Mustang Again

In May 2012, I again had the opportunity to visit Mustang, known locally as Lo. This time I spent twenty-one days in the restricted area, saw the Tiji festival, a ritual dedicated to the deity Vajrakīlaya, visited sites I had not seen at my earlier visit, and also walked down the east side of the Kali Kandaki Valley, a spectacular walk indeed. This journey was for a project on behalf of the Rubin Museum of Art about which I will inform in due course. Here is a picture gallery from this trip:

• ◊ Mustang 2012

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Storm King

One nice autumn day in 2011 I was invited to join a day trip to the Storm King Art Center an hour's drive north of New York City. What an amazing park and art landscape to roam around and get new views with every step, even more so with the famous New York State autumn colours in full swing.

• ◊ Storm King Art Center

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Kyoto

Thanks to an invitation from Ryukoku University, in summer 2011 I finally had the chance to visit Kyoto and some surrounding historic places — what a revelation in both art and architecture. With my affinity for Buddhist art and Yoga Tantra, and a background in Indian art, this was certainly the best place in Japan to learn from. Beyond the quality of the art and architecture, I was fascinated by aspects of early Japanese Buddhist art that document a loss in translation (as well as adaptation and subsequent reinterpretation) from the wider South Asian region to Japan. Take the iconic Ashura from the Kofukuji in Nara. Is he really explainable on the basis of an Indic background, or must he not much rather be interpreted against the Iranian/Zoroastrian interpretation of the world? I also can't decide whether I would rather move to Amitābha's phoenix palace at Uji or to his gigantic world at Todaiji in Nara. This is what saṃsāra and desire are all about, is it not?

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New York

On 1st October 2010, I settled in New York. My books arrived some months later and filled my modest but well-located apartment. Having lived as an academic nomad—and not slept in my own bed—for many years, I am glad to have a different lifestyle now. While searching for my present apartment, I shared a place with a view of New York as one imagines it in one's dreams …

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Mustang

Thanks to an extremely generous person, I was able to visit Mustang in August 2010, an experience that had a considerable impact on me. Not only are the temples of Lo Manthang impressive in many respects, but the art and artistic heritage preserved in this region is remarkable. Needless to say, the flights and the walks to get there and back are an exquisite experience in themselves. Astonishingly, on the way up we were accompanied by a group of bikers, who carried their bikes more than they could use them. Brave people indeed ...

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