On view April 30-August 14, 2016 at the Crow Museum of Asian Art

Tibetan Buddhism comprises the teachings of Buddhism embodied in the paths of Mahayana and Theravada, but focuses on a third path, the Vajrayana. Vajrayana Buddhism is also known as Esoteric or Tantric Buddhism. Tantric Buddhism uses meditations, visualizations, mantras, and the performance of rituals to cultivate the spiritual powers of body, speech, and mind to enable the practitioner to transform obstructions to enlightenment into the energy of its realization. A Buddha is one who has achieved complete spiritual perfection or enlightenment, and has clearly realized the true nature of all things. In general, Tibetan Buddhism considers both men and women, regardless of race or status, to be equal in their enlightenment potential and capacity for Buddha-hood. 

The prominence and proliferation of female Buddhas and bodhisattvas has characterized Tibetan sacred art for centuries, with roots deep in pre-Buddhist Indian gods and goddesses. Many Tibetan Tantric systems of practice have a female Buddha as their principal deity. Both male and female practitioners meditate upon female forms, just as male and female practitioners meditate upon male Buddha forms.  In meditation, practitioners experience themselves as both male and female simultaneously. Buddhas and bodhisattvas are often represented as embodying both male and female aspects.

This exhibition features a selection of Tibetan sculptures on loan and from the permanent collection of the Crow Collection of Asian Art that suggest the variety of manifestations of the feminine divine in Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism. On view you will find well-known forms such as benevolent bodhisattvas, fierce guardians, and forest goddesses. In Buddhism, with the bliss of enlightenment, divisions and differentiations of sex and gender are a means, not an end, and are ultimately illusory.

The Divine Feminine in Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism is organized by the Crow Collection of Asian Art and curated by Jacqueline Chao.

Exhibition website

Header Image: Shri Devi (Palden Lhamo). Tibet, c. 18th century. Copper alloy, gilding and pigment. 6.25 x 4.75 x 2.5 in. (15.9 x 12.1 x 6.4 cm). Crow Collection of Asian Art, 1982.38. Courtesy of the Crow Museum of Asian Art.

Installation photography by Chad Redmon, Courtesy of the Crow Museum of Asian Art. Exhibition Highlight video produced by Suzanne Oshinsky.