Rubin Museum of Art

The Second BuddhaMaster of Time

February 2, 2018–January 7, 2019
Rubin Museum
150 W. 17th St., NYC
Painting of many people surrounding three seated figures.

The future is both present and projected from the past at the Rubin Museum of Art, with an exhibition that tells the story of the legendary Indian master Padmasambhava. Celebrated by Tibetans as “The Second Buddha,” Padmasambhava, the Lotus Born, is believed to have been instrumental in converting the land and people of Tibet to Buddhism. His legends carry universal relevance about triumph over obstacles, the power of human emotions, transformation, impermanence, achieving liberation from life and death, and notions of time—all of which transcend specific cultures and eras.

The Second Buddha brings together 41 works of art from the 13th to 20th century with interactive technology. Central to the exhibition are themes of the interconnected nature of past and future as the basis for constructing identity and projecting teachings into the future. It is said that in the past Padmasambhava concealed his teachings, known as treasure teachings, throughout the Tibetan landscape to be discovered by foretold disciples at opportune times in the future. To parallel such discoveries, visitors engage with select objects to reveal their hidden meaning and content. The exhibition is activated by augmented reality (AR) tablets and other interactive technology and performances, which bring the narratives to life and let visitors consider mechanisms of storytelling that touch on the themes of the exhibition, the past, the present, and ways of enabling the future.

CuratorCurator

Elena Pakhoutova is senior curator of Himalayan art at the Rubin Museum and holds a PhD in Asian art history from the University of Virginia. She has curated several exhibitions at the Rubin, including Death Is Not the End (2023), The Power of Intention: Reinventing the (Prayer) Wheel (2019), and The Second Buddha: Master of Time (2018).

RelatedRelated

Three Perspectives on Time
Scientific and Buddhist perspectives offer ways to understand our world and imagine the possibilities if we could rethink our relationship to time.

Support for The Second Buddha: Master of Time is made possible in part by Bob and Lois Baylis, The Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Barbara Bowman, Lisina M. Hoch, and contributors to the 2018 Exhibitions Fund.
The Second Buddha: Master of Time is organized by the Rubin Museum of Art and the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College.

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