Fulbright Documentary Series at Library of Tibetan Works & Archives

Losar Tashi Delek! Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate!

I’m pleased to announce that five of my documentaries have now entered the collection of Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, and may be viewed through their Multimedia Library.

The documentaries are:

Tabo Monastery Tsug Lhakhang (Main Assembly Hall)  See the interior of this rare, Buddhist temple located in Spiti region of Western Himalayas, India. Famed Tabo Monastery is known as the oldest continually functioning Tibetan Buddhist monastery, the art of which the Dalai Lama said “delightfully expresses the vigor of the transmission of Buddhism from India to Tibet and the dynamic mingling of cultures.” Established in 996 C.E. by the Buddhist king of Guge in Western Tibet, Yeshe O’d, and the The Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo, it flourished in a golden epoch of Indo-Tibetan collaboration in spreading Buddhist culture.

 

Lamayuru Monastery Senge Lhakhang (Lion Temple) (00:03:24) Rare, medieval temple located in Ladakh region of Western Himalayas, India. Founded by The Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo and King Yeshe O’d of Guge, Western Tibet, circa late 11th century.

 

Mangyu Monastery Nangbarnangzad (0:03:03) Rare, medieval temple located in Ladakh region of Western Himalayas, India.  Founded by The Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo and King Yeshe O’d of Guge, Western Tibet, circa late 11th century.
Lhalung Monastery Serkhang (Golden Hall)(00:01:45)  Rare, medieval temple located in Spiti region of Western Himalayas, India. Founded by The Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo and King Yeshe O’d of Guge, Western Tibet, circa late 10th century.

 

Lhalung Monastery Serkhang (Golden Hall)(00:01:45)  Rare, medieval temple located in Spiti region of Western Himalayas, India. Founded by The Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo and King Yeshe O’d of Guge, Western Tibet, circa late 10th century.

 

Yamantaka (00:56:38)  A candid view of an esoteric and complex Tibetan Buddhist highest yoga tantra held at Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India. Monks create an elaborate sand mandala, ritual cakes and other sacred arts, offer prayers, chant, play ritual instruments, and meditate over the course of ten days. As one viewer said, “Beautiful, bizarre, and fascinating!”

Incidentally, many viewers have asked me about what is happening at around 42:14 in the Yamantaka video, where a young Caucasian man is in the Main Temple talking loudly and animatedly to a gathering of monks.This was a debate exam in session for students of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (which adjoins Namgyal Monastery), characterized by dramatic and distinctive hand clapping, body motions, and rhetoric. It was an event unrelated to Yamantaka, but which coincided with it. Tibetan Buddhists have a long and famed tradition of continuing the ancient Indian Buddhist practice of philosophical debate.

 

All documentaries filmed during Fulbright research on Indo-Tibetan mandalas of the 10th-12th century. With thanks and gratitude to Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Namgyal Monastery, and Nechung Monastery for their support in my quest to document these temples and Yamantaka ritual. Made possible in part by the support of Fulbright-Nehru Research Program, Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, and United States-India Education Foundation.