The Healing Arts

Eugene’s Tibet Week uses the arts to spread a message of peace

Monks from Drepung Loseling monastery perform sacred music sacred dance June 13.
Monks from Drepung Loseling monastery perform sacred music sacred dance June 13.

“Looking at the world today, there is tremendous uncertainty in our lives,” says Venerable Jigme Rinpoche, founder and director at the Palmo Center for Peace and Education. “We’re confronted with difficulty, crisis and challenges. We urgently need the vision and courage to find ways to handle these difficulties, both individually and globally, with deeper acceptance, insight and compassion.”

That’s where the arts come into play.

“Art in general, and Tibetan sacred art of wisdom of compassion in particular, is one of the great skillful means to communicate this vision of enlightenment in order to inspire others to find solutions to overcome narrow, selfish interests,” Rinpoche asserts. “Old attitudes and short-sighted ways of treating people and the planet have to change.”

Our community will have many opportunities to experience the healing power of art during Tibet Week, featuring the monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery.

The weeklong offering kicks off with Tibet Night during First Friday ArtWalk June 6 at the Eugene Hilton from 5:30 to 8:30 pm, when monks will infuse the space with overtone singing and perform the famous “black hat dance,” an elaborate ritual about removing the obstacles, afflictive emotions and misconceptions that cause suffering.

On Saturday, June 7, the monks will begin a process that will take them six days to complete: creating a sand painting, or mandala, to generate global healing. Take in the opening ceremony Saturday at noon, the sand mandala creation process (daily from 11 am to 6 pm) or the closing ceremony 6 pm Thursday, June 12, at LCC’s downtown Center for Meeting and Learning.

Catch the Sacred Music Sacred Dance performance 7:30 pm Friday, June 13, at the Hult Center. The performance will feature traditional temple music, theatrical dance masks and costumes.

Finally, when you’re brimming with new-found compassion and understanding, use that extra positive energy Sunday morning at the Run with Peace, a 5K/10K run benefiting the Palmo Center for Peace and Education and the Nobel Peace Laureate Project, June 14, in Alton Baker Park.

“It is in the spirit of our center’s vision of peace and compassion that we have organized these events,” Rinpoche says. “We hope this display of beautiful and profound art, along with colorful performances for the entire family, will affect the heart and emotions of the listener directly. These monks have the ability to sing a note in such way that multiple overtones are produced, setting up a resonance in the tone that is considered capable of opening the heart centers of the listeners and ultimately channeling inner spirituality and enlightenment that evokes peace, harmony, healing and creative ways of living for oneself and the world.”

Tibet Week runs June 6-14. For more information, visit palmocenter.org.