May – Kuan Yin, the beautiful Buddha

Kuan Yin,

the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion

A gorgeous statue
For years I’ve been very intrigued by this statue of Guan Yin. It is known as the most beautiful statue outside China. It’s actually one of my all-time-favorite Buddha statues, and it can be viewed in the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, USA.

Guan Yin is dressed in the fabrics and scarves of royalty form Indian and Chinese descent.

Guan Yin sits here in the ‘Royal Ease pose’, a relaxed pose where she rests on her left arm, with her right leg up, and her right arm resting on her right knee.

I say ‘her’, but this statue is actually quite androgynous, with a male body but very fine and female features.

In different traditions Guan Yin may be depicted as either a male or female manifestation of Great Compassion.

Buddhism traveled to China
Guan Yin (also written as Kuan Yin, Kwan Yin or Guan Shi Yin) came from the male bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.

When Mahayana Buddhism traveled to China in the 1st century AD through the Silk Routes, it became very popular, just as the bodhisattva of Compassion who traveled along with the Dharma texts.

The Sanskrit word ‘Avalokitesvara’ means ‘The One who hears the cries of the World’ and this was literally translated into Chinese as ‘Guan Shi Yin’. It was later abbreviated to Guan Yin.

This deity is not only very popular in China, but also made her way to Korea and Japan. You can also find her in Malaysia and in the past 10 years she’s become very popular in Thailand as well.

From male to female
Over the centuries the Indian male deity Avalokiteshvara first slowly transformed into an androgyn figure in China, and later on became the very famous female deity Guan Yin, also known as the Goddess of Mercy.

How to draw and paint Guan Yin
This month I gave an extended weekend course to my students in The Netherlands on how to draw Guan Yin according to the Buddhist tradition.
I taught them how to draw her in 2 manifestations: the standing deity wearing a white robe and holding both a water vase and a twig branch, and the sitting one in Royal Ease pose, from the statue above.

> Guan Yin drawings of my students can be seen here on my Facebook page

In the mornings we started with a meditation on Guan Yin and compassion, and during the course I also gave several slideshows and lectures to explain the why and how of Guan Yin’s transformation.

Do you want to learn how to draw and paint this amazing female Buddha of Compassion?

> From Feb 23 to March 5, 2017, I will offer a 10 day Guan Yin retreat in Sri Lanka (including a 3 day sightseeing tour to the most beautiful Buddhist sites of the Island!)

March – Buddhism Weekend in The Netherlands

Flag Painting Project at Museum Volkenkunde

On March 19 +20 the annual Buddhism Weekend was held at Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden (the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, The Netherlands).
I was asked to design, organize and coordinate a wonderful project with he visitors of the weekend, painting a 4.30 meter long Buddha flag. This flag is part of a larger painting project of five colored flags that symbolize the Five Buddha Families.

Girls are applying gold paint to the flag of the blue Buddha Akshobhya. That’s why the basic color of this flag is blue.

About 100 people have been working on the Buddha flag this weekend. Some just painted a little strike and stayed for 5 minutes, others painted much more and stayed over an hour. There was a great atmosphere and lovely conversations between the painters.
On the far right of the picture above stands Romeo, Carmen’s main assistant.

Everybody enjoyed, whether they were young or old, male or female.

This flag is part of a series of 5 Buddha flags that are connected to the 5 Buddha Families.
The first flag, the red flag of Buddha Amitabha, was painted by the visitors of the Buddhism Weekend in 2015.

The next flag, the white flag of Vairochana, will be painted with visitors of the World Fair on May 16, 2016, in the garden of Museum Volkenkunde.
You are very welcome to join!

April – Photo Shoot for Happinez Magazine

Interview & photo shoot

I’m very happy to announce that Happinez Magazine* will bring out an article about me and my work that will be published in their next issue (that will come out on June 1st). The interview (by Marja den Boer) and photo shoot (by Harold Pereira) were scheduled for for this month, as well as a video shoot that will be published on their website.

