digitaldeities

monday list

list 5 -10 community of practice forums (magazines, websites, galleries, blogs, conferences) that you can contribute to over the course of the semester:

SPIRIT

www.clairvision.org - a school of meditation - rather than trying to offer a little knowledge to a lot of people, the school's focus is to give meditation training at a high level.

Rubin Museum of Art: Art of the Himalayas - dedicated to the art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions

Tibet House U.S. a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation of Tibetan culture.

ART

eyebeam.org

ARS Electronica Ars Electronica - an interface of art, technology and society.

rhizome.org - Rhizome - An online resource for people who are interested in new media art, the intersection of new technologies and contemporary art.

New Museum :: NewMuseum.org exhibits new work by American and international artists, with an emphasis on innovation in a variety of media.

BENTLEY PROJECTS bentley projects Phoenix, AZ unique downtown gallery specializing in contemporary art.

The Sun Magazine | Personal. Political. Provocative. Ad-free. The Sun is an independent, ad-free monthly magazine that for more than thirty years has used words and photographs to invoke splendor and heart

Seed : Science is Culture We create and distribute original Science is Culture content that communicates science's fast-changing place in our culture to an international audience.

SCIENCE

American Museum of Natural History - one of the world's preeminent institutions for scientific research and education

CAS: California Academy of  Sciences Home a four-story rainforest,  an aquarium, a planetarium, and a natural history museum all under one living roof!

Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI)  - www.asci.org a network for artists who either use or are inspired by science and technology

www.nature.com -Nature - the world's best science and medicine ... international weekly journal of science.

new opportunity // new direction

On Monday evening I had a quick skype chat with Samuel Sagan (my main teacher from Clairvision Meditation School - Clairvision.org) and he asked me if I
would like to do my thesis project as a giving for the school and
research the top 10-20 Hindu yantras.. to find the perfect
mathematical proportions of them.. to reflect on the source of this
sacred geometry and then to recreate them.  He said it would be good
for my process and helpful for the school as many people could use
them.  WOW.

You are the first person I am sharing about it with... as I am a
little stunned.. with gratitude and excitement.  My aspirations were
answered.  He asked me to think about it and get back to him.. as this
is a serious commitment and he does not have much spare to time to
only go halfway with such a project.  I can feel how much supermind is
involved to deeply understand, calculate and create (digital) images..
and it is so much more than that!  A BIG step away from the etheric
pleasures of the nectar, birds and bees.

I will do it, of course.  I just now have to re-arrange things inside
and organize my school projects around my research and explorations.
This was what I was hoping for at the beginning of the summer before I
went to lynnskill... remember our vision space about mandalas...  well
now I have the opportunity to dive deep deep deep with my favorite
teacher alive :o)
 

I already found this site .. I googled mathematics of the sri yantra
.. holy smokes :o)

http://alumni.cse.ucsc.edu/~mikel/sriyantra/
The mathematical interest in the sriyantra lies in the construction of
the central nine triangles, which is a more difficult problem than
might first appear. A line here may have three, four, five or six
intersections with other lines. The problem is to construct a
sriyantra in which all the intersections are correct and the
vertices's of the largest triangles fall on the circumference of the
enclosing circle. We shall not go into the details of how the Indians
may have achieved accurate constructions of increasingly complex
versions of the sriyantra, including spherical ones with spherical
triangles. Bolton and Macleod (1977) offer a simple overview of the
subject; Kulaichev (1984) goes into the 'higher' mathematics implicit
in constructing different types of sriyantra.

There is, however, a curious fact about all the correctly constructed
sriyantras, whether enclosed in circles or in squares. In all such
cases the base angle of the largest triangles is about 51°. The
monument that comes to mind when this angle is mentioned is the Great
Pyramid at Gizeh in Egypt, built around 2600 bc. It is without doubt
the most massive building ever to have been erected, having at least
twice the volume and thirty times the mass of the Empire State
Building in New York, and built from individual stones weighing up to
70 tonnes each. The slope of the face to the base (or the angle of
inclination) of the Great Pyramid is 51°50'35.
...
Many of the accurate constructions of sriyantras in India are very
old. Some are even more complicated than the one shown. There are
those that consist of spherical triangles for which the constructor,
to achlieve perfect intersections and vertices falling on the
circumference of the circle enclosing the triangles, would require
knowledge of 'higher mathematics whidh the medieval and ancient Indian
mathematicians did not possess' (Kulaichev, 1984, p. 292). Kulaidhev
goes on to suggest that the achievement of such geometrical constructs
in Indian mathematics may indicate 'the existence of unknown cultural
and historical altenatives to mathematical knowledge, e.g. the highly
developed tradition of special imagination'.

and this site too.........................................................

http://www.sriyantraresearch.com/

Bibliography               

       

Papers:

      

      

• Gérard           Huet. Sri Yantra Geometry. Theoretical Computer Science 281 (2002)           pp. 609--628
            How model the Sri Yantra using a set of equations.
           
