with a firm foundation in a well established culture of art and philosophy. I might add however, that this isn’t merely a self-reflective exercise but rather it should be of interest to others in the field of (and study of) Generative art to see how this artistic method might be approached from a vastly different philosophical stance to the materialist view that receives the majority of attention in the field.</p>

scholarly journals Generative Meditations: Exploring Generative Art From the Perspective of Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Benjamin Jack
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Computational Creativity ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Generative Art ◽  
Generative Processes

<p>the purpose of this thesis is to document and explore the subjective struggles I have encountered in my own practise as a generative artist rather than to provide an objective overview of computational generative art. Hopefully this process will give some context from the ground up (from an artist’s perspective) to some of the larger questions that I and others in the field are asking about generative art.  From the preliminary questions arising from these struggles I begin to explore and develop a generative art practise that primarily focuses on the topics of human experience and ideas directly related to human experience. This is opposed to using generative processes to explore ideas fundamentally based on computation (a-life, emergence, computational creativity, and data etc..). The foundation of, and reasons behind, such a focus are based on the non-realist and non-materialist philosophical tenets of Tibetan Buddhism, in particular the philosophy of the Madhyamika-Prasangika school of thought. The purpose of developing a generative practise based on the philosophy and symbolism of Tibetan Buddhism is to find a method to create personally relevant artwork with a firm foundation in a well established culture of art and philosophy. I might add however, that this isn’t merely a self-reflective exercise but rather it should be of interest to others in the field of (and study of) Generative art to see how this artistic method might be approached from a vastly different philosophical stance to the materialist view that receives the majority of attention in the field.</p>

Seeing, Touching, Holding, and Swallowing Tibetan Buddhist Texts

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 137-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Cantwell
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
The Senses ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
Book Culture

The iconic dimension of holy books has drawn increasing scholarly attention in recent years (e.g. Iconic Books and Texts, James Watts, ed., London, Equinox, 2013). Asian Buddhism provides rich material for considering the ritualization of engagement with sacred texts. In Tibetan Buddhism, this aspect of book culture is perhaps especially pronounced (see, for instance, Schaeffer 2009, especially Chapter 6; Elliott, Diemberger and Clemente 2014). This paper explores the topic in relation to the engagement of the senses in Tibetan context, through seeing, touching, holding and tasting texts. It would seem that it is not the sensory experience in itself, but rather the physical experience of a transmission and incorporation of the sacred qualities from the books into the person which is emphasized in these practices. Parallels and contrasts with examples from elsewhere are mentioned, and there is some consideration of the breadth of the category of sacred books in the Tibetan context in which Dharma teachings may take many forms.

scholarly journals Macho Buddhism: Gender and Sexualities in the Diamond Way

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-103
Author(s):  
Burkhard Scherer
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Gender Stereotyping ◽  
Sexual Ethics ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Historical Source ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Western Tibetan Buddhist movements have been described as bourgeois and puritanical in previous scholarship. In contrast, Ole Nydahl’s convert lay Karma Kagyu Buddhist movement, the Diamond Way, has drawn attention for its apparently hedonistic style. This article addresses the wider issues of continuity and change during the transition of Tibetan Buddhism from Asia to the West. It analyses views on and performances of gender, sexual ethics and sexualities both diachronically through textual-historical source and discourse analysis and synchronically through qualitative ethnography. In this way the article demonstrates how the approaches of contemporary gender and sexualities studies can serve as a way to question the Diamond Way Buddhism’s location in the ‘tradition vs modernity’ debate. Nydahl’s pre-modern gender stereotyping, the hetero-machismo of the Diamond Way and the mildly homophobic tone and content of Nydahl’s teaching are interpreted in light of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist sexual ethics and traditional Tibetan cultural attitudes on sexualities. By excavating the emic genealogy of Nydahl’s teachings, the article suggests that Nydahl’s and the Diamond Way’s view on and performance of gender and sexualities are consistent with his propagation of convert Buddhist neo-orthodoxy.

