Search

In 1914 Victor Segalen discovered in China a carved group, that he dated to before Christ, representing a “barbarian” downed by a mighty horse, the figure of Huo Qubing, a young cavalry general.

The countless photographs of Angkor Vat taken by tourists thronging each year to admire the vestiges of the Khmer architecture in the province of Siem Reap in Cambodia have not reduced the majesty of this temple dedicated to Vishnu and built in the early 12^th century at the request of the king Suryavarman II. We can easily imagine the thrill of the first European visitor, arriving in the mid-19^th century in the context of the French and British imperial aspirations, among whom the Alsatian photographer Émile Gsell (1839-1879). 

Rock and sand as far as you can see, the huge mass of the distant mountains, the silence of this desert landscape compose in this photograph a striking and sublime image of the topography of the Arghandab, the central valley of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

In the Buddhist tradition, copying the holy texts is a praiseworthy deed; so nothing can be too beautiful to bear Buddha’s word. In Burma all the boys must enter the monastery, even if only symbolically. The child is arrayed like a prince, recalling Buddha’s princely status.

Changkya khutukhtu is the title of the spiritual chief of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia under the Qing Dynasty. The book presents the works by Nag-dban-blo-bzan-chos-ldan, one of the first Changkya khutukhtu (1642-1714).

Under the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) Tibetan-tradition Buddhism spread from Mongolia to Eastern Siberia, mainly  to Bouriatie, Kalmoukie, and Touva, where this manuscript comes from, more precisely from Ter Hool, to the west of the capital Kyzyl.