• C.S. Rao           - SriYantra: A study of spherical and plane forms (1998)
            Comprehensive study of the Sri Yantra and it's           many variations (flat, pyramidal, and spherical)
           
• Alexey           Kulaichev - Sriyantra: The ancient instrument to control the psycho physiological           state of man (1987)
            Study of the effects on the mind when staring at the Sri Yantra
         
• Alexey           Kulaichev - Sriyantra and its mathematical properties (1984)
            Good paper on the geometry of the           Sri Yantra.
• Alexey           Kulaichev - Addition
            Various methods for drawing the Sri Yantra.
           
• Patrick           Flanagan - How to draw a Sri Yantra
            A very precise method to draw the           Sri Yantra.
• Bill           Witherspoon - Art as Technology
            Great paper on the observed effects of the Sri Yantra on the environment,           animals, and people.
• Marcus           Schmieke - The most powerful Vastu tools to balance spatial energies.
            Yantras as a means of correction           to balance the spatial energy in a house.

      

       

Books:

      

      

• Madhu Khanna - Yantra: The           tantric symbol of cosmic unity.
            Nice pictures of old Sri Yantras, some of them can be found in the picture           galleries.
• Philip Rawson - The Art of Tantra.
            Nice pictures of old Sri Yantras, some of them can be found in the picture           galleries.
• Dan A. Davidson - Shape Power
            A treatise on how form converts Universal           aether into electromagnetic and gravitic forces.
• Howard Beckman- Mantras, Yantras           & Fabulous Gems
• T.A. Gopinatha Rao - Elements of           Hindu Iconography. Vol. I - part II, second edition 1971.
            Picture and drawings of a Sri Yantra from the Sringeri Temple.
• Dr. P.H. Pott - Yoga and Yantra
            The Hague, Nijhoff, 1966. Translated           from the origninal published in 1946.
• György Doczi - The Power of           Limits
            Proportional harmonies in nature, art,           and architecture. Excellent book on the Golden ratio.
• Patrick Flanagan - Pyramid Power: The Millenium Science
• Peter Pearce  - Structure in Nature Is a Strategy for Design
            This fully-illustrated investigation of the polygon as the basic building block of nature proposes that when it is adapted to environmental structure this form will result in configurations that are naturally space and energy efficient.

 

Ian Baker - rare journeys . com

My dear friend Sarah Grace sent me this website of a friend of hers .. Ian Baker.  www.rarejourneys.com  Tonight I looked him up on the web and ordered this first book of his from this incomplete and short list below.  I find the other two books quite fascinating but I will wait to see if I can find them at the Library or perhaps a premiere viewing at a NYC bookstore.  Ian Baker is another possible contact for this area and my explorations.  I would like to go on this pilgrimage of his below.  angels ahoy!

The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place     by Ian Baker      

       

CELESTIAL GALLERY
        By Ian Baker
        Paintings by Romio Shrestha
        With an Introduction by Deepak Chopra 

                                                             

THE DALAI LAMA’S SECRET TEMPLE: TANTRIC WALL PAINTINGS FROM TIBET By Ian Baker  Photographs by Thomas Laird and an Introduction by H.H. The Dalai Lama

 

                                                                           

This journey from Lhasa through the stunning landscapes, temples, and markets of southern and eastern Tibet will culminate in a pilgrimage to the inner sanctum of Kawakarpo, a sacred mountain equal in status to Mount Kailash, but held by many to far surpass its beauty.

                              

For more information, contact info@rarejourneys.com

www.rarejourneys.com

 

quick reply

wow...
in less than one hour I got a response from Jim!

He says this:

Carrie Mae,

Maybe as  first step I would suggest Karma Sherpa the founder of Taksindu Social Welfare. Karma was sponsored for his education in the village and also at Kathmandu University by dZi Foundation. He lived all of his life in the Mira and Taksindu area and has now gone back to serve his community while still running a successful trekking business in KTM. He is completely connected with that region and is life long friends with the Lama Renji the geshi of Taksindu and Mira Monasteries.

Please connect with Karma and see if he can help as a first step.