In the interview I talk about my journey into Buddhism and the art of thangka painting, as well as the deities that are depicted on these Tibetan scroll paintings, and Green Tara, the female Buddha that I consider my role model.

* Happinez Magazine is the biggest magazine on spirituality in The Netherlands. A short 3 questions interview (in Dutch) with me was published in it before, and for their Happinez Festivals I was asked to give lectures and to create a big big Mandala painting with the visitors of the event. The large painting will be exhibited in the next Happinez Festival in 2017.

February – Buddhist Pilgrimage in Thailand

Pilgrim sites in Thailand

I always combine my annual teachings in Singapore and other countries with traveling in Asia.
This year I decided to go back to Thailand and especially visit the Isan region, the less visited eastern part of Thailand.

But before my partner and I headed of to the east we spent some days at the temple complexes of Ayutthaya, closest to Bangkok, at about 2hrs by train (a great train ride!):

Ayutthaya

You may have seen an image of the ‘Buddha face in the tree’ before. It’s a face from a large Buddha statue that now is overgrown by a banyan tree. You can say this image has become a famous ’emblem’ for the ancient kingdom of Ayutthaya.

The ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Ayutthaya florished between the 14th and 18th century and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here’s another beautiful picture of it.

After Ayutthaya we stayed some time days at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace & Royal Kraal.
This is Yitor and in three full days I learned how to take care of her, ride her, bathe her, scrub her and feed her (and of course scoop her poo!) and yes – you do form a bond with these incredible and intelligent animals.

We lived here in this working elephant village with mahouts (riders and caretakers of the animals) and about 90 elephants right around us (there was actually one living in the garden next to our bamboo hut). Elephants that are abused can retire here as well. I felt very grateful to getting to know these amazing animals!

On our last day it was bathing time for the children! Something thy absolutely love and can’t get enough of.

Our journey continued to the East of Thailand for our main goal this time:

Ancient Pilgrim Route:
From Cambodia to Thailand and vice versa

There’s a very ancient Pilgim Route from Angkor Wat in Cambodia to the Phimai temple in Thailand, called the Dharmasala Route.
On the route we can find four large temple complexes: in between these two old Buddhist Kingdoms lie two Hindu temples, Phanom Rung and Muang Tam, that may have been secondary options on the pilgrimage. There were many smaller temples in between, at least 17 in total.
On this trip we visited the 3 main temples of this route in Thailand:

1) Phimai

We started out at Phimai. One of the finest temple complexes in Khmer style can be found here. It lies in a straight line with and forms a trinity with Phanom Rung and the famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia (that I visited in 2002).
The Phimai temple was built in the 11th-12th century as a Mahayana Buddhist temple with Hindu influences, and may have been the model for Angkor Wat.

2) Phanom Rung

The second stop was at Phanom Rung, the 11th/12th century temple complex in Khmer style, built on top of a vulcano.

Contempory Thai monks must have imagined what it was like living here when this was a flourishing Buddhist Kingdom many centuries ago.

Before you enter the temple you are welcomed by ponds full of water lilies.

It’s a temple full of details, and dedicated to Nataraja, the Dancing Shiva.

3) Muang Tam

The temple of Muang Tam (close to Phanom Rung), where I was shown around by this sweet stray dog.

4) Angkor Wat

So the ancient pilgrim route goes all the way to the famous Angkor Wat Temple complex in Cambodia, which I didn’t visit this time, I had already done so back in 2002.

