MUSEUM: Ancient objects and photographs will be on display.
By DAWNELL SMITH
Just before the first Gulf War, while traveling in Nepal, I bought a cheap prayer wheel. Shortly afterward, I suffered gut rot at 14,000 feet and chanted the wheel’s mantra to inspire each foot ahead of the other: “Om mani padme hum,” I said and I thought. “Om mani padme hum.”
I broke the wheel within a year, spilling its mantra on the floor, but I remember its calming chant.
This month, the mantra returns to me via a 19th-century silver prayer wheel adorned with jade, rubies and shell that will go on display at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art in the winter exhibit “Tibet: Mountains and Valleys, Castles and Tents,” opening Oct. 10.
The collection of Tibetan objects from The Newark Museum in New Jersey goes as far back as the 13th century and includes a historical exploration of Tibetan geography, economics and religion. Some of the items belonged to long-ago rulers, others to nomads, farmers and herders. But whether official regalia, castle furnishings, horse gear or ancient weapons, the objects gain context through photographs taken in the first decades of the 20th century.
The exhibit sets off more than a month of Tibet-related activities ranging from ritual mediation and multiphonic singing to lectures, films and the creation and destruction of a mandala.
Aaron Micallef, the museum’s director of education and public programs, said the museum likes to bring outside collections to Anchorage during the winter.
“Exhibits like this are generally chosen because they expose us to different cultures and different collections from other museums,” he said.
The tone will be drastically different from that of last year’s “Sue” dinosaur exhibit, which drew in natural historians and children of all ages. This winter’s activities will focus on culture through ceremonies, lectures, workshops, music and art.
Working in conjunction with the museum, the Anchorage Concert Association will present a performance of music, dance and multiphonic singing by monks from the Drepung Losling Institute in Atlanta. The monks will perform “The Mystical Arts of Tibet” on Friday at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.
Some of those monks will build a mandala sand painting the next day, beginning with a meditation and chanting ritual to cleanse the venue and make it sacred, said Tsepak Rigzin, a spokesman who travels and performs with the monks as an interpreter and narrator for the audience.
The 10 monks already have performed in Ketchikan, Juneau and Kodiak and will go to Homer after Anchorage. The visit toHomer will include a community performance and potluck followed by a workshop and two lectures, said Asia Freeman, director of the Bunnell Street Gallery, which will host and sponsor many of the activities.
In the “Psychology of Enlightenment” workshop in Anchorage, participants will look at Buddhist maps of the mind while addressing the ways in which its health and stability can be consciously developed, according to a description of the program from the Web site www.mysticalartsoftibet.org.
Workshops and lectures fulfill one of the group’s principal goals, Rigzin said.
“I do this for a greater cause,” he explained. “I’m really contributing to a better understanding of Tibetan ancient culture and traditions.”
While “Mystical Arts of Tibet” informs and involves participants in Tibetan culture, the museum exhibit captures the vastness of Tibet’s history. Now a country without a home, Tibet lives through its past by holding on to its traditions.
Mantras play a big part of those cultural and religious traditions. For Tibetan Buddhists, saying or reading a prayer wheel’s mantra invokes the blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Reading it does the same, which explains why mantras appear on stone carvings, ornaments, prayer flags, rock walls, village sites and even discount prayer wheels sold to shoestring travelers.
Spinning a prayer wheel yields the same benefits but without the vocal exertion and intent. In the Himalayas, wind and water turn prayer wheels, as do grimy hands. People like me buy them, whirl them, break them and forget them.
At least until we need one again.
Try it for yourself: “Om mani padme hum, om mani padme hum, om mani padme hum …”
The thought alone keeps the feet moving and the mind still.
Reporter Dawnell Smith can be reached at dsmith@adn.com.
TIBET: MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS, CASTLES AND TENTS from The Newark Museum will show at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art from Oct. 10 to Jan. 2, with an opening reception 1 to 3 p.m. Oct. 10.
MANDALA: Tibetan Buddhist monks will construct a mandala sand painting at the museum on Saturday in conjunction with the exhibition. A consecration ceremony will take place at noon Oct. 15, and the ceremony in preparation of dispersing the sand will take place at 7 p.m. Dec. 21.
LECTURES on Tibet take place at 7 p.m. and cost $5 per person, $4 for museum members. This month’s topics include “Tibet Today: The History of a Diaspora” on Oct. 12; “The Psychology of Enlightenment” on Oct. 13; and “The Symbolism of the Sand Mandala” on Oct. 14. Lectures, slide shows and discussions continue through December: “Friends of Dolpa: Assisting Tibetan Communities in Nepal” at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 (free); “Embracing Everest: Adventures in Mountaineering” at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 ($3 per person, $2 for members); and “Art History Adventure: Eastern Thought, Western Art” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 20 ($10 members, $15 nonmembers).
FILM: Films about Tibet will run from October to December. Showings range from “Tibet’s Lost Paradise: Shangri-La” and “Four Noble Truths” to “Lost Treasures of Tibet” and “Dalai Lama: Soul of Tibet.” Go to www. anchoragemuseum.org for a full schedule.
