Tenzin Wangchuk
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| Type: | Tibet |
| Year: | 1973 - Pressent |
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4 Virtuous activities and 5 Elements ring
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Year: 2009 Hand colored; Granulated stone and varnish on marble $2500.00 View Next Work BUY |
Born in Tibet, Wangchuk escaped to India when he was a child, but then completed his primary education at the Tibetan Children's Village school in Dharamsala, India. In 1987 he joined Namgyal Monastery and studied the memorization of different meditation deity texts. For five years he learned the sacred Tibetan arts of butter sculpture, mandala drawing, ritual instruments and dances.
In 2004 Tenzin Wangchuk completed his 13-year philosophical studies, earning the degree of Master of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra. Wangchuk has traveled throughout the US and Europe performing sand mandalas and ritual dances. He has served in the ritual offering activities of many empowerments given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He has served as: A member on the Board of Directors at the parent Namgyal Monastery Dharamsala, India; Manager of the Namgyal Monastery branch located in Bodhgaya, India; and he served as the first board member from the parent Monastery to simultaneously serve as a member of the Board of Directors at the Namgyal Monastery, Ithaca branch.
In the past year alone Tenzin Wangchuk has created five Chenrizig Sand Mandalas (the Bodhisatva of Compassion) at Clemson University, South Carolina, The College of New Jersey, NJ ; Community Art Center, Everett
WA., and Sudbury Lincoln High school, MA. He has lectured extensively about the sacred arts of Tibet and conducted a workshop on Tibetan Calligraphic arts, Brookfield craft center CT.
Creating a sand mandala, one grain of sand at a time, building up the forms, has taught Tenzin Wangchuk the elements of design and the power of an image.
Having left the Namgyal monastery, his goal is now to transform the sacred arts into a more concrete form. The images of the mandala, the auspicious symbols and their elements will be first visualized in pastel and then in sand. He has developed a process whereby the sand image can be made permanent. He wants to use his art to teach about Tibetan heritage in order to preserve that which might otherwise be lost.
Tenzin Wangchuk is also working on a book which will use his experiences as a senior monk at the Namgyal monastery to preserve Tibetan culture. The visual and written will come together in the work of this artist. Using the key tenets of wisdom and compassion as the base of the book he will use a dialectic structure to answer questions and provoke thought, contemplation and meditation.
The tradition of sand painting is itself, based upon the philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism, expresses the values of love, patience, compassion, and forgiveness.
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