Inspired by Buddha, Admired as Art

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Current Event � PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT �1�

Current Event Report I

Religion and Philosophy HUM 400 003016

The New York Times

Inspired by Buddha, Admired as Art

This article is about a renowned Buddhist artist called Shinjo Ito, at the age of 30 he became a Buddhist monk. He was the founder of the Shinnyo-en Order of Buddhism; his art was brought to the United State to be exhibited, the show was called "The Vision and Art of Shinjo Ito." He was Japan's most multitalented Buddhist sculptors and an accomplished artist in fields as diverse as calligraphy and photography. He was not well known outside his home country except to his followers, but it was a different story how much he was well know, in Japan about 300,000 people went to see his exhibition and around 900,00 people worldwide. Mr. Ito gets his inspirations from different things, for an example stated in the article; he was inspired by a passage in the sutra for his first and major sculpture call the Great Parinirvana and in 1957 Mr.

Ito finished the 16 foot long resin Buddha in only three months which was his largest work and Shinnyo's central devotional image.

The "Great Parnirvana" sculpture by Shinjo Ito, depicting Buddha on his deathbed, is prepared for a show of the artist's works, which opens Thursday in Chelsea.

Usually when sculptures are being displayed traditionally they are showed with a halo in a temple, but when they displayed Buddha they forgo the halo so that people can see it as a whole, with his smile, half closed eyes and him being lighted so that he can glow. Lily Koppel stated in her article that "Buddhist believe that the experience of being in the presence of an image of the Buddha...