If you are interested in Buddhism and Art I’m sure you will love to visit these pilgrim sites. If you want to read more about it you can visit Dharmasala Route written by Asger Mollerup, who did extensive research on this route.
And when you’re at such incredible temple complex, imagine yourself many centuries ago living in these beautiful Budhist Kingdoms…

January – Buddhist Art classes in Singapore

Singapore Buddhist Art Teachings

Here are a few pictures of the Buddhist Art making classes that I offered in Singapore this month at the Buddhist Library and at the Asian Spiritual Classics. The may courses that I offered include the subjects of Medicine Buddha, The 4 Friends and Mudras – Gestures of Enlightenment:

> Go to the FaceBook page to see more pictures of the 2016 Singapore Thangka classes

From 2017 on I will also be offering 10 day thangka painting retreats in Sri Lanka. And thangka classes in Vietnam are planned for the future.

Myanmar (Burma)

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Golden dreams, devotion and pagodas in Myanmar

I visited Myanmar in 2002 and it has made a strong impression on me.
The people were the kindest and honest I’ve ever met and I absolutely loved all the temples and pagodas, especially the mirage-like village of Bagan.

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Indonesia

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Borobudur, beauty & sadness on Java, Indonesia

Borobudur
After my trip to beautiful Bali my main reason to visit Java, Indonesia, was the Borobudur.
The Borobudur is one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world. This amazing temple complex was constructed between 760 and 830 CE and was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1991.

Gupta Style
The style in which the Borobudur was built was influenced by the Indian Gupta art (a style that I also painted my Tara protecting from Poisons in)
The main stupa, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 smaller bell-shaped stupas divided on three levels (terraces), each with a seated Buddha statue inside, that is partly visible through the perforated stonework.
Unfortunately most of the Buddhas have their heads cut off.

Pradaksina
Traditionally visitors enter through the eastern gate and should walk clockwise around the temple (known by the term of pradaksina), starting at the lowest level and walking all following levels until the highest level -nirwana- is reached. This way you can also enjoy the stories that are told on the beautiful reliefs.

A sum of 2,672 bas-relief panels are carved into the stone walls of the Borobudur, creating a total length of 6 kilometres. It is valued as the largest and most complete ensemble of Buddha reliefs in the world, showing incredible artistry.
The mountains and hills surrounding the Borobudur Temple serve as temple guards.

Villages around the Borobudur
The best way to visit the Borobudur is not to do it on a day trip from Jogyakarta but to visit the beautiful villages that surround the Borobudur and to stay there for a few nights. This way you can also visit and support the the people in the neighbouring villages, who are are specialized in tofu and tempeh making, stone carving and pottery.
The nature in the area is breathtaking, full of palm trees and super green rice fields.

Sunrise
The most special way to visit the Borobudur is during sunrise.
The sunrise tour starts from Manohara hotel at 4.30am while the normal opening hours of the temple start at 6am.
I wanted to meditate on the top of the Borobudur that early, but unfortunately it’s impossible to enjoy the silence during sunrise as everywhere on Java loudspeakers are blasting the muslim call to prayer – waking everybody up when it starts in the middle of the night at 4am – even at this sacred Buddhist place, in a country that used to be all Buddhist and Hindu.

Throwing away their Javanese culture
On Java it’s sad to see that there’s hardly anything left of the authentic Javanese Hindu-Buddhist art and culture as it is destroyed and suppressed by the (fundamentalist) Islam in Indonesia.

The state museum on the Javanese culture that we visited in Yogyakarta was completely neglected, with thick layers of dust on the artworks and some plaques with wrong information below the artworks. When I talked to the guide about it she said that this all was known by the directors for many years but that they don’t care at all.

If you want to experience (part of the) Javanese culture still in practice it’s best to go to Bali, where many of the Javanese people had to flee to a long time ago, because of the Islamic invasion.

The same thing is unfortunately happening again today. On Java I’ve spoken to people with Christian an Javanese religions and believes, and their lives are getting more and more difficult. People that don’t believe in Islam have to behave hypocritical. Just one example: on their ID they are putting ‘Muslim’ behind religion (Why should there be ‘religion’ on an ID anyway?? Things always go wrong if state and religion are not separated), as otherwise they are disadvantaged, and feel unsafe as they can be attacked.

