2012 Events || Past Events

"Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism"

New art exhibition at the Carlos Museum

January 21st - April 15, 2012

The Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University will showcase the sacred art of Tibet in the special exhibition Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism from January 21 through April 15, 2012. For the first time in the Southeast more than 100 masterworks will bring to light the intricate, transcendental, and evocative manifestations and functions of the “perfect circle” or mandala used as an aid in meditation and as a tool to obtain enlightenment. The exhibition and accompanying educational programs will celebrate the rich religious and artistic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the spiritual significance of the mandala.

The exhibition displays different types of mandalas, including paintings, three-dimensional works, portable mandalas, and ritual objects that are related to mandala ceremonies.

While many of the works in the exhibition are from the collection of the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, the show also includes masterpieces from other museums and private collections from around the world, including the Kimbell Art Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich, and the Gyuto Monastery in Dharamsala, India.

Click here for a brochure of events.

Emory's 12th Annual Tibet Week: March 26th - March 31st, 2012

Monday, March 26th

12pm Living Mandala Blessing Ceremony at Pitts Garden

1pm Living Mandala public ground laying at Pitts Garden

5pm Meditation with Susan Bauer-Wu (followed by book signing)

7:30pm Talk: “Opening to Life While Facing Death.” Susan Bauer-Wu and Geshe Dadul Namgyal

Tuesday, March 27th

12pm Living Mandala planting ceremony

5pm Meditation with John Dunne

7:30pm Talk: “Tibet is Burning: Reflections on the Rise of Self-Immolations in Tibet” Lobsang Nyandak, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Representative to the US, discusses the worsening political situation in Tibet. Sponsored by SFT

Wednesday, March 28th

12pm Living Mandala public planting ceremony

5pm Meditation with Brendan Ozawa-de Silva

7:30pm Panel: “Tibetan Medicine: Mapping Current Research and Charting Future Directions.” Traditional Tibetan Medical (TTM) doctors Pema Dorjee, Tashi Dawa and Tenzin Choedon and Doctoral student Tawni Tidwell discuss TTM research at Emory

Thursday, March 29th

5pm Meditation with Bobbi Patterson

6pm Living Mandala Consecration with the monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery at Pitts Garden

7:30pm Panel: “Buddhism & Science: An Unholy Alliance?” Geshe Lhakdor and David McMahan; moderated by Geshe Lobsang Negi

Friday, March 30th

5pm Meditation with Geshe Dadul Namgyal

All events held in the Carlos Museum Reception Hall, unless otherwise noted. Click here for an event flyer.

Living Mandala at Emory

A mandala is a sacred representation of the universe as it appears from the perspective of full enlightenment. It is the cosmos and its inhabitants when seen with eyes that have been freed from all traces of delusion, anger and attachment. Mandalas are used in Tibetan Buddhism to inspire spiritual practitioners and as a guide for them along the path to awakening.

The seed of inspiration for this Living Mandala began in the summer of 2010, when an Emory Arts delegation met with His Holiness the Karmapa, one of the highest incarnate lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Deeply committed to environmental protection, H.H. the Karmapa developed the idea of the Living Mandala as a creative way of inspiring Tibetans and others to appreciate and value the environment. For the Karmapa, the construction of a Living Mandala is a spiritual practice, akin to the popular Tibetan Buddhist practice of the "mandala offering," whereby the spiritual aspirant offers up the entire universe in purified form to the enlightened beings.

The Karmapa's plan to install Living Mandalas, created from plantings, in Tibetan monasteries in India led the Emory Arts delegation to conceptualize a Living Mandala on campus as a collaborative endeavor reflecting the convergence of spirituality, environmental care, healing, and the arts. The Office of the Dean and Chaplain of Religious Life offered to host this Living Mandala in the Pitts Garden so as to honor those who have come before us and whose memories continue to live among us.

With the opening of the mandala exhibitions at the Carlos Museum and the Visual Arts Gallery in spring 2012, the time seemed most auspicious for the planting of a Living Mandala, designed and installed by members of the Emory community in collaboration with the monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery. This Living Mandala offers a contemplative place to all, one that reflects universal aspirations to protect, renew, and sustain the earth through spirituality, healing, and creativity.

4th International Conference on Science Translation into Tibetan

March 26th - March 31st, 2012

As a part of Emory-Tibet Science Initiative's (ETSI) monastic science education program, Emory-Tibet Partnership (ETP) is, for the fourth year, organizing the International Conference on Science Translation into Tibetan (ICSTT) at Emory University. Since 2006 ETSI faculty members have been developing science curriculum and creating teaching materials for the Tibetan monastics, which are all translated into Tibetan. In-class and written translations have become essential parts of ETSI’s science education program. Keeping this in mind, ETP has been organizing science translation conferences to facilitate a rich exchange of ideas on translation methods, means of achieving a higher standard of accuracy, and improve the quality of science translation into Tibetan. The conference also aims to foster a closer cooperation, collaboration and exchange amongst various institutions working in this area.

During the previous three conferences, groups of translators, science professors, and language experts have assemble at Emory University and made significant progress toward standardizing a set of translated scientific vocabulary. This fourth conference hopes to further the endeavor of standardizing scientific terms in Tibetan.

The conference seeks to achieve the following objectives:

• To facilitate the exchange of ideas in the field of science translation into Tibetan

• To find new ways of achieving standardization in scientific terminology in Tibetan
• To initiate and strengthen cooperation and collaboration among Tibetan translators

Sessions are conducted primarily in Tibetan. For more information, view this flyer, or contact Tsondue Tsamphel (samphell11@yahoo.com).

Geshe Lobsang awarded DVS award

On Tuesday, April 19th, 2011,Geshe Lobsang Negi was awarded the DVS Award by Emory's Senior Society for distinguished enduring leadership and service to the University.

Congratulations, Geshe la!

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

Co-sponsored by the Office of the President; the Emory College Office of the Dean; the Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning; the Emory College Program in Science and Society; the Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology; the Emory Collaborative for Contemplative Studies; the Religion Department; the Office of Undergraduate Education; the Institute for Comparative and International Studies; Asian Studies; the Center for International Programs Abroad (CIPA); Students for a Free Tibet; and Drepung Loseling Monastery, Inc.