Video features by members of Art 386, Vassar College, for the “Embodying Compassion” exhibition:
Full Prostration at the Mahabodhi Temple, by Jiajing Sun

Burning Incense in a Chinese Buddhist Temple, by Mengna Da

Buddhist Pilgrimage Sites in Asia, by Jiajing Sun

Prayer Wheel and Avalokiteshvara, by Mengna Da

Pilgrimage:
This video includes shots of pilgrims and interior views of shrines at the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

This video clip, with narration in Japanese, shows the principal icons in Buddhist temples at Nachi: Nyoirin Kannon in Seigantoji, and the Thousand-armed Kannon in Fudarakusanji.

Harue Momoyama performs the Song of Ryojinhisho, associated with the Kumano pilgrimage.

The stations on the Saigoku Pilgrimage route.

Practice:
Jodo Shinshu Daily Practice and Nembutsu.  This Japanese Pure Land practice involves invoking Amida.

This video presents the mantra om mani padme hum as it is chanted in temples throughout the Buddhist world.

Animation that replicates the turning of the mani mantra in a prayer wheel, accompanied by the recitation of the mantra.

Tashi Mannox creates the mani mantra brushed in the classical Tibetan Uchen script.

Om mani padme hum written in the Sanskrit-derived Siddham script.

The meaning of the mantra om mani padme hum explained by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

His Holiness 17th Karmapa chants Avalokiteshvara’s mantra, om mani padme hum.

Faye Wong sings the Heart Sutra at Famen Temple, Shaanxi, China, May 8, 2009.

Tibetan monks, led by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, chant the Heart Sutra at Bodh Gaya, India, 2012.  The Heart Sutra is contained within the Prajnaparamita Sutra.

Chinese singer Omee Ooi sings the Heart Sutra in Sanskrit.

Chanting of the Kannon Chapter of the Lotus Sutra.

This video shows a worshipper bathing a figure of the historical Buddha as a child in order to venerate him and purify sentient beings of any obstacles to his teachings. The small Avalokiteshvara figure in this exhibition probably would have been bathed or lustrated in a similar way as part of its owner’s personal worship.

This recording is of the Green Tara mantra, sung by Chinese performer Hsu Ching-Yuen. A Tibetan worshipper would chant this mantra—om tare tuttare ture soha—in front of a thangka or sculptural image of Tara. This mantra, along with focused contemplation and visualization, would help a worshipper seeking protection, aid, and fearlessness from Tara.

Mandalas exist in many media and are often times made using colored powdered minerals. In this video, Tibetan monks use taut string and various colors to create symmetrical geometric forms, similar to those seen in the Avalokiteshvara Mandala in this exhibition. The process takes days, but at the end, the material is swept up and scattered, conveying the blessings of the mandala throughout the universe.

Tibetan Buddhist lamas of the Drikung lineage constructed a sand mandala in honor of the figure Avalokiteshvara, or Chenrezig (as the bodhisattva is known in Tibet), the embodiment of compassion in Buddhism. Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, the mandala was created in conjunction with an exhibition at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, “Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image, Pilgrimage, Practice,” curated by art professor Karen Lucic

Tibetan Buddhist lamas of the Drikung lineage constructed a sand mandala in honor of the figure Avalokiteshvara, or Chenrezig (as the bodhisattva is known in Tibet), the embodiment of compassion in Buddhism. This video captures a brief talk about the meaning of the mandala and the dissolution ceremony. Sponsored by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, the mandala was created in conjunction with an exhibition at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, “Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image, Pilgrimage, Practice,” curated by art professor Karen Lucic.