It left us with a lot of sadness.

Should you ever wat to visit the villages around the Borobudur, I would advice you to do it with a good guide such as Atik. On this page you can read more about her.

Inspiration from the ancient stone reliefs
Back to the beauty of the Borobudur: the gorgeous and detailed 8th century reliefs were of great inspiration to me and I made drawings of them and used them as subject for a thangka course.

If you would like to join such thangka course check out the Upcoming Classes section or subscribe to the newsletter to automatically stay posted.

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Bali

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Offerings, Beauty & Kindness on Bali

Death procession and cremation ceremony
Our first stop was in Ubud where we drenched ourselves in the Balinese art and temples.

We also witnessed a Balinese death procession and cremation ceremony of a priest, where the body is placed within a ‘bull’ made out of wood, iron and fabric, together with a lot of offerings and all that the person needs in the hereafter. After that the whole thing is set on fire…. Such an intriguing culture.

Special ceremony in the village temple
Upon hearing our interest in the Balinese culture, Buddhism and Hinduism, our driver (who lives in a nearby village) invited us to a special ceremony that’s only held every 5yrs.

It was in his village temple, would take place the next day and would last for 5hrs. The long procession of the villagers to the temple, the many offerings of flowers and fruits, carried in bamboo baskets by the women on top of their heads (and of course we brought a basket of offerings too), the beautiful traditional clothes (that we wore too of course), all the incense burning, the long and mystic rituals by the priest, all people sharing food and eating together, the wayang puppet play (performed by our driver, who appeared to be one of the main people of the temple)… we felt so welcome and fortunate to be invited to join as the only westerners there.

Bali was simply unforgettable and I hope to come back.

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Thailand

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Buddhist Kingdoms, Elephants & fine Arts in Thailand

Siam
Thailand is formerly known as the Kingdom of Siam.
The primary religion is Theravada Buddhism, which is practised by around 95% of the population and an integral part of Thai identity and culture.

The beautiful gold-on-red deity on the left is painted in the typical Thai Lanna art style. The creature on the right -a blue lion?- looks very fierce and helps to keep the negative spirits out of the temple.

Sukhothai
The 12th-13th century Buddhist Kindom of Sukhothai, a large area with lots of temples is a Unesco Heritage site and a true gem that’s definitely worth visiting. Sukhothai offers 193 ruins on 70 square kilometers of land.

The picture on the left shows a close up of a big buddha statues where devotees offered gold leaf on the nails of the Buddha. The center shows one of the many beautiful temple complexes in the area.

On the right a big banyan tree where buddha statues are placed in between his roots.

The Art of Chiang Mai
Here a few pictures of Chiang Mai, the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand.
Chiangmai is known for its many old Buddhist temples and monasteries. It’s a joy to wander from temple to temple and feel the atmosphere, smell the incense and watch the monks and the devotion of the people.

Most temples are full of wonderful ornaments, such as these gold on red decorations on the pillars in the temple that’s completely made out of wood.

On the right an ‘advertisement’ in front of one of the temples that talks about the very basics of Buddhism: ‘Do Good, Avoid Bad and Purify
one’s own Mind’. This could be the practice for the rest of your life.

Detailed murals
Most temples are full of wonderful mural paintings. Often the life of the Buddha is depicted (center), as well as scenes from the previous lives of the Buddha (the ‘Jatakas’, mainly the last ten incarnations).
Just as Tibetan paintings, Thai mural temple paintings are highly stylistic and a lot of symbols are used in them. The left and right picture show beautiful miniature scenes of daily live in the villages.

Unfortunately, often mural paintings in Thailand are not well preserved. It seems to be common practice at temple compounds to abandon old buildings including its contents, and to build new buildings in place. As a result, many old buildings are neglected. Nowadays however, at certain sites some efforts are being made to restore and preserve these paintings.

