Buddha in Paradise: A Celebration in Himalayan Art

This publication lays out in sculptures and paintings the concept of "paradise” in Tibetan Buddhism, understood through different approaches and teachings, the most radical of which confronts us with the realization that paradise is all around us if we are able to perceive it. The journey begins with a look at Yama, the Lord of Death, who holds all existence in his mouth, high and low, and devours all living things, subjecting them, without pity, to impermanence and change. In this world view, even the paradises of sensual pleasure, of purified form, and even formlessness, belong to this “Wheel of Becoming” that tics one to eventual death and rebirth, and the suffering this brings. There are, however, in the Buddhist framework, places beyond material form and duality, "buddha- fieids” or “Pure Lands,” where conditions for spiritual realization are ripe, and various buddhas preside together with compassionate beings who seek the enlightenment of all others. The author takes the viewer through the imagery of various “Pure Lands” including the “Tushita Pure Land and the Theater of the 1,000 Buddhas,” as well as "The Five Pure lands of Bliss.” Different schools of Buddhism emphasize different aspects of “paradise,” and Mullin devotes a section to the tantric visions of infinite “buddhafields” right at hand, “as numerous as ali the atoms in the world, and wherein each of these buddhafields is filled with uncountable buddhas” and ordinary "experience is dissolved into infinite awareness." Poetry and writings by Buddhist masters, including texts that guide the passage from death to rebirth, are provided to accompany the visual communications of these ideas in paintings, textiles, and sculpture.
Mullin is the author of more than twenty'-five books on Tibetan Buddhism. Many of these focus on the lives and works of the early Dalai lamas. He has also worked as a field specialist on three Tibet-related films and five television documentaries and has co-produced five audio recordings of Tbetan sacred music. In 2002 his book The Fourteen Dalai Lamas was nominated for the prestigious NAPRA award for best book, and in 2004 his book female Buddhas won a Best Book Award from Foreword Magazine.