Home » Posts tagged 'Buddhism'
Tag Archives: Buddhism
Suffering in Chinese Buddhism and Italian Christianity: Comparison Between Northwestern Chinese Mogao Grottoes and Italian Christian Artworks
By Sherry Mi, IV Form
Suffering in Chinese Buddhism and Italian Christianity: Comparison Between Northwestern Chinese Mogao Grottoes and Italian Christian Artworks
Student-Submitted Note: I conducted this individual research in the Summer. Inspired by my pre-COVID travels to the Mediterranean region, I became greatly interested in European art history while constantly being influenced by Chinese art and culture. My research is a response to my childhood wonder about religious art.
INTRODUCTION
Visual art is one of the easiest ways to communicate, while the spread of a religion depends on the diffusion of its beliefs, which solely depends on communication. For this reason, artists have created countless religious works in the past millennia. Furthermore, the use of religious symbols increased as religions, usually including scriptures, holy figures, and taboos, were systematized. Symbols convey essential religious ideas to the viewers, including suffering.
In my 2020 visit to the Mogao Grottoes in Northwestern China, I also noticed that Buddhist stories of sacrifice and suffering were also one of the most depicted images. Religious beliefs, I conjectured, supplement images of suffering, delivering an important lesson about pain to the followers: Why is pain present? How can one cope with it? Notably, religious art only represents the opinions of its artist, probably on behalf of society, but not God. Opinions may change over time.
I soon discovered that these images were produced inconsistently as the religion evolved. I recorded my discoveries in Buddhist and Christian art in the following analysis. As the religion developed, religious art deviated from images of suffering. The reduction of such images hinted at a transformation of the invisible relationship between religion and society.
What force could drive this palpable change? I noticed similar trends in the development of Chinese Buddhist and Italian Christian art: images of suffering were abundant for one historical period, but declined as the next period began. I also wondered if Buddhist and Christian artists interpreted suffering similarly by making similar artistic choices. This analysis is a possible answer.
(more…)
The Dalai Lama: A Spiritual Leader Above a Political One
By Lucy Cao, V Form
The Dalai Lama: A Spiritual Leader Above a Political One
China and Tibet have a long history of relations. Beginning with the Manchu rule of Tibet, conflicts and disputes between the Chinese and Tibetans have persisted. Unwilling to compromise with a centralized ruler, Tibet seized the opportunity to claim itself as an independent state after the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. However, following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Tibet became an integral part of China. From then on, numerous riots and uprisings for Tibetan independence and the preservation of Tibetan traditional culture and religion have taken place (Goldstein 84-86).
One aspect of the complex relationship between China and Tibet has some connection with the Dalai Lama selection process. As a tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Finding the reincarnation of the Dalai (more…)
I Am a Spirit on a Human Journey
By Both Long, Spanish Faculty
I Am a Spirit on a Human Journey
“There is no path to happiness, happiness is the path”–Buddha
As a kid, I was raised under the Buddhist way of life by my mom and grandma. I was taught the principles of Buddhism through lessons and teaching; I lived the Buddhist way of life by following my family. I walked this life and always identified as a practicing Buddhist, but I never really studied what that actually meant. I never consciously thought of what it means to be someone with Buddhist values. I am a Buddhist. I am here to learn the teachings of the Buddhist way through my own experience in this human form. (more…)
LEO 