Elephants and flying gods
The wall paintings inside the temples that can be modern or centuries old, can be looked at for hours. There’s so much to see and the style, colors and detail of the paintings are truly wonderful.

The painting on the left shows the Lanna art style. The modern painting of the flying god in the center wears Siamese royal clothes and is beautiful in color. The elephant on the right looks very vivid and in motion

The White Temple
This is the amazing White Temple, close to Chiang Rai in the north of Thailand.
It’s both a Buddhist temple & art project by one of Thailand’s best contemporary artists: Chalermchai Kositpipat.

You enter the temple through the hell realm (shown for example by the the grabbing hands from hell that you have to walk past) and then then you take the bridge (see centre picture) towards the realms of heaven, with its incredible artwork inside. On your way over the bridge towards the holiest part of the temple you’re not allowed to return, if you attempt to do so a person working there will let you know by megaphone!

Miniature scenes
The picture on the left shows another beautiful miniature painting scene.

The cat in the center pic sits at the entrance of a big temple compound and has the job of the temple protector.

On the right a super detailed sketch made by a modern young artist who was selling his artwork in front of a monastery in Chaing Mai. This is a typical thai design of a naga snake or dragon creature. I bought some of his work to support this artist.

Broken tiles
Intriguing about many temples in Bangkok is that they are adorned with Chinese ceramic and (broken) tiles.
The origin of this particular style of decoration stems from long ago, from the time when the trading boats were coming from China, filled with ceramics. The tiles and ceramics that hadn’t survived the trip and arrived broken were left behind in Bangkok, in order not to carry the
ballast on the rest of the journey. The inventive Thai people didn’t throw it away but used these broken ceramics to create lovely and cheap temple decorations.

Medical studies
One of the large temple compounds in Bangkok hosts a school for medical studies.
On the inside and outside walls of the building one can find many paintings of medical paintings, for example showing the many different energy points in the body (see left and right pic).

In the evenings you can watch the beautiful sunset at the Bangkok river (the Chao Phraya River) where lots of Buddhist temples are located alongside of it.

Taking care of an Elephant
I lived some days in a working elephant village with about 90 elephants right around me. Click here to read more about that adventure.

Buddhist Pilgrim Sites
In another trip to Thailand I visited more Buddhist pilgrim sites and old kingdoms, such as Ayutthaya.

I also made a special trip to visit the lesser known pilgrim sites and old buddhist kingdoms Phimai, Phanom Rung and Muang Tam, in the eastern part of Thailand (Isan region). They are part of a very ancient Pilgim Route from Angkor Wat in Cambodia to the Phimai temple in Thailand, called the Dharmasala Route. As Angkor, the other temples are also built in the typican Khmer style.
Click here to read more about Thai Pilrim sites & Buddhist Kingdoms

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Malaysia

Home > Artist > Travel & Photography > Malaysia

Cave temples, Kuan Yins & turtles in Malaysia

Malaysia is a is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country. Roughly 61% of the population practices Islam, 20% practices Buddhism, 9% Christianity and 7% Hinduism.

While Islam is declared the state religion, the Malaysian government says to guarantee freedom of religion – and hopefully they will keep saying that as in several countries -such as Indonesia– other religions than Islam are suppressed and the people that practice Buddhism and Christianity unfortunately have to hide.

Malaysia is one of the richest countries in Asia, because of its natural resources.

Limestone Cave temples
The search for Buddhism in Malaysia brought me in particular to Malacca and Ipoh. In the small city of Malacca (Malay: Melaka) one can find many old Buddhist temples while the area of ipoh is famous for its many spectacular Buddhist cave temples, set in limestone mountains.

Here a few entrances to different Chinese Buddhist Cave temples around Ipoh, where you can find the most beautiful paintings on the limestone rocks.

