The Flying Mystics of Tibetan Buddhism

The urge to fly has transfixed human imagination with a steady, irresistible charm for millennia. This catalog presents Tibetan paintings that explore the theme of flying as a spiritual power. In Buddhist thought, flight is within our potential as human beings. With advanced spiritual development come supernatural powers such as flying, levitation, or the ability to walk through the sky as some walk on a mountain path. Indo-Tibetan literature is filled with accounts of the phenomena, and biographical accounts of the great lineage masters often includes a section on occasions when flying was called for. Similarly, Indo-Tibetan Buddhist artists frequently draw from flying anecdotes in their paintings and sculptural works.

Flying Mystics can perhaps be regarded as a preliminary adventure into this ancient and venerable history. Using Buddhist art and literature as its vehicles, it presents some of the greatest Tibetan masterpiece paintings depicting famous Buddhist masters of flight, and also draws from the biographies of the most famous Buddhist flyers over the ages.