Introduction
On
a high plateau in central Asia, hidden behind an almost impassable
wall, a gated land cut off by the world's tallest mountains, an
extraordinary art took form. The land, austerely beautiful, is demanding
and harsh: alternately sundrenched and snowdriven, whipped and scoured
by fierce, ceaseless wind--a land where comfort is scarce. Yet despite
its starkness, or perhaps because of it, Tibetan visionaries, focused
on the perception of invisible, ultimate reality, used art to depict
that fundamental truth. With that focus, rather than mirroring the
land around them, painting what was literally outside their door,
they developed an art of the mind, one of unforgettable energy and
beauty.
This
DVD presents a photographic survey of the wall paintings of three
gompas or monastery-temples of Mustang, an ethnically and culturally
Tibetan district in northwestern Nepal, on the edge of the Tibetan
plateau. The traveler to Mustang passes on foot or on horseback
through an elemental world of sand, rock and wind, but finds, on
the mud walls of its monasteries, a brilliant explosion of the human
imagination. The viewer is transported into a different sphere,
a different plane of being, embodied in this art. Wild, unearthly
beings stand poised to leap, caught in a frozen moment of dance,
by the side of Buddhas sitting motionless in the remote serenity
of profound meditation. An invisible universe, a meta-reality, proclaims
itself on mud walls where five centuries ago, artists painted a
truth seen only by the mind. Mandalas, mystic diagrams, wheeling
across the walls, embrace a sacred space; powerful guardian deities
cloaked in flame, warriors who combat pernicious, seductive illusions,
grimace ferociously and brandish fearsome weapons; intermingled
among them are lithe and graceful beings, solemn in their beauty,
archangels of the spirit, cosmic heroes, who stand guard over all.
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Copyright © 2003 Philip and Marcia R. Lieberman
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