Study on the Composition of Inner Mongolia Wudangzhao Monastery Building Complex

2013 ◽  
Vol 357-360 ◽  
pp. 141-144
Author(s):  
Yun Zuo
Keyword(s):  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Architectural Style ◽  
Different Types ◽  
History Of ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Tibetan Architecture

Tibetan Buddhist monasteries embody almost all achievements of the Tibetan community in religious, scientific, cultural and artistic. The erection of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries are closely related to the history of Tibetan Buddhism in Inner Mongolia. As the Tibetan Buddhism had been spread to Inner Mongolia in different periods, Tibetan Buddhist monasteries presented different features in its architectural style. Wudangzhao Lamasery is the grandest integral monastery complex still remaining in Inner Mongolia.Its buildings have high value of art and characteristically Tibetan Buddhist Architectural style on monasterys arrangement and style. Different types of the building gathered together form a Tibetan monastery, buildings complex reflected the intact standard of Tibetan Architecture. They express the Tibetan traditional mountain worship idea, and Buddhist the Mandala Cosmology and Three Realms idea.

scholarly journals Psychological and Societal Implications of Projecting the Shadow on the Feminine in Tibetan Buddhist Contexts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Iris Miriam Anders
Keyword(s):  
Physical Abuse ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Societal Implications ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Mental Diseases ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Idealizing and medicalizing of methods ascribed to Buddhism has led to individualizing their structural and societal challenges. Although the long-undervalued need for introspection may get addressed, people are now caught under the cloak of spirituality hoping for quick enlightenment or a panacea solving mental diseases. Thus, at this point, the impact of decontextualizing concepts, unreflectively copying feudal structures into Tibetan Buddhist seminar- and meditation-centers, as well as of lacking knowledge required for the gradual application-oriented learning processes taught in traditional Buddhist philosophy have become clear. This shows in recent testimony of economical, psychological, and physical abuse in international Tibetan Buddhist organizations. The violence against individuals and man-made trauma in such contexts need to get analyzed before the background of neologisms, that is concepts allowing for arbitrariness and violence in the name of spirituality, as well as of the sophisticated systems of rationalizing damage and silencing trauma and victims. Furthermore, though those in the ‘inner circles’ run the risk of traumatization and of being held accountable, it is women who are at higher risk, particularly those who engage in secret relationships. Thus, in terms of treatment, the collectively projecting the shadow on the feminine, leading to an attitude of exploitation and control against women, requires consideration.

scholarly journals In A Mindful Moral Voice: Mindful Compassion, The Ethic of Care and Education

Paideusis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-54
Author(s):  
Deborah Orr
Keyword(s):  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Buddhist Philosophy ◽  
Professional Life ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Educational Context ◽  
Compassionate Care ◽  
Moral Voice ◽  
Central Argument

This paper argues that Carol Gilligan’s Ethic of Care has strong affinities with the Buddhist concept of karuna (compassion) which, Jay Garfield has argued, is the necessary foundation of rights theory. Its central argument is that both moral compassion and thus rights theory are grounded in the natural compassionate care a mother exercises in order to promote the flourishing of her child without which children, and consequently adult society, would not survive in any form. Wittgenstein’s concept of language-games is brought to bear on Buddhist philosophy to foreground the rootedness of human experience in connection and empathy. This further supports the naturalness of compassionate care, the Ethic of Care and karuna. Finally, mindfulness meditation is proposed as a practice appropriate for the educational context for the development of karuna as a moral resource for personal, civil and professional life.

