The photographer Don Farber has made his domain (in the words of his publisher) "the beauty and diversity of Buddhist life around the world." His collection "Taking Refuge in L.A.: Life in a Vietnamese Buddhist Temple" appeared in 1987 and one of his portraits graces the cover of "The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living," by his Holiness the Dalai Lama. In this new collection he offers "an essential context for understanding Buddhism."
Though the words are those of the blurb, the ambition is the photographer's own. As explained by Huston Smith in his foreword, Farber hopes that this book "will move photography into the company of the other art forms that have seen so vital in the transmission of Buddhism as a religion."
To this end the photos are both informative and celebratory. Buddhism is seen as "a realm where the doctrine of nonviolence is paramount and where peace begins with the thoughts and actions of the individual."
We are shown happy and pious Buddhists from many of the countries of Asia. Child monks pray and play, nuns are seen at their devotions, families are pictured on their pilgrimages. And there are many portraits of the elders of the church.
A small portfolio is devoted to the Dalai Lama, and many other dignitaries are included as well. There is an arresting double portrait of the Very Venerable Kalu Rimpoche taken a few months before his death, and of his "reincarnation," the very young incarnate Kalu Rinpoche -- same chair, same robes, same expression.
There is also a formal portrait of the Venerable Palden Gyatso, imprisoned for over three decades by the Chinese government. He is shown holding three electric cattle prods, used as torture tools again Tibetans. These he smuggled out when he escaped in 1996, including the one which the Chinese authorities pushed into his mouth and turned on -- causing him to lose all of his teeth.
The photographer has said that in making these pictures he thought of the portraits of American Indians by early photographers. "I think of the similarities between the situation of Tibetans today under Chinese rule and that of Native Americans a century ago where their way of life was decimated by European settlers."
In the same way, he adds, portraits of Tibetans reveal a time-honored way of life that will be lost unless Tibetans are allowed "to control their own destiny in their homeland." And, indeed, there is much of the same stoic dignity in these faces.
The Buddhism pictured in this volume is nonetheless idyllic, which is not to say that it is idealized. People are smiling, children are charming, the leaders with their old-master lighting and their Karsh-like probity are rich in years and wise. All of this is so -- cameras do not lie -- and the overall impression is that of a rich and varied celebration.
The celebratory, that urge to extol or to praise, to combine respect with rejoicing and festivity, is a very human and often very beautiful inclination. It is, however, only that. There are other truths in any organized religion: that it is one big bureaucracy, that it is as liable to corruption as any other of the works of man, that required faith too often turns into propaganda and that inner certainty can demand proselytization.
Thus, in looking at the lovely photos of the monastery of Eiheiji, I thought of the warrior monks of Japan's more troubled years; seeing the solemn rituals of Higashi Honganji, I remembered the proselytory methods once glimpsed in the tenets of Nichiren. It is perhaps perverse of me, though no less human, that so large a dose of the celebratory led to doubt.
That, however, is my problem, and not that of the creator of this volume nor its potential buyer. The photographer sets out to open a spectacular view on the beauty and diversity of Buddhism and this he ably does.
As Richard Gere says on the cover: "What a kind, gentle, knowing photo book Don Farber has done here."
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