Guanyin
Guanyin (also written Kwanyin, Kuanyin, Quanyin or Guanshiyin) is a female Bodhisattva and one of the most popular deities in Chinese Buddhism and Taoism, but she is also revered in Japan and Korea.
Guanyin can be seen as the Chinese interpretation of the Tibetan Avalokiteshvara (Tib. Chenrezig) and is also sometimes compared to Green Tara, for her motherly and swift actions.

Offering gods and goddesses
Inside another limestone cave temple near Ipoh you can find these offering gods and goddesses, beautifully painted on the rocks, flying in the sky, looking down upon the visitors of the temple.

Melaka
A few pictures of one the oldest Chinese Buddhist temples in Melaka, Malaysia.
The high wooden entrance doors are wonderfully decorated with golden dragons and people offer batches of incense.

Burmese Buddhist Temples
Not only Chinese Buddhist Temples can be found in Malaysia. The left picture above shows a lovely painting on the door of a Birmese (Myanmarese) Buddhist Temple on the Island of Penang.

Private Music performance
In another Birmese temple in Malacca (Melaka) I came in touch with the 2 lovely nuns (an old and a young nun) that run the place. Unable to communicate together in languages we used our hands and smiles to talk to each other.

When I offered them some of my thangka cards they asked her to come to their living quarters at the top of the temple, where the elder nun urged me to sit down and urged the young nun to to show her musical skills to me. She played several traditional musical instruments and
ended the private show with the Pink Panther Tune on the piano!

Korean Buddhist temple
I came across a Korean Buddhist temple as well, not far from Ipoh. Set in between palm trees it contains beautiful lotus ponds. Inside the tiles on the temple floor are decorated with lotus flowers.

Lucky Turtles
Turtles are seen in Chinese Buddhism als animals that bring luck, so you can find many temples have lotus ponds with turtles swimming in them. On the right a porcelain Guanyin statue in a temple parc.

Kuala Lumpur
Just outside the main city of Kuala Lumpur I taught thangka classes at the Losang Dragpa Centre. This is a Tibetan Buddhist centre, part of the FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) that has many centres around the world where I regularly offer my
Tibetan Art classes as this is the tradition I’m coming from.

Losang Dragpa Centre
The Losang Dragpa Centre is a beautifully decorated and colorful centre and has a great group of people (both young and old) that enjoyed the thangka classes.

If you want to stay updated on future thangka classes in Asia please subscribe to the Newsletter and you will receive the latest news.

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Singapore

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Flying Goddesses & flowers in tropical Singapore

Urban Asia
Singapore is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia and an island country.
It is highly urbanized, and little of the original (tropical) vegetation remains. Buddhism is the most widely practised religion in Singapore.
You can find many Dharma centers, temples and monasteries from all three major traditions of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.
Most Buddhists in Singapore are of Chinese descendant and are practice Chinese Buddhism in the Mahayana tradition.

Swirling goddesses
Flying goddesses (or dakinis) on the walls around one of the biggest Chinese Buddhist temple in Chinatown, Singapore. They appear so gracefully and their scarfs are floating and swirling in the wind, almost as if they are alive.

The tropical botanical garden
As Singapore is so urbanized, the big tropical botanical garden is a joy to walk through.
Part of it is the special Orchid Garden with all types of orchids you can imagine. There you can find many photographers to shoot the perfect orchid in the perfect light.
You can also find all sorts of fruit, such as the pineapples, that are red before they turn yellow.

Lotusses everywhere
At the ‘Buddha Tooth Relic Temple’ in Singapore, a modern Chinese Buddhist Temple, this amazing lotus embroidery on a few walls are striking, because of the details, shine and depth in it.

Outside on the streets real lotus flowers and buds can be purchased, as an offering to the temple.

Every year I’m invited to Singapore to offer Buddhist art classes, for example at the Buddhist Library (a Theravada Buddhist centre), and the Asian Classics Institute.

If you want to stay posted, subscribe to the Thangka Newsletter on check the Upcoming Courses section for classes in Asia.

