EXHIBITION TALK Where Parallels Meet: The Place of Art in the Transmission of Buddhism

Panel Discussion

Throughout the 2,500-year history of Buddhism, art has functioned as an important expression of Buddhist teachings. As Buddhism spread to new cultures–Thailand, Tibet, Japan–Buddhist-inspired art communicated ideas and experiences that had not previously found full expression in the recipient culture. This panel discussion, featuring noted experts Maribeth Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Kay Larson, art critic, and John Giorno, poet, will compare the role of art in the ongoing transmission of Buddhism to the West with historical precedents ranging from Buddhism’s effect on the court life of seventh-century Japan to John Cage’s interpretation of Zen. Moderated by Kenneth Kraft, Professor of Religious Studies at Lehigh University.

Held in conjunction with the Japan Society Gallery exhibition Transmitting the Forms of Divinity: Early Buddhist Art from Korea and Japan and presented as part of “Where Parallels Meet,” a series of four public programs of The Buddhism Project: Art, Buddhism and Contemporary Culture.

Support for “Where Parallels Meet” was provided by the New York Council for the Humanities.

Tickets: $10, Japan Society & Korea Society members & seniors $8, students $5.