Stunning in its Calm Beauty

The world’s first major exhibit of Bhutanese art is shedding light on the reclusive kingdom’s unique Vajrayana Buddhist masterpieces

Carleton Cole
May 20, 2008
The Nation

Despite its conservative religious nature, the predominantly Buddhist art of Bhutan, is far from staid.

The statue of Drukpa Kunley (1455 to 1529, gilt bronze, 18th-century), features what the curators for the "The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan" exhibit organisers called a "divine madman", named as such for his exotic means of imparting Buddhism wisdom. The show’s Assistant Curator John Johnston says he and his colleagues had considered using a less provocative description, such as "‘eccentric genius’ in their exhibition guidebook, but that "we kept coming back to ‘divine madman’ as his bibliography is scandalous. "When he came to a town, he’d be looking for beautiful women and a scandalous bar," the says art historian.


"He left behind a number of important descendants," says Johnston, who spent the last three years visiting some 200 of the 2,000 monasteries in Bhutan, ferreting out the best examples of the small nation’s rich artistic heritage, for an exhibition that was organised by the Honolulu Academy of Arts. After its Hawaii leg is over on May 23, the show will move on to San Francisco and New York.

Johnston gave the "Experiencing the Sacred: Buddhist Art in Bhutan" talk last Sunday to about 45 attendees at the Thousand Stars Tibetan and Spiritual Centre of Asia, off Lat Phrao Road.
He concentrated his travels in the northern regions of Bhutan, repository to the country’s classical, Tibetan-inspired culture – the hotter, flatter, drier South is home to many ethnic-Nepalese.

"What we were looking for in terms of criteria was, most importantly, the aesthetic quality," says Johnston. "But these are very sacred pieces of art, so a counterbalance was to reflect that these works represented Buddhism in Bhutan. I’m showing some pieces that have never been seen outside of experts in the field."

"There were times when we had only a few hours to view hundreds of paintings, and only chose a few. My goal was to see as many artworks as possible. The Bhutanese really excel at textile paintings."
The show’s 100 pieces are from the eighth to the 20th centuries.


As is the case with other Himalayan lands, such as Sikkim and Ladakh, Vajrayana Buddhist monasteries crown many mountaintops in Bhutan. "Bhutan is a place of natural beauty. For me, spending a few hours in the woods is a great place to prepare for ensuring sacred places. In most towns in the main temple was a high hike away into the mountains.

"I spent my time searching for the best arts to be put on display. We worked out a system so that the monks were prepared for my visit, so that a guy looking like me didn’t just pop up and ask to see their most valued treasures," says Johnston, a native of the US state of Georgia.

Bhutanese thangka (paintings) typically depict an important spiritual leader, such as Guru Padmasamhava, who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan in the 700s, or the unifier of Bhutan, the great monk and political leader Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594 to 1651).

The most important Buddhist schools in Bhutan are Drukpa Kagyu and Nyingma, which is known for images of Padmasambhava. Bhutanese arts are known for their liberal use of pink and green.

"Most of these items have not even seem by the Bhutanese so we are very grateful to display these images. It can be very difficult to differentiate the different kinds of art from Bhutan Tibet Nepal and Ladakh," although to the trained eye, they begin to seem more apparent.

Statues – ku – are made more holy for the objects inserted into the back of them. These can be sacred objects such as rolled up prayers on paper, or reliquaries such as hair or fingernail clippings from an important teacher, or dirt from a holy site.

Besides the beauties enshrined within them, the whitewashed classical block-shaped monasteries are gorgeous as well. Says Johnston: "The dzong (great fortresses) are great examples of sacred architecture. They can be really meandering."

He calls Zimkhang Chapel at Tango Monastery "the Sistine Chapel" of Bhutanese art. It’s "a tour de force".

Grateful for being loaned the sacred works, Johnston’s team in return showed monks how to gently handle their old masterpieces. "We trained monks in workshops on how to clean and protect their paintings, which are often covered with the soot from butter lamps, and are handled roughly," says Johnston. "We showed them PhotoShop, and they were amazed that you could zoom in on the details far more so than with the naked eye."

"Bhutan is a country filled – brimming – with sacred arts, and we’ve only scratched the surface."