All the best, JIM

I googled Karma Sherpa and read a small bit about his organization below - www.tswnepal.org

Taksindu Social Welfare (TSW) Nepal is registered at Kathmandu District Administration office in 2006 & affiliated with Social Council Welfare (SCW) of Nepal, as non profit making NGO working for Himalayan Backward Community through the key of Education, Environment & cultural preservation of mountain indigenous & deprived cast people of Nepal.

This sounds and feels very exciting somehow.
I will write him soon and let things continue to evolve.

dZi foundation - letter to Jim Nowak

Today I wrote a short email to the http://www.dzifoundation.org director and founder, Jim Nowak.  I have been on their Newsletter for a few years and I felt like now is a good time to start seeing if this is really a clear direction for me to pursue this next year .. the Fulbright Grant tot Nepal in 2009/2010.

Here is dZi mission statement:

The dZi Foundation believes in empowering local visionaries —and communities—to reach their true potential through programs that are sustainable and serve within the existing social framework.                                            

We initiate programs, partner with other Non-Government Organizations with proven track records,  and fund programs where financial restrictions are the only barriers to positive change.

Our work is focused in the Himalayan region of Nepal, Ladakh and Sikkim, India.

my letter:

Hello Jim,

I am on your current dZi Newsletter mailing list and I am keeping up to date on your various projects in Nepal.

I am currently a MFA student in the Design and Technology Department at Parsons In New York City.  I am interested in applying for a Fulbright grant this September for next year 2009/2010 session for Nepal. 

I am an artist and my thesis project is asking - Where do the Sacred, fine art, ritual, nature and modern technology overlap?  I am interested in studying in Nepal because of the history and culture of Sacred arts - Mandalas, Thangka Painting and Sand Painting rituals.  I realize my topic is rather broad right now and I will be narrowing down tings the next few weeks/months.

Do you have any interesting contacts from your involvement with the Mira and Taksundu Monasteries or through one of the schools dZi has worked with in rural Nepal?  I am looking for an in country contact person who can guide me in some of my research and write a letter for the Fulbright grant. I could see either working with a monastery or perhaps creating an art project/collaboration with the girls a risk or one of the rural schools.  Perhaps creating a internet presence and art exhibit that could raise more funding and publicity.  I have researched the Rangjung Yeshe Institute and it seems numerous previous fellows have connected with them.   I have also researched the Tibet House that now has houses around the world, started by the Dali Lama and heavily promoted by Robert Thurman. 

Do you have any contact people or any suggestions or local artists or art organizations that would be available in collaborating?  I would also enjoy brainstorming and discussing with you projects that you would find appropriate, helpful and interesting for this region? 

I am curious how much of influence you see from Tibet refugees and do Nepali people practice a ritual like sand painting or mandala making like Tibetan Monks or women in rural India?  I have read through Painted Prayers: Women's Art in Village India and The Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism.

Thanks for your time.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,
Carrie Mae Kreyche

one month of meditation in Nepal

I am currently living (for the summer) at Clairvision Meditation School in Upstate NY ..near the tiny town of Bovina Center.  I have been looking online at a Meditation Center in Nepal.  If I do travel abroad with a Fulbright Grant in 2009/2010 then I already have a running list of ideas I can participate in and places to visit. 

KOPAN MONASTERY, KATHMANDU, NEPAL

               

Kopan Monastery
                  P.O. Box 817
                  Kathmandu, Nepal

               

Phone: 977 - 1 - 4821 268
                  Fax: 977 - 1 - 4820 267
                  Email: kopan@mail.com.np

 www.kopan-monastery.com

The monastery and the nunnery are under the spiritual guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and the care of the abbot, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lhundrup Rigsel. And it is the wellspring of the FPMT, a network of some 140 centers and activities world-wide, themselves expressions of the Buddha activity of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

From the very beginning, Kopan was conceived by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a place of study and meditation for both the Himalayan sangha and for their many foreign students. In preserving this tradition to this day, Kopan has become a unique place, a meeting place between East and West, between religious and worldly life.

             

I found out about this Monastery in Nepal from this website: www.satchitanand.co.za/kopan_monastary.htm 

The writer says this about his retreat experience at Kopan:
Kopan is a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in       Nepal. It is large and impressive, with about 200 resident monks, who       graciously share their monastery with the many Western students who come       here to study Tibetan Buddhism.

The Tibetan landscape is harsh and barren, so Tibetan       culture and religion make up for this. Temples are incredibly ornate, with       ceilings and walls hand painted with rich and detailed deities and images       depicting different aspects of Tibetan Buddhism. Large Thanka (sacred art)       paintings hang from the ceiling, and enormous gold Buddha statues gaze       serenely down upon you, making you feel small and humble, yet uplifted by       their purity, beauty and serenity.

