An International Movement
With an International Project
The Wisdom & Compassion Project is an international cultural project to preserve Tibetan Culture.
The Project was born inside the Norbulingka Institute, a Trust established under the chairmanship of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The aim is to preserve Tibetan culture. The first of these is the Lives of the Dalai Lama, a collection of 16 exquisitely executed thangkas commissioned by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and created for the first time at Norbulingka Institute.
The digital artwork created in cooperation with Norbulingka Institute was initiated in 2015. It toured the US and now permanently resides with Tibet House US at Menla Retreats.
A recent study done by Melissa J. Dolese, PhD shows the positive influence art has in inspiring compassionate action. Click the link to read the study below.
The Norbulingka Institute
Norbulingka’s success in maintaining the inspiration of Tibetan Sacred Art is based on preserving age-old styles and techniques that are transmitted from master to disciple. The ancient Tibetan artistic spirit is preserved by providing education and a conducive environment, and by encouraging the public to give this art the appreciation it deserves. The Norbulingka Institute was inaugurated in Dharamsala in 1995 to preserve Tibetan culture in exile and train a new generation of artists.
The Thangkas
Thangka paintings are used by Tibetan Buddhist as meditational aids and inspiration in their practice. Thangkas are painted on a base of cotton canvas stretched over a wood- en frame and applied with a mixture of chalk and gesso polished with a smooth stone. The deity is drawn on the basis of a proportion grid, and colors, based on mineral or vegetable pigments, filled in through different techniques of brushstrokes.
Gracious Thanks
Bob Thurman
Robert Thurman is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated many books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. He was the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. He also is the co-founder and president of the Tibet House US in New York. We thank him for his work and dedication in preserving the art and compassion of the Lives of the Dalai Lama thangkas.
The Tibet House US
Tibet House US is dedicated to preserving Tibet’s unique culture at a time when it is confronted with extinction on its own soil. By presenting Tibetan civilization and its profound wisdom, beauty, and special art of freedom to the people of the world, the Tibet House hopes to inspire others to join the effort to protect and save it.
Tibet House US is part of a worldwide network of Tibetan institutions committed to ensuring that the light of the Tibetan spirit never disappears from the face of this earth.