{"id":2686,"date":"2024-07-04T01:54:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T01:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/?p=2686"},"modified":"2026-05-29T18:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:55:20","slug":"the-lives-of-holy-objects-approaching-himalayan-buddhist-images-as-art-and-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/the-lives-of-holy-objects-approaching-himalayan-buddhist-images-as-art-and-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"THL432 The Lives of Holy Objects: Approaching Himalayan Buddhist Images as Art and Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:104%;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>(2 credits) This course explores the lives of Buddhist paintings, sculptures, and ritual objects as they move through creation, consecration, enact religious support for dharma practice, and circulate across Himalayan Buddhist worlds and beyond. Through foundational knowledge study of traditional sacred spaces, iconography, and artistic lineages, alongside fieldwork in exhibition and local settings, participants investigate how holy objects mediate connections between practitioners and enlightened beings and are embedded in social worlds. We explore how images relate to dharma practice, in doctrine, liturgy, and embodied experiences of pilgrimage, mudra, and meditation. Then, through case studies of objects in Western collections and field trips to a Himalayan Buddhist art exhibition, students engage current debates on provenance, repatriation, and decolonial methodology. Attention is given to how these images travel from regional ateliers to global museums and through shifting histories, meanings, and ethical questions surrounding these objects\u2019 preservation, displacement, display, and cultural exchange. Combining contemplative perspectives with scholarly research, students will finally consider ethical stewardship in both religious and secular settings as we document and interpret objects within the Maitripa College dharma community, applying decolonial and spiritual approaches. Integrating study and practice, students will \u201cmeet\u201d, research, and document Tibetan Buddhist objects within this community\u2019s sacred space, contributing to an ethically grounded project for multivocal documentation, education, and connection with holy objects that honors the complexity and living significance of Buddhist sacred objects, guiding their ethical study, care, religious use, and representation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:104%;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column fusion-flex-align-self-center\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:21px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-separator fusion-full-width-sep\" style=\"align-self: center;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;margin-bottom:35px;width:100%;\"><\/div><div style=\"text-align:right;\"><a class=\"fusion-button button-3d fusion-button-default-size button-default fusion-button-default button-1 fusion-button-default-span fusion-button-default-type\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/maitripa-college-catalog\/course-descriptions\/\"><span class=\"fusion-button-text awb-button__text awb-button__text--default\">Go to full course catalog index<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2686"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2688,"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686\/revisions\/2688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maitripa.org\/registrar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}