Even with the demanding schedule, lack       of privacy, lack of food and lack of sleep, when it ended, you didn’t want       it to end! The lamas are light, radiant, joyful beings. They have purified       themselves of the gross negative afflictions, and their energy is spacious       and free. It is a blessing to be in the company of such beings as their       energy uplifts and inspires you.

Thangka Painting - Tibetan Sacred Art

On Wednesday I made a brief posting and asked Who will be my Nepali/Tibetan Contact?

As you can read - that same night I received my first brief comment from a Tibetan man who now lives in Santa Cruz. We've emailed back and forth and he sent the link to a website he made for his father - a Thangka painter.

As I read through the statements and looked at his paintings I am deeply moved. The artist speaks often about vision, aspiration, Sacred art and a series of paintings called "Scenes From The Pure Land". I feel he is very talented and connected and has decided to break/expand the tradition of this style of painting that was only previously used for Sacred Art. He has done many murals in temples and was invited to the USA to create one in California.

I feel as I have been given a gift and I am not sure yet how to unwrap it.  I will keep you all posted as things unravel. 

This image and text below are from his website: www.tibetanpainting.com - the last 2 paragraphs are written with such integrity and heartness.  I am touched! 

In 1991, the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich in Zurich,Switzerland commissioned me to paint the Kalachakra mandala. This painting, using only natural pigment, is still on exhibit and is 32 " by 34 " unframed and took one year to paint.


 

Historically, for cultural and religious reasons, Thangka painters only paint sacred art. When I came to the United States, in spite of these prohibitions, I was inspired to expand my work by blending eastern and western concepts, and as a result for the last 10 years I have been painting a series of expressive secular non traditional scenes from my childhood depicting Tibetan life and culture. This synergistic blend of east and west, internal spiritual and external western material, is creating a challenging and exciting new phase in my work and in my life as an artist.

I consider myself as a very dedicated teacher, artist and a serious lifelong Buddhist practitioner, who is kind and gentle, brave and adventuresome. I have been a working artist my entire adult life and my work is my life. Fluent in English, Tibetan, Nepali, Yolmo dialect, and Hindi, i am an engaging, humble, self educated man from one of the most isolated and remote areas of the world. I was born into poverty and caste tradition, and yet through the strength of my art and the determination of my spirit, I overwhelmed the odds and came to the United States to develop my work and carry on my skills and training. By bringing this ancient knowledge to the West,I hope to continue to preserve and honor the traditions and technical purity of thangka painting by developing a first generation of American thangka painters.

Who will be my Nepali/Tibetan Contact?

I visited this center a few weeks ago.
Wealth of information, Contacts and Fine Art Gallery.
A NYC Center for all things Tibetan - point of contact for worldwide network.
I will be making some follow-up inquires soon.

Tibet House US

22 West 15th Street (between 5th & 6th Ave.)

New York, New York 10011

(212) 807-0563 | info@tibethouse.org  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Gallery Hours

Monday-Friday  12 - 5 p.m. Saturday by appointment.

 tibethouse.org

tibetanyouthcongress.us

Dharmapala Thangka Centre
Thangka Painting
Located in Bhaktapur rather than in Kathmandu because of its environment.
Bhaktapur is often called `The Cultural Capital of Nepal'.

Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu
Institute of Science & Technology
Central Department of Buddhist Studies Kirtipur
Central Department of Nepali Culture, History and Archeology
Central Department of Computer Science & Information Technology
Central Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

Rangjung Yeshe Institute
Tibetan monastery in Boudhanath, Kathmandu, Nepal
shedra.org

Rangjung Yeshe Institute offers courses in Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan, Sanskrit and Nepali languages. The courses combine traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings with a modern Buddhist Studies perspective. All classes are held in the unique setting of a Tibetan monastery in Boudhanath, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Students can earn BA and MA degrees in Buddhist Studies and Himalayan Languages or study for shorter, intensive periods. For visiting students, study-abroad programs in Buddhist philosophy and language as well as a range of intensive summer programs in Buddhist philosophy and related languages are offered.

