TRAVEL NOTES: Khyongla Rato Rinpoche

Richard Gere and Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, with HH the Dalai Lama's senior tutor, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche (embalmed body d. 1983), Dharamsala, India 1988. Photograph (c) Elizabeth Paul Avedon /All Rights Reserved

A Monk's PhotoJournal: December 2009

Greetings From The Mountains In Taiwan

Photograph (c) 2009 Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Taiwan
Photograph (c) 2009 Nicholas Vreeland /All Rights Reserved

Rato Dratsang Foundation
The Gere Foundation

DILIP MEHTA: Forgotten Woman Documentary

Watch The Forgotten Woman Trailer

Every widow whom I filmed and who agreed to speak on camera was forthright. There was invariably an outpouring of their souls of emotions that were scarred, of feelings that were suppressed, of hopes and dreams that remained unfulfilled.

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DILIP MEHTA was born in 1952 in New Delhi, India. He's been a Founding Member of Contact Press Images since 1977. Early in his career, he won international acclaim for his coverage of the Gandhi family and his five-year reportage on the 1984 Bhopal tragedy, the worst chemical disaster in history. He has since produced extensive work from the US, the former USSR, China, South Asia and, in particular, from his native India where he is a veteran of the political scene. A regular contributor to the National Geographic, GEO in Germany and France, and Fortune magazine in the USA, in recent years he has documented the effects of widespread modernization on Asian society, especially in his own country.

I was first aware of Dilip's work years ago when his photographs accompanied "Tibet In Exile: Looking Homeward", a Geo Magazine photo essay (May 1981, pp 84-110). The article included, rarely seen at that time, photographs of His Holiness The Dalai Lama in his home in Dharamsala, India. Dilip told me recently his fondest memory "was of His Holiness repairing 2 camera bodies that had inexplicably stopped working while I was photographing him at 4:00 am in his bedroom for Geo."

In his award winning documentary, Forgotten Woman, Mehta offers a view of the life of some women forced to live in poverty in rural India once their husbands have died. The documentary follows Dilip's sister, Deepa Mehta's, Oscar nominated film Water. "Deepa's guiding hand has been present for my entire life. 'Water' certainly galvanized me to make this feature length documentary. The inspiration came entirely from the widows themselves," said Dilip, whose documentaries international screenings include the Dubai International Film Festival and the 2009 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

The film opened in New York with 4 stars–“Mr. Mehta puts an unforgettable face on a problem of unimaginable scope.” Nathan Lee- The New York Times.

THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN

Directed and filmed by Dilip Mehta, and written by Deepa Mehta

DUMBO GALLERY WALK: The Tibet Center

Nagarjuna, Tibetan Applique Thangka, 18' tall x 9' wide
Photograph (c) Herman Velez /All Rights Reserved

HH The Dalai under Nagarjuna's Thangka

Photograph (c) Herman Velez /All Rights Reserved

(please click image to enlarge)

HH The Dalai Bestowing Blessings at Radio City Music Hall, NYC

Photograph (c) Herman Velez /All Rights Reserved

Nov 5th • DUMBO 1st Thursday Walk: Until 8:00 Pm

THE TIBET CENTER is the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Center in NYC. It's not a Gallery, but you are welcome to come and look around Thursday evening. On display is the 18 foot tall (rolled to 12 foot to mind the ceilings) Nagarjuna Applique Thangka that was commissioned for HH The Dalai Lama. Other Tibetan paintings of the Buddha, White and Green Tara's, among other traditional pieces, are also on display.

The Tibet Center has moved out of Dumbo since I first posted this piece and is now located at the University Settlement/Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery x Houston St, New York City.

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THE 18 foot tall NAGARJUNA Applique Thangka was commissioned for The Dalai Lama's three days of Teachings on The Diamond Cutter Sutra by the Buddha and Seventy Verses on Emptiness by Nagarjuna. To begin, a request was made to the Master Tibetan Applique Artist, Dorjee Wangdue, in Dharamsala, India.

T. G. Dorjee Wangdue was born in Lhasa, Tibet in 1962. At the age of 16, he joined Namgyal Tantric Monastery of H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama. It was his teacher, Ven. Thupten Jamyang (late), a Kalachakra ceremony and ritual master assisting H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, who encouraged him to learn and improve his natural talent in making religious images of applique. He later opened the Tibetan Applique Arts Training Centre in Dharamsala, where over 150 young Tibetans have learned this unique Art so far.

After The Tibet Center's request was placed, Master Dorjee Wangdue had a Thangka Painter from HH's own Namgyal Monastery make a pencil sketch of the Buddhist images for the huge piece. HH The Dalai Lama made adjustments to the sketch asking that the figure of the Buddha be placed above the central figure of Nagarjuna. The Applique Artist then designed the placement of all of the individual pieces and gave this to a team of crafts men and women who worked on it for many months. It was hung above HH The Dalai Lama in Radio City Music Hall, NYC, in 2007 and now resides in DUMBO.

The Tibet Center Website / Herman Velez Photography Website

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VIDEO'S

Master Tibetan Applique Artist, Dorjee Wandue, demonstrating the process of creating Applicate Thangka's. In Tibetan, no English sub-titles: Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4, Video 5, Video 6
(Short on Patience? Just watch Video 3 )