From the Sacred Realm: Paradises and Pure-lands

The Newark Museum presents an exhibition that introduces the Five Buddha Families under whom the vast Tibetan Buddhist pantheon is organized.

Focusing on paradisiacal imagery illuminated through longevity deities (such as Amitayus, Buddha of Infinite Life) to the Western Paradise of Amitabha (Buddha of Infinite Light), this gallery will introduce some of the over-arching organizational structures of the Five Buddha Families under whom the vast Tibetan Buddhist pantheon is organized. Different periods of artistic depiction of these important Buddhist archetypes will be illustrated through the Museum’s outstanding and rare collection of early tenth-century sculpture from Kashmir, Swat and Nepal, as well as glorious eighteenth-century examples from the Qianlong Emperor’s court.