Closing after this coming weekend is the exhibition: Mandalas: Mapping The Buddhist Art of Tibet. And why should a Thelemite or ceremonial magician care about this? Well, the Prophet of the Lovely Star considered himself a Buddhist and in fact wrestled with accepting his role as Prophet of the New Aeon finding the new principles he’d be promulgating as conflicting with his Buddhist beliefs. Further, look at this description from the Met’s site that starts “A mandala is a diagram of the universe” and compare that with this line from the opening of LIber CXCIV: “For, in True Things, all are but images one of another; man is but a map of the universe, and Society is but the same on a larger scale.” Nuff said? Anyway – here’s the whole schmear from the Met site:
A mandala is a diagram of the universe—a map of true reality that in Tibet is used to conceptualize a rapid path to enlightenment. This exhibition explores the imagery of the Himalayan Buddhist devotional art through over 100 paintings, sculptures, textiles, instruments, and an array of ritual objects, mostly dating between the 12th and 15th centuries. This dazzling visual experience provides a roadmap for understanding Himalayan Buddhist worship through early masterworks, juxtaposed with a newly commissioned contemporary installation by Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol.
The exhibition is made possible by the Placido Arango Fund and Lilly Endowment Inc.
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/mandalas-mapping-the-buddhist-art-of-tibet.
