A Tibetan Celebration

By Pema McGuinness

It began as a simple dream. I wanted to expose my peers at the Phillips Exeter Academy and the greater Exeter community to the tragic beauty of my country, Tibet, through an exhibition of contemporary photographs. Gradually, with the addition of sacred thangkas and ritual objects from Tibet House, ceremonial robes, a ceremonial Buddhist altar and a spectacular sand mandala, my dream had developed into a month-long celebration of Tibet's unique culture and essence.

Labrang monastery, Gansu province, 1999

I was introduced to Ellen Kaplowitz, a nationally renowned photographer from New York, in the spring of 2000. Her 1985 excursion to the Himalayas had resulted in `Where the World Meets the Sky: Photographs of Ladakh and Tibet', a nationwide touring exhibition which was shown at some of America's most significant institutions, including The Field Museum in Chicago, The Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh and the Dayton Museum of Discovery. I was instantly attracted to the vibrant energy of her images; her vivid colour photographs capture the lifestyles, sensibilities and pace of modern-day life in Tibet. A myriad scenes of round spire-topped stupas, pilgrims performing their tireless clockwise perambulations around the ancient Jokhang Temple, women laden with heavy strands of silver and turquoise, and young novice monks engaged in lively mock debates introduce the viewer to a way of life very different from his own, one which is integrated with Buddhism and has a deep respect for the land. Kaplowitz's photographs also serve as visual records of Tibet in 1985. With the rapid pace of commercialization in Tibet, these images capture a land on the brink of major change. For example, the Potala Palace, which sits majestically on the escarpment of Red Hill, now overlooks one of the largest discos in Tibet.

The proposal for an exhibition was well received by Samuel Heath, the director of the Academy's Lamont Gallery. His enthusiasm for Tibetan art had brought him into contact with Tibet House in New York, which is run by Robert Thurman, one of America's leading scholars in Tibetan culture. It has a repatriation collection which consists of objects dating back to the 14th century. They agreed to loan fourteen sacred thangkas and ritual objects to complement Kaplowitz's images. The display was completed with a suite of Buddhist ceremonial robes, which once belonged to the Dalai Lama, and the recreation of a Buddhist altar in the gallery. Buddhist teachings led by Geshe Lobsang Tsetan, a respected Master of Tibetan Buddhism, were offered the first weekend of the exhibition. These focused on the importance of compassion, the evils of anger, jealousy and pride, and the methods of removing these three vices from one's life. Finally, Robbie Barnet, the founder of the Tibet Information Network, an organization that tries to draw attention to human rights abuses in Tibet, spoke to a school assembly about his involvement with the Tibetan Freedom Movement and reminded the audience of the choice available to all of us to get involved. The Drepung Gomang monks visited the campus to create a sand mandala in the academy library. During their five-day stay, they constructed a breathtaking mandala devoted to Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of universal compassion. `Tibetan Buddhists believe that there are many Buddhas, or enlightened beings, living among us. These Buddhas can create and maintain their own worlds, unbound by time and space, created by a process that transforms the universe from a realm of suffering to a realm of happiness for all beings'. (Denise P. Leidy and Robert A. F. Thurman, Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment, New York, 1997) Mandala, a Sanskrit word meaning circle, is a symbol of the Universe and its energy; its presence reminds us of natural sanctity and its potential within ourselves. The mandala presents an insight into the world of enlightenment, attainable through techniques of Buddhist practice. Apart from its use as a meditative vehicle for visualization, the act of creating a mandala is a reminder of the cycle of life and death, and of the impermanence and interdependence of all things.

Promoting common universal ideas of compassion, purification and healing around the world, the monks' message was well received by the local community. Throughout the week, it was not uncommon to see students, staff and members of the community alike sitting silently on the floor watching the monks carefully planning and painstakingly constructing the mandala. The Drepung Gomang monks also held daily prayers for harmony and world peace as well as a Tibetan cultural pageant and a sacred performance in Phillips's church. At the closing ceremony, when the mandala was swept up and poured into the river, people filled all seven floors of the library to watch the monks destroy an intricate work of art that had been created before their eyes during the previous few days.

The multifaceted `Tibet Month', which was held from 10 February to 10 March, offered opportunities to delve into the visual and tangible aspects of a culture. Perhaps it was the variety that appealed to viewers. The real magic of this event lay in its ability to attract and interest people who had never heard of Tibet before. The sight of people venturing tentatively into the library to listen to the harmonic overtones of monks chanting or a fellow student scrutinizing the intricate details of a thangka for hours were a confirmation that I had accomplished my goal of increasing awareness, both on and off campus, of what is beautiful and unique about Tibet and the importance of its preservation. For a culture existing in the face of adversity, the survival of such beauty is even more profound and precious.

During a Sunday meditation given by Geshe Lobsang Tsetan, I glanced around me: the head of the grounds staff was to my right, a couple from a meditation centre in Boston was in front and several students and teachers were scattered throughout the room. As I slowly exhaled, murmuring the mantra `om mani padme hom', with my soft alto disappearing into the collective chanting that filled my ears, I felt fulfilment.