From Feb 23 to March 5 2017, Carmen will give a Painting Retreat on Sri Lanka (organized by the center in Singapore), with subject GuanYin

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Tibet

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Nomads, Mountains & Mantra stones in Tibet

Surrounded by Art
Impressions of my travels to Tibet, you will find these big rocks and stones that are engraved with Buddhas and mantras everywhere. On the left a beautifully painted and enrgraved Lama Tsong Khapa.

In the valleys of the more remote parts of Tibet you can find these (holy) structures of stones with yak horns on top. Within these piles lie many ‘mani’-stones (stones with engraved mantras like ‘Om Mani Padme Hum‘).

For me as a thangka painter it was great to meet fellow thangka painters, such as this young man, who was working on a 21 Tara Thangka.

Temples & lakes
This temple door at one of the Buddhist Monasteries is decorated with beautiful metal craftwork and auspicious symbols. Here depicted is the Conch Shell.

In Tibet you can find lakes that looks like movie set locations, like the Yamdrok Lake… filled with azure-blue colored water.

On a trekking I met this family of nomadic people, who make their living from their stock of cattle.

The mighty Mountains
Wherever you are in Tibet, the great mountains are always in the background as you can see in this picture, taken on the roof of a monastery near Lhasa.

Next to it a picture of the special Nechung monastery, where this cow had climbed the stairs and was desperate to get in but unfortunately they would not let him.

The Potala Palace
One of the main reasons to visit Lhasa is for the amazing Potala Palace, which is the former residence of the lineage of Dalai Lamas.
Unfortunately the current Dalai Lama had to escape from the Chinese invasion and these days its only purpose is bringing in money from tourism. It’s run by Chinese soldiers and has a big Chinese flag in front.

From the picture on the right – the Potala from this point of view without the Chinese flags and shops- you’ll get an idea of how this palace must have looked like in the days that Tibet was still run by the Tibetans.

The Eyes of the Buddha
The beautiful eyes on the great Kumbum Stupa in Gyantse look deep into your soul, just as the Buddha eyes from the Boudha and Swayambhu Stupas in Nepal do.

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Nepal

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Home > Artist > Travel & Photography > Nepal

Stupas, thangkas & Buddha Eyes in Nepal

Boudhanath
Some impressions of my travels to Nepal, where I mainly stayed in Boudhanath, near the great Stupa, in the Kathmandu valley. Boudhanath can be described as a Tibetan village. A beautiful atmosphere where the Tibetans walk the ‘kora’ (a Tibetan word for circumambulation) around the Stupa twice a day (early morning and at night) while turning their prayer wheels and reciting the mantra ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’.

Lama Dance
At Shechen Monastery was a big festival where monks performed the typical ‘Cham’ Lama Dances.
On a trekking in the Himalayan mountains I saw this little goat hiding behind this farmer’s woman… so sweet!
And I was impressed by the beautiful looks of the sadhus (‘holy men’) who are wandering all over Nepal.

Targye-la
In 2006 I was privileged to meet my thangka teacher Andy Weber’s teacher Targye-la, at his house in Boudhanath.
Thargey comes from a family lineage of seven generations of thangka painters. My teacher spent many years in Targye’s presence in the early seventies to learn the art of Tibetan Thangka painting.

Targye unfortunately passed away in January 2014, but his students and their students (such as I) will continue to pass on this special thangka lineage.

Stupas & caves
In Nepal I visited many holy Buddhist places, like Padmasambhava‘s meditation cave, the Vajrayogini temple and Green Tara cave in the Kathmandu valley and the Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu itself.
When I was sitting at the bottom of the Swayambhu Stupa a lovely goat came to join me.

Of course I met a lot of thangka painters too. This master painter, who’s now painting in the face of this amazing Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara (Tib.: Chenrezig) thangka.

