Sakya Monastery & Town

The Sakya Monastery & Town Page on the Himalayan Art Resources website has been updated with 600 images from the SRG Archive. Not all of the images have been divided into their subject or location themes. This will happen over the next couple of weeks. The Manjushri Cave has been added. This is the location where Sachen Kunga Nyingpo had direct communication with Arya Manjushri during a six month retreat. The Ushnishavijaya Stupa has been added. This is the final resting place for the body of Bari Lotsawa Dharma Drag. Both of these sacred sights are located in the same building on the North side of Sakya to the left of the white patch of earth. The protector chapel of Lhakang Chenmo, the main South Monastery, has also been added.

Morning Trip to the Capital Museum

Again this morning we were up early and out front at 8:00 to go on a field trip to the Capital Museum. Only a dozen or more of the conference participants chose to go. Many had flights back to Europe or the US. There were several new exhibitions at the museum. However, the excellent display of Himalayan and Tibetan sculpture is a permanent exhibit which I photographed on a previous trip to Beijing some years ago. (See the Capital Museum sculpture on the HAR site).

While wandering through the museum I did see some objects that I had not seen before. I photographed them and will add them to the other images on the HAR site. One sculpture that was impressive and already on the HAR site was a Manjushri-like sculpture, the form having three faces and six hands. It was a large format sculpture and very well done with beautiful proportions. The ornate base is unusual for the extant of Nepalese scroll work decoration not typically found on the base of sculpture.