Orient Foundation

Background

It is an extraordinary phenomenon that the pre-eminent 20th century lamas, physicians and artists of Tibet carried into modern times, intact, large swathes of the oral commentarial lineages and the arts and medical traditions of classical Indian Buddhist civilization.

Between the 8th and 12th centuries, major components of the classical Indian literary corpus were translated into Tibetan, and the related oral commentarial lineages and classical arts traditions of the early centuries of the first millennium were transferred from Indian to Tibetan scholars, physicians and artists. Although largely lost in India from the 14th century onward, this rich and sophisticated legacy has been conserved and continuously developed until today, amongst the leading cultural figures of Tibet and the Himalayan regions.

In classical Indian and Tibetan society, intellectual and artistic knowledge flowed from generation to generation primarily through the face-to-face giving, from master to student, of the oral commentarial explanation to classical texts. These oral commentarial lineages, which are the living heart of Tibet’s cultural traditions, have continued to be handed down uninterruptedly from master to student for up to two thousand years.

Since 1983, the Foundation has been working in partnership with senior elder generation Tibetan lamas, scholars, physicians and artists to document Tibet’s endangered cultural heritage. The emphasis of this collaboration has been to focus on the living, oral commentarial and arts traditions that are inextricably associated with the major classical literary works. As a result, the following resource materials have been created:

1/ the world's most comprehensive collection of detailed line-by-line oral commentaries to major classical Indian and Tibetan texts,

3/ an extensive documentary record of the knowledge and skills of two of Tibet’s greatest 20th century classical painters, and

4/ more than 18,000 photographs of ritual arts related objects (tsakali, butter sculptures, etc.) and medicinal plants, together with photographs of lineage holders and monasteries.

Currently the Foundation is working both to further develop these collections and to make the entire, unique and irreplaceable body of documentary materials in the multimedia library locally accessible in each of the major monastic, academic, research, arts and cultural organisations across India, Nepal and Bhutan and throughout the world.