The Bön Tradition of Dzogchen

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Achard
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Light Sources ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Buddhist Literature ◽  
Vast Amount ◽  
The Core ◽  
Dark Room

Dzogchen (“Great Perfection”) is a philosophical and yogic tradition largely developed within the Bönpo tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Its first datable sources surface on the religious scene of Tibet sometime around the late 10th to the early 11th century with the discoveries of Treasure text (gter ma) that are supposed to have been hidden during the 8th century and earlier, as well as with the seminal composition of texts and commentaries that are based on these Treasures. Some of its teachings are also presented as having been transmitted orally from archaic, undatable times through an uninterrupted lineage of masters. Groups of lay Bönpo practitioners, later followed by monastics of the same tradition, started to gather around the discoverers and authors of these works, thus creating the first postdynastic religious communities of Bön dispersed throughout Tibet. Deeply enriched by the integration of a vast amount of traditional Buddhist literature, the Bön tradition absorbed teachings from all other Tibetan Buddhist lineages. The core of these teachings is made up of profoundly secret instructions said to enable practitioners to reach the state of total Buddhahood in a single lifetime. The quintessence of these teachings focuses upon yogic techniques centered on the contemplation of light sources, such as the sun, the moon, or a butter lamp. Particular methods are also applied in a completely dark room in which special visualizations are combined with yogic devices that lead to visionary experiences which are unique throughout Buddhist teachings. These practices based on colored visions produce various signs manifesting at the end of the practitioner’s life such as the famed Rainbow Body (‘ja’ lus).

Dynamics of Political Resistance in Tibet: Religious Repression and Controversies of Demographic Change

2013 ◽  
Vol 217 ◽  
pp. 69-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enze Han ◽  
Christopher Paik
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Change ◽  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Political Resistance ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Religious Sects ◽  
Key Questions

AbstractIn a novel approach to studying political mobilization among ethnic Tibetans in China, this article addresses two key questions. First, considering the Chinese state's repressive policies towards Tibetan Buddhism, what role does religion play in fomenting Tibetan political resistance? Second, what implications can be drawn from the changing ethnic demography in Tibet about the conflict behaviour of Tibetans? Using various GIS-referenced data, this article specifically examines the 2008 Tibetan protest movements in China. The main results of our analysis indicate that the spread and frequency of protests in ethnic Tibetan areas are significantly associated with the number of officially registered Tibetan Buddhist sites, as well as the historical dominance of particular types of Tibetan religious sects. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the effect of Han Chinese settlement on Tibetan political activism is more controversial than previously thought.

scholarly journals An 18th Century Textual Labyrinth: The Nature of Tibetan Buddhist Printing Network in Qing Inner Asia during the Kangxi Period

Waxing Moon ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tenzin Yewong Dongchung
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Tibetan Buddhist ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Imperial Authority ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
Imperial Court

Although patronage of Tibetan Buddhism by the imperial courts in China has a precedence before the Qing dynasty, the scale and scope of Qing emperors’ investment was unprecedented. Scholars have produced multiple interpretations on the nature of their rule, among which, the most pertinent argument has centered on analyzing the intentions of the emperors. The centrality of this debate has occured at the elision of other historical factors, one of which is infrastructures and institutions that facilitated this patronage. While Qing patronage took multiple forms, such as construction of monasteries or conference of titles to religious hierarchs, this paper focuses on printing activities in specific and illustrates the textual network that began to take shape during Kangxi’s reign (r.1661-1722).  The Kangxi Emperor reorganized and significantly expanded the Imperial household department, Neiwufu, which was responsible for manufacture of goods for palace’s use. He also established imperial workshops such as Yangxindian and Wuyingdian that recruited artisans from all over the country and were involved in printing scholarly works. Through the collaborative work of the Imperial household department and the bureaucracy, enormous material and human resources were amassed to implement these printing projects. While the imperial court was involved in printing monumental texts, I have also highlighted the role of monasteries and temples outside of Beijing that were involved in printing smaller texts. I have shown that while the inner Asian printing network was undoubtedly supported by the Qing emperors and spurred by their financial contribution, they were also spaces and layers where smaller local powers could engage in printing activities independently outside the realm of imperial authority. 

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