Art with Benefits | Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art

Art with BenefitsThe Drigung Tradition

April 24, 2015–September 7, 2015
Rubin Museum
150 W. 17th St., NYC

Painting of larger figure in red robe seated on a lotus blossom surrounded by many other smaller seated figures. — Shakyamuni Beneficial to See (detail); Tibet (Drigung School Monastery); early 14th century; distemper
on cloth; Pritzker Family Collection.

Across all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism is the notion that a work of art has the power to transform and bestow a variety of benefits upon the beholder. Depending on the particular subject depicted in a painting, sculpture, or relic, the viewer gains advantages such as removing obstacles, acquiring merit, and purifying all sins, bringing benefits for this life and the next, simply by seeing it.

This concept is made visually and textually explicit in works of art created by followers of the Drigung Kagyu School, a Tibetan Buddhism community founded in the late 12th century and still in existence today. Art with Benefits highlights the distinctive and varying styles that have characterized Drigung art over its more than 800-year history, as well as the most commonly depicted subjects and the benefits they offer, including the Buddha type “Beneficial to See,” protectresses, wrathful deities, teachers, and footprints.

Art with BenefitsThe Drigung Tradition

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