 

symmetry . evolution . Jung .QUOTE

Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature by Marcus Du Sautoy

page 276-277

Evolution has programmed us to be oversensitive to symmetry.  Those that can spot a pattern with reflectional symmetry in the chaotic tangle of the jungle are more likely to survive.  Symmetry in the undergrowth is either someone about to eat you or something you could eat.   Our brains  seem to be hard-wired to find meaning in symmetry.  This is why, in the early twentieth century, Hermann Rorschach developed his symmetrical inkblots as a means of unlocking a patient's unconscious mind.  He believed that humans are so compelled to find a meaning or a message when shown something symmetrical that the patient's response can reveal clues to their psychological state of mind.  Carl Jung also thought that symmetry was important in understanding the unconscious.  But rather than the butterfly-like inkblots of Rorschach, Jung was drawn to the symbolism contained in the mandalas of Hinduism and Buddhism.

In Buddhist worship the mandala is a sacred diagram made from dyed sawdust or sand.  Mandala is Sanskrit for circle, and the diagram is an intricate network of intertwining circles representing a many layered universe.  The complexities of the design are meant  to reflect the  turmoil of the human condition on the way to achieving the nirvana at the centre of the mandala.  Each symbol in the mandala's design has some specific meaning.  A diamond represents the mind, the eight-pointed wheel denotes the eightfold path to Nirvana and the 16-leafed lotus is Buddha or Nirvana itself.  The network of shapes acts as a story, guiding th worshiper in a lesson on meditation.

The mandalas of Tibet are laboured over by priests for days in an act of deep and concentrated worship.  The symmetry of the shape is meant to assist the worshiper in achieving a meditative state, yet once finished they are immediately destroyed - an important part of the mandala ritual.  The hands that have painstakingly worked for perfect symmetry pass over the sand, and the symmetry is lost.  It is a lesson n the impermanence of the world and the fragile nature of human existence.  Symmetry is hard to achieve, as those in the animal world with bad genes discover to their cost.  The destruction of the mandala also reinforces the Buddhist belief in the importance of non-attachment.   

Tibetan Monks at Phoenix at Museum

I find it fascinating that Museums around the United States hire or ask Tibetan Monks to create sand paintings. When I lived in Phoenix, AZ, the Phoenix Art Museum had a grand re-opening of a new addition (2007) and one of the main features in the foyer was the creation and then destruction of a sand painting. A modern/ancient ritual blend that was enjoyed by thousands. It left quite an impression on me and I feel how much need/wanting there is in people to honor the sacred. I observed that the Museum did not ask a Catholic priest to walk through the foyer swinging incense, that would be too controversial and not culturally dynamic enough.  There is a fascination and honoring of the newness of Tibetan rituals (brought to the West only 20 years ago) and there are very few rituals of this intricacy and depth that are maintained and honored in American pop culture today.

In Ithaca, New York there is the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies.  Their website http://www.namgyal.org/mandalas says this:

Mandala, meaning 'house' or 'palace', represents a Buddha's divine place of residence. There are hundreds of mandalas representing each of the different tantric deities, each with its own unique set of details. To the practitioner, the mandala represents the activities and teachings of the particular deity represented in the mandala, and can be described as the residences of the respective deities and their retinues.

Whether made of sand, cloth, or metal, mandalas are used to aid in visualizing these dwellings. Sand mandalas are one of the most magnificent types of mandala construction and are associated with the most profound and elaborate Buddhist ceremonies in Tibet. Every color, dot, and line in the mandala represents an essential part of the deity and Buddhist philosophy.

In 1988, His Holiness the 14th Dali Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism allowed the first construction of a mandala in the west to be open to the public. This mandala was the Kalachakra Mandala and was constructed in sand by the Namgyal Monks from Dharamsala India at the Natural History Museum in New York City. His Holiness opened up the viewing of the mandala as a cultural offering, and as a means to preserve Tibetan culture. His Holiness felt that it would be a benefit to the world, as it would enhance the lives of all living beings near the construction site.

A mandala is thought to bring peace and harmony to the area where it is being constructed. Simply viewing a mandala is believed by Buddhists to be enough to change one's mind stream by creating a strong imprint of the beauty of perfection of the Buddha's mind, as is represented in the mandala itself. As a result of this imprint, one may be able to find greater compassion, awareness, and a better sense of well-being.

** modern digital interpretation project
During 1989 and 1990 Pema Losang Chogyen from Ithaca's Namgyal Monastery, and Kavita Bala, with student Liz Popolo, created a presentation of two- and three-dimensional models and animations to visualize the grand palace depicted in a Kalachakra mandala, a traditional sand image created by Buddhist Monks. They worked with staff members and students at Cornell University's Program of Computer Graphics to create a three dimensional model of the mandala. The model contains tens of thousands of objects, and was used to create these still images. A six minute animation of this computer model, "Exploring the Mandala," is available from Snow Lion Press.
See more about this project on their website http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/online/mandala