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Encountering the Buddha:
Art and Practice across Asia
Buddhism -- and the art it inspired -- helped shape the cultures of Asia. Today, its extraordinary art is a source of beauty and contemplation for audiences across the world.
Encountering the Buddha brings together more than two hundred artworks, spanning two millennia, to explore Asia's rich Buddhist heritage. Although all Buddhist traditions seek to overcome suffering and the cycle of rebirth, different schools based on the Buddha's teachings developed over time. The artworks displayed here reflect this diversity.
Many visitors have already heard of Buddhist meditation and seen images of the Buddha. This exhibition also introduces other practices and objects that, while perhaps less familiar, are central to Buddhism.
Encountering the Buddha reveals how Buddhist artworks are endowed with sacred power and ritual use. We ask, why were they created? How did Buddhists engage with
them? And how do Buddhist understandings of objects differ from those of art museums?
While pursuing answers, we highlight different contexts: grand shrines, intimate altars, royal palaces, artists' workshops, and treacherous pilgrimage routes. All are sites for encountering the Buddha.
-- Curators Debra Diamond, Robert DeCaroli, and Rebecca Bloom, and the Encountering the Buddha team |