A rare Buddhist manuscript, known as ‘Sankhara bhanjani kyam,’ fromThailand dated 1917 c British Library Board.
I have a love of exhibitions and am often to be found wandering around both National and Local Art Galleries and Museums, so it takes something very special to impress me as much as the British Library’s Buddhist Exhibition.
The British Library is perfectly situated, just five minutes’ walk from Kings Cross and St Pancras Railway Stations and 10 minutes from Euston Station.
By some standards it is a small exhibition, but it is so full of artefacts many of which are so exquisitely decorated and so finely carved and drawn, that I recommend that you allow at least an hour to fully appreciate it.
18th century copy of the Tibetan Book ‘bar do thos grol,’ known in the West as ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’
c British Library Board.
The exhibition explores the roots, philosophy and contemporary relevance of one of the world’s major religions, from its beginning in north India in the 6th century BCE, to having over 500 million followers across the world today.
Set in a high- ceilinged exhibition space, the walls of which are bathed in the richest red which adds to the feeling of tranquillity, aided by a sound scape of bird song, and a Temple Bell the tolls intermittently.
Tenets appear amongst the exhibits offering wisdom on how one might become a better person.
The layout of the room uses artefacts to identify the three main schools of Buddhism -Therevada, Mahayana and Vajrayna and is the British Library’s largest ever display of Buddhist collection items.
A copy of the Lotus Sūtra in a lavishly decorated scroll from Japan, dated to 1636, c British Library Board.
The exhibition also features contemporary art from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan as well as ritual objects used in Buddhist practice.
Such is the wealth of artefacts it is hard to pick out the ‘must sees’, but for me the copy of the Lotus Sutra in a lavishly decorated scroll written in gold and silver ink on indigo dyed paper, dating back to 1636 is one; and one of the oldest illustrated extant palm leaf manuscripts, Pancharaksha, an illustrated ritual text from Nepal, dated 1130 – 1150, is another
On more familiar ground with an 18th Century copy of the Tibetan Book Bar do thos grol, which is a guide through the stages between death and rebirth, commonly known in the West as the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
I love an exhibition from which I emerge richer either in wisdom or in appreciation of aesthetics and today I emerged blinking into the light, enriched by both.
I learned that Buddha is a title not the name of a person and is awarded to someone who has gained enlightenment.
The Buddhist Exhibition runs from the 25th October 2019 to the 23rd February 2020.
Adults £14.00
Concessions £12.00
Students £7.00
18 -25 years of age £7.00