Photo: John Johnston

Understanding the Palestinian angst

A local Palestinian rights advocacy group wants to inform Thais on the region from their perspective

Carleton Cole
May 15, 2008

While Israel celebrated its 60th anniversary last week, Palestinians marked 60 painful years in the statelessness of al Nakba (The Catastrophe). And while, in recent years, a massive series of walls have kept Israelis safe from Palestine suicide bombers, the Apartheid Wall, as Palestinian groups call it, isolates Palestinian communities in the West Bank from each other.

"Nowhere in the world over the last 60 years has there been so much continual suffering," Sule Larsson said. Larsson is a former member of the Green Party in Sweden and has lived in Bangkok for 15 years. "We want to bring about awareness of this in Thailand."

Larsson is the secretary of the five-month-old Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC Thailand), a local organisation of expatriates and Thais, which is affiliated to the UK-based group of the same name. The group supports "self determination of Palestinians, the right of return of Palestinian refugees and an end of Israeli occupation".

"Why start a group? Because there wasn't one here. I want to help Palestine," PSC Thailand chairman Stuart Ward said. Ward, like Larsson, works for the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok.

This story will be continued in a future book.......................

A white harvest turns into gold

While poor people around the world protest higher food costs, rice farmers in Nakhon Pathom are pocketing more money than ever before

Carleton Cole, Sutamon Lertmanorat
The Nation

May 3, 2008

Five months ago, when Ai Ruengchuamuan sold the rice from her land in rural Nakhon Pathom to a local rice mill, she got Bt6,000 a tonne.

Last week, another harvest from the same 16 rai brought her a windfall - Bt13,000 per tonne.

"I am very excited about it!" beams Ai, one of the nation's 15 million farmers, to whom even small increases in profits can make a big difference.

"I have farmed this land for as long as I can remember and I have never witnessed such a phenomenon," says Iam Ruengchuamuan, Ai's 76-year-old uncle.

Three weeks ago Iam sold 12 rai of rice for Bt140,000, or 12,000 per tonne - one rai produces about one tonne of rice. His field yields two crops every year. The price of the fertiliser and oil he needs have risen, but that's more than offset by the even higher cost of rice.

One way he's reduced costs is by gradually turning to organic fertiliser, which costs Bt10,000 per tonne and produces similar yields to chemical fertiliser, which costs Bt20,000.

For the last three decades or so, like many other Thai farmers, Iam has been in debt.

"We owe about Bt300,000 to a government agricultural bank and the black market," he says, but with rice prices skyrocketing, he's happier than he's been in a long time.

"If the price of rice is steady like this, I should be able to pay off my debt in a few years."

Most of their five kids only completed primary school. "I know a farmer is always poor," Iam says, "but this is what my ancestors have done and I don't know what else I can do."

Last year, he underwent bypass surgery under the Bt30 scheme. "My wife Somjit is worried about me when I'm working in the fields. With extra money I can hire someone to help take care of the rice," he smiles.

Two weeks ago, the couple planted fresh shoots and they'll harvest the crop in August, though Iam is hoping it comes sooner while the price is still high.

One money-lender in the province says several of her customers have repaid their loans over the last month, while other clients have converted their shrimp farms into rice fields, clamouring to take advantage of the price increase.

"Two weeks ago, I converted my potato field into a rice paddy," says Udom Intaramany, 41, who doesn't have any land of her own, and rents it for Bt500 per rai per year. That may rise in the near future, though.

The increase in the cost of rice and other grains has been blamed on everything from higher oil prices to the demand for biofuels to climate change. Prices for rice and other basic foodstuffs are expected to remain high in the foreseeable future.

But even though the rice price has jumped more than 100 per cent this year, few farmers will get rich as most own little land.

"I believe that this is a permanent change and that prices won’t come down. Their profit margin is small and they have limited income," says Vichai Sriprasert, the president of Riceland Pacific International, one of Thailand’s top rice-exporting companies, was speaking at a recent panel discussion at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok.

News reports say that the price may fluctuate or fall to old levels. Regardless, there will be winners and losers. So far the headlines have been dominated by the global protest over higher food costs.

But for now, poor Thai rice-farming families are happy with their golden harvest.