Decorating an orphanage in Boudhanath
These pictures were taken in a new children’s home in Boudhanath where I spent some days. The whole building was brand new with nothing on the wall and therefore very boring for the children.

I thought it would be a nice idea to decorate it, together with the children, so they would feel more at home. I designed a painting with flowers made from the hand prints of all children, so they literally left their marks on the walls in their teaching hall.

The idea was for the painting to grow, and new children would add their own flowers to feel more at home.

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India

Home > Artist > Travel & Photography > India

Buddhism, Art & Bollywood in India

Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya
Some pictures of Bodhgaya, the holy place where Buddha Shakyamuni attained enlightenment, around 600 years B.C., marked by the beautiful Mahabodhi Temple complex. Offerings such as lotus flowers and gold leafs can be found in front of the entrance.

Behind this Mahabodhi Temple you can find the Bodhi tree, where Prince Siddhartha meditated to attain enlightenment. After he reached this highest state of consciousness he was called ‘Buddha’, meaning ‘The Enlightened One’.

In fact the tree that you’ll see nowadays is not the original one but grew out of an offspring of the original Bodhi tree.

The beautiful mother and daughter (picture left) I met in a small village, where they were fetching jugs of water from the water pump.

Geshe Lharampa Ceremony
I have been sponsoring a Tibetan Buddhist monk (the monk in the yellow hat in the picture in the center) for many years in his life support. In 2008 I was invited to attend his ceremony of ‘Geshe Lharampa’ -which is like a doctor’s degree in Buddhist philosophy in the Gelugpa order of Tibetan Buddhism – in the Drepung Gomang Monastery in Mundgod, in the southern state of Karnataka. It was the very first time we met each other and it was a very special meeting.

The ceremony lasted for several days and the picture in the center shows part of the ceremony where the debate on Buddhist philosophy is taking place.

In front of the monastery this painting of the 8 Auspicious Symbols (drawn on the pavement with colored powder or pigments), to welcome the Dalai Lama when he opened this new temple hall within the complex.

Later on, in 2009 and 2014, I was asked to create the Tibetan symbols to welcome the Dalai Lama in The Netherlands.

After the week of ceremonies some of the monks joined me to Goa, where we had a lovely day in the sun all together, drinking (alcohol free) coctails in bamboo huts, playing football on the beach and enjoying the clear water, before the monks returned back to their monastery.

Monkeys & Elephants
In Varanasi the monkeys came onto the balcony where you can feed them. You have to watch out a little because they can be very cheeky and come in and snatch the whole bag of nuts out of your hands.

The center picture shows a couple of Tibetan thangka painters in Mundgod showing me their wonderful artwork.

And on the outside wall of a house in Mumbai (Bombay) I found a beautiful painting of a man riding an elephant.

Meeting the Dalai Lama
This picture of the The 14th Dalai Lama I took om my very first trip to India in 1998. It was taken in the Dalai Lama’s Namgyal monastery in Dharamsala – his current home where he fled to since the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950’s.
To the Tibetans, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is seen as an emanation of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

Dalai Lama’s teachings after Losar
When I went back ten years later I also attended his teachings that he offers every year after Losar, Tibetan New Year.
Later on I had the chance to briefly meet the Dalai Lama in person, something I was very grateful for.

Gandhi
The picture in the center with Gandhi’s quote ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’, was taken in Mumbai (Bombay), is something they can still learn a lot from in India today…

An extra in a Bollywood movie
As I’ve been in acting for a long time, I was super thrilled to be able to be an extra in a Bollywood Movie in Mumbai!
The gave me a beautiful sari to wear and the film set was an exclusive nightclub. There were about 100 Indian extras plus a handful of westerners. Our task was to dance to the Bollywood songs, behind the main stars (all famous soap opera actors that I didn’t know of course).
The movie is called ‘Bhanvraa’ (Honey Bee), and is directed by Dharmesh Dharshan, who’s a well known director in India.