Nebraska-born musician Christiaan Virant was in Beijing performing drone-like ambient music with his Chinese collaborator Zhang Jian, under the name FM3 (mostly in Chinese); as pioneers of the electronic movement in China, most of their money came from sound installations at art galleries, which entailed wiring up rooms with sound equipment. Mulling a simpler and cheaper way of doing this, Virant was wandering around a Buddhist temple in southwest China when he spotted a little plastic box on the altar (one such possible example), piping out loops of the tinny, digitized chants played endlessly at such places. Intrigued, he found two of the devices in the temple gift shop and bought both. The idea of an instant sound installation was born. That was almost four years ago. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jan 17, 2009 - 26 comments

Bodhi Day, also known as Rohatsu, celebrates the day when Buddha was enlightened under the bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya (video, annotated photo gallery). How do we celebrate Bodhi Day? Typically, Rohatsu is the last day of a weeklong sesshin (intensive meditation retreat). Better not sleep late, the bell rings at 3:50 am! One person's experience of sesshin. A lesson in mindfulness for Rohatsu, including tips for beginners. Bodhi Day is primarily a Zen tradition. Tibetan buddhists celebrate Buddha's enlightenment in May with the festival of Saga Dawa. Other Buddhist holidays.
posted by desjardins on Dec 8, 2008 - 11 comments

Artist Robert M. Place reveals images from two works-in-progress: The Vampire Tarot, based on the Bram Stoker's Dracula, and one called The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery. Place already has several gorgeous decks to his name: The Alchemical Tarot. Tarot of the Saints. The Buddha Tarot. [more inside]
posted by hermitosis on Nov 26, 2008 - 35 comments

As in most religions, Buddhism's pantheon of deities and saints has been male dominated. The preeminent exception to this is Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion, also called Guan Yin or Kannon. She is the female form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, who underwent a gender shift after being popularized in China. She has inspired amazing forms of worship. [more inside]
posted by desjardins on Sep 12, 2008 - 15 comments

Holy Madness! (Flash interface.) The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City has launched a website that allows you to pore over and compare Tibetan Buddhist artwork from their exhibits. Use the "Decode" feature to pick paintings apart and learn about their intricate components.

See also: their ambitious calendar of events.
posted by hermitosis on Aug 17, 2006 - 18 comments

Sad -- such a sweet-looking kid, the smile on the face of a future suicide. Sad -- "If she only knew then how things would turn out…" Sad -- "I chose to kill her." Sad -- "You could see her personality break through the coma." Life is dukkha, said the Buddha -- a Pali term that means something like "suffering" or "the incapability of satisfaction." (Or as Mick Jagger put it, "I can't get no...") Here's the tangible evidence.
posted by digaman on May 3, 2006 - 39 comments

The Buddha project "The Buddha Project encourages people worldwide to participate by submitting photos of found Buddha, sacred Buddha, ancient Buddha, kitschy Buddha, handmade Buddha"
posted by dhruva on Feb 7, 2006 - 12 comments

The Buddha's daughter "There is, religiously speaking, no reason that Renji should attract devotion. Her father's position as an incarnation of the Buddha is not hereditary. Nevertheless, large numbers of Tibetans treat her as an object of reverence in her own right."
posted by dhruva on Nov 12, 2005 - 34 comments

beacon of bliss Quality images of a deity to help calm outrage or anxious mutterings
posted by longsleeves on Jun 13, 2005 - 18 comments

Eat your favorite deity, the way to your heart (and soul) is through your stomach. Buddha, Ganesh, or even chocolate Jesus. These would even make for a nice dessert after supper. Tom Waits would be proud.
posted by Arch Stanton on Mar 14, 2005 - 12 comments

A few days ago we had the Gutenberg Bible from the 1450s. Feh. The British Library now presents the oldest printed book in the world, the 868AD Diamond Sutra, in Shockwave format.
posted by Pretty_Generic on May 8, 2004 - 10 comments

The Buddhabrot Set is a re-visualization of the Mandelbrot Set, created with a rendering technique invented by Melinda Green, who further extended it to create the Buddhagram. [Via MonkeyFilter.]
posted by homunculus on Feb 4, 2004 - 15 comments

Rub the lucky Buddha and..... It dispenses - Darwin's Origin of Species, Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, Voltaire's Candide, Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey, Huxley's Doors of Perception, Lewis Carrol's Through the Looking Glass , Thomas Paine's Common Sense, The Age of Reason, Rights of Man, and Crisis #1, Buckminster Fuller's Grunch of Giants, Descartes' Discourse on method..., biographies of St. Francis and Joan of Arc, Twain's The Grateful Poodle, and more...
posted by troutfishing on Dec 8, 2003 - 13 comments

"It is very necessary to begin the study of science," says His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a speech posted at the Science for Monks site. He says science offers "precise and accurate analysis" of phenomena Buddhists have so far explained only "at a very gross level," like time and atomic structure. Tibetan translations of scientific texts and familiar classroom experiments are part of the plan. Will the "unending positive doubts and constructive curiosities" of modern science deepen or undermine the Buddha's teachings? An army of scientists who've taken a vow of poverty sure would throw an interesting kink into the current debate about corporate science.
posted by mediareport on Jul 8, 2002 - 11 comments

In other news, Humpty Dumpty put back together again.
posted by rushmc on Apr 9, 2002 - 22 comments

Ever wondered why the Buddha wears a toga?
Understanding the origins and symbolism behind images of the Buddha.
posted by lagado on Jun 2, 2001 - 12 comments

What Would Buddha Do about road rage?
posted by sudama on Mar 9, 2001 - 8 comments

'I Feel A Great, Personal Loss' Conservationist Rakhaldas Sengupta spent nine years restoring the world's tallest Buddha statues...
This has been covered by MeFi before but Sengupta has a perspective on the statues that hasn't come to light yet. To think that the Taleban is destroying these 1700 year old statues breaks my heart. I hope I never understand the reasoning of religious zealots.
posted by gen on Mar 9, 2001 - 8 comments

The Virgin Mary in uh... well, a format you've probably never her seen her in. If that's not blasphemous enough for you, there's also jesus, satan, and buddha models [warning: sexual content. thanks for the link swifty].
posted by mathowie on Dec 15, 2000 - 7 comments