(via gizmodo)

He arrives in NY on Sunday when I’m hoping to photograph his teaching on Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta(jangchup semdrel) organized by a Vietnamese group at the Manhattan Center. For a schedule of his all his upcoming teachings around the world go here.

The websites historical accounts are also awesome – “ The founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 ended the dark history of the semi-colonial, semi-feudal China, realized unification of the country, unity of ethnic groups and people’s democracy, and brought hope to the Tibetan people that they could control their own destiny in the large family of the motherland.”

I’m only on the third chapter of this memoir about a young man (Nikolai Grozni) who travels to India to become a Tibetan Monk and I can tell that I’m going to enjoy it. He studies in Dharamsala and some of the description and stories bring me right back to my time there. I even know one of the characters he talks to, this old guy called “Vinnie.” He would always want to play chess and would always think he knew you from previous games played in chai shops. I first met him in 2002 and have seen him every time I’ve been back. Not once have I dared challenge him to a game. Hopefully this book challenges some of the conventional ideas of the “Shangri-la” community at the foothills of the Himalaya’s. It seems like it will as some of the monks have already smoked a few cigarettes and talked about nuns doing the naughty. As a more serious read I also picked up a copy of “The Photograph as Contemporary Art,” a book I should probably have read during my MFA. Don’t ever go into St. Marks bookshop unless you plan on buying a couple of books.

Gonkar Gyatso, The Shambala of Modern Times, 2008, stickers, paper cuttings and pencil on treated paper, 200 x 219 cm

Gonkar Gyatso was born in 1961 in Lhasa. He graduated from the Fine Art Department of the Central Institute of Nationalities, Beijing and from the Chelsea Art & Design College, London. He is the Co-Founder of “The Sweet Tea House Artists Association”. Gyatso has exhibited his works in Dharamsala, New Dehli, London, Helsinki, Washington, Lyon, Durban, Zurich. Gonkar Gyatso is living in London and is a visiting teacher at the London Institute.

I prefer these works of his, which I’m assuming are photographs because it is not made clear on the website.

Here is an interesting article about the contemporary Tibetan Art movement. More of his work after the break…

I start to get confused with his sculptural clothing work

Tenam worked for the DIIR and took very good care of me while I was there in 2002/03. He is one of the closest friends I made out in McLeod Ganj, and I have done a terrible job of keeping in touch. He now lives in Paris and takes care of his farty son!

“3000 times a day and all he got was a lousy t-shirt. Stupid dick.”

“Super fake. Maybe he should have prayed for god to intervene with the occupation of his government in Tibet. Fail.”

“Just because I see doesn’t mean I believe it. Just like I saw a picture of Santa Clause. He’s not real either.”

And here come the best ones so far….

“To the person who said he could have spent his time better as a researcher or physician: it’s possible he figured it was better to press his head to a wooden floor 3,000 times a day than to become a doctor and risk saving the life of some shrill, smug asshole who spends his time online, badmouthing others’ devotion.”

“What a crock of complete bollocks. If it is true he is a dick. Get a life nob brain.”