LOS ANGELES.- LACMA presents a major exhibition of approximately 160 Tibetan, Nepalese, Mongolian, Indian, and Chinese paintings, manuscripts, sculptures, textiles, and ritual implements that illuminate the ideals and teachings of the Chakrasamvara Tantra and other key Himalayan Buddhist tantras. The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, on view October 5, 2003, through January 4, 2004, presents works of art from both public and private collections and showcases many masterpieces from LACMA’s permanent collection. In addition, LACMA has commissioned the first ever on-site creation of a Chakrasamvara particle sand mandala in the United States.

The exhibition includes works from approximately 40 international museums and private collections from Nepal, North America, Europe, and Great Britain. Many of the works are exhibited publicly for the first time. His Majesty’s Government of Nepal has lent 13 of the most important treasures in the national collections of Nepal, none of which have been on view outside of Nepal in the past 40 years and many of which have never been exhibited in the United States.

For all its esoteric mystery, striking beauty, powerful and sometimes fierce imagery, and seemingly overwhelming complexity, Himalayan Buddhist meditational art has a single function: the processes through which a faithful observer can obtain enlightenment and ultimately reach perfection. Artists throughout Asia have created extraordinary art forms to convey the progression through specific meditations that can assist the practitioner in the pursuit of enlightenment.

The exhibition explores the notion of human perfection, the methodology needed to achieve it, and the visual imagery used in leading practitioners to the state of attainment. The Circle of Bliss presents Himalayan paintings (thangkas), illuminated manuscripts, metal, stone, wood, and terra cotta sculptures, often embellished with gemstones; appliqué and embroidered silk textiles; and diverse ritual implements in a variety of media and styles. Each work has been carefully selected for its aesthetic qualities and for the importance of its role in communicating the ideals of Himalayan Buddhist tantras. The Circle of Bliss delineates the significance of cultural, geographic, and ethnographic contexts across Asia in the development of practices of Chakrasamvara and other tantras.

Exhibition Overview: In the initial galleries, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art introduces the meditational art and religious concepts of Himalayan Buddhism. Tibetan and Nepalese Buddhism—related but distinct forms of Esoteric Buddhism—propound methods to achieve spiritual perfection by means of an evolved system personified by an extraordinarily diverse range of gods and goddesses. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni (sixth century BCE) is presented as the founder of Buddhism and the paradigm of enlightenment, exemplified by an 11th-century, Central Tibet sculpture Victory over Mara from LACMA’s own collection. Besides the Buddha (The Enlightened One), there are various significant Buddhist figures: Buddha Shakyamuni’s disciples (arhats), Buddhist teachers (gurus), and Indian and Himalayan ascetic mystics or Great Adepts (mahasiddhas). These figures represent particular religious lineages espousing different doctrinal interpretations that form the basis of Himalayan Buddhism’s major orders and suborders. As The Circle of Bliss takes the visitors through the various stages of these teachings and practices, a number of ritual objects are presented, including an extraordinary ornate Priest’s Crown from the 12th century, as well as a skullcup, flaying knife, and a ritual staff.

The core of The Circle of Bliss presents the works of art and the ritual implements associated specifically with the Chakrasamvara Tantra in Tibet and Nepal. Each Tibetan and Nepalese religious order emphasized different aspects of the Chakrasamvara Tantra and this exhibition is the first time that the full scope of this rich artistic heritage will be displayed and explained to the public. Central to all orders regardless of their doctrinal differences, are the primal deities Chakrasamvara, the archetype of spiritual bliss and the embodiment of compassion, and his consort Vajravarahi, who symbolizes the transcendent wisdom realized by Buddha Shakyamuni upon his attainment of enlightenment. The exhibition conveys the broad artistic and iconographic range of Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi imagery in Himalayan Buddhist art. Among the many objects depicting these deities are LACMA’s Vajravarahi from 14th-century Central Tibet and a 17th-century Eastern Tibetan or Mongolian Chakrasamvara on loan from a private collection, as well as LACMA’s extraordinary 15th century Nepalese painting of the pair. For the first time in an exhibition of Buddhist art, a recently discovered Nepalese manuscript detailing the meditative cycle is on view.

The final sections of the exhibition describe the key meditational sequences involved in the transmission of related teachings propounded by the different religious orders of Himalayan Buddhism. The exhibition also identifies and illustrates some the benefactors and protectors of Himalayan Buddhism, including several works depicting Ganesha, the Lord of Obstacles, and Sri Devi (Glorious Goddess), the protectress of Tibet.

The Chakrasamvara Sand Mandala: Presented in conjunction with The Circle of Bliss is the on-site creation of a particle sand mandala of Chakrasamvara by Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Ganden Shartse monastery in India. The Chakrasamvara sand mandala has never before been made in the United States; previous Tibetan sand mandalas have represented Kalachakra (The Circle of Time). At the start of its physical creation, the sand mandala will be consecrated by elaborate religious and musical ceremonies performed by the monks. The public is invited to observe these opening ceremonies on October 5, view the creation of the mandala over the following 3 weeks, as well as the closing deconsecration rituals on the final day of the exhibition, January 4. The closing ceremonies include a ritual of depositing the mandala sand into the Pacific Ocean. The ritualized creation and destruction of sand mandalas provides a long-term active experience for the viewers, dramatically demonstrating the vibrant living tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The exhibition was curated by Dr. Stephen Markel, Curator and Department Head, South and Southeast Asian art, LACMA.