Walking with the Dalai Lama

Sometimes in life, the missing piece is the missing peace.

"The Missing Peace: Artists & the Dalai Lama" was sponsored by the Committee of 100 for Tibet and the Dalai Lama Foundation, traveling throughout 2007. More than 88 contemporary artists from around the world offered works inspired by the the Dalai Lama. Artists included Chuck Close, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Tenzing Rigdol, Jenny Holzer, and Richard Gere.

Each piece aimed to chart the artists' personal journey toward peace. As the Dalai Lama said of the project, "I am convinced that if more of us could spend a few minutes every day trying to develop a sense of inner peace, eventually it would become part of our lives; then everything we do will contribute to peace in the world."

(Evolution into a Manifestation, by Chase Bailey, 2005. Oil on linen 59 x 53 inches.)

Photos and text from "The Missing Peace: Artists and the Dalai Lama," Courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art.

Paranirvana

By Lewis deSoto, 2000. Mixed media with nylon, painted cloth 7 x 25 x 6 feet.

In Buddhist scriptures, Shakyamuni Buddha remained on the earth after attaining enlightenment to teach others his insights into achieving salvation. At the age of 80 he came to Kushinagar, where he preached his final sermon and died.

This episode is the Paranirvana, the physical death of the historical Buddha and his entering into Nirvana, the state of oneness and perfection. This work by deSoto was inspired by the loss of his father; he has superimposed his own face on the Buddha as he asks the universal question, "How will we all face the moment of our death?"

Photos and text from "The Missing Peace: Artists and the Dalai Lama," Courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art.

At the Waterfall

by Marina Abramovic, 2000-2003. Continuous video loop projection.

"After 20 years of visiting Tibetan monasteries in India, the director of Tibet House in Delhi asked me if I would be a choreographer for Tibetan lama dancing and chanting. I was supposed to compress the performance into one hour and 20 minutes, without losing its essence.

I ended up working in the monastery with 120 monks, using a megaphone to teach them how to come on stage, go off stage, remember the positions of the lights, how to change their elaborate costumes in less than 30 seconds, etc. I decided to project all 120 videos simultaneously on a large wall. Then I was hit with a realization: When you hear all the prayers from different monasteries and traditions at the same time, they sound like a huge waterfall."

Photos and text from "The Missing Peace: Artists and the Dalai Lama," Courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art.

Bodies of Light

By Bill Viola, 2006. Video diptych, 2 minutes., 6 seconds.

Male and female torsos are tracked by a light, which traverses the bodies vertically, moving over the chakras - internal points of physical and spiritual energy. In the course of this process, we witness the dissolution of the figures into emptiness.

Through his work Viola strives to connect the viewer with the image via the body as well as the intellect. Believing that a special form of knowledge can only be gained through a direct and visceral experience of an event, he uses the video medium as an avenue to self-knowledge.

Photos and text from "The Missing Peace: Artists and the Dalai Lama," Courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art.

4 Influential Buddhists

These visionaries helped shape modern Buddhism. Read next feature >