Noncredit Course
Buddhist Cultures of the Himalayas
Event ID: P09730
Info: Jun 2-18 • Mon/Wed • 6:00-8:00pm • 6 mtgs • UHM Pacific Ocean Science & Technology 127 • $75
With: John Johnston
This course is offered in the wake of the Honolulu Academy of Arts exhibition, `The Dragon`s Gift: the Sacred Arts of Bhutan,` and engagement with Asian art and Buddhism that it has generated. Explore the rich cultural diversity of the Himalayan region through the prisms of history and cultural geography. Discover the unique cultures of the Himalayas and many now extinct Buddhist kingdoms through the unifying theme of Vajrayana, or Diamond Path, Buddhism, which came to dominate the religious life and culture of the region.
Lectures are fully illustrated and include analysis of outstanding examples of Himalayan Buddhist art. Topics include:
1. The Himalayas: topography of cultures and basic historical chronology
2. India: cultural wellspring and Tibet: 6th to 8th centuries, the formative Buddhist period
3. The dissemination and persecution of Buddhism in the Himalayas
The second great Buddhist period in Tibet (10th / 11th centuries)
4. North and western Himalayas: Kashmir, Lhadhak, Guge, Khotan, and the Silk Road
5. Central and eastern Himalayas: Tibet, Kham, Sino-Tibetan Areas, Grasslands area
6. Southern Himalayas: Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim, Assam
Meet the instructor and view highlights from the Eric Valli film, "Himalaya," as a prelude to the course on Sunday, June 1, 7:00 pm in UHM Krauss Hall Room 12 (Yukiyoshi Room). The screening is free, but please call (808) 956-8244 to let us know you are coming.
John Johnston, MA, Asian Studies, University of Hawai‘i, assistant curator for the exhibition , “The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan” (2005-present) was a key participant in locating and selecting works for the exhibition, and was based in Bhutan for three years working on the project. Mr. Johnston also assisted with the loan of the items and participated in original research, writing, and editing efforts culminating in the catalog, "The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan" (Serindia Publications, 2008), to which he contributed an essay. He is cofounder and coeditor of i>Buddhist Art News, and author of numerous articles on the subject. Mr. Johnston presently serves on the editorial board of the National Museum of Bhutan. He has conducted fieldwork at remote Buddhist sites throughout Asia, particularly in silk road and Himalayan areas.