Artists for Tibet presents The Art of Compassion, an art exhibition and fundraiser benefitting the Drepung Loseling Educational Fund.

The creation of fine art and the cultivation of a quiet mind are disciplines that require introspection, contemplation and a balance of ideas. Both pursuits can result in enlightenment.

The Art of Compassion is organized by Artists for Tibet, Drepung Loseling Monastery and the Bath House Cultural Center, with cooperation from The Trammell Crow Collection for Asian Art, www.crowcollection.com.

The Art of Compassion features the work of twenty artists from across the United States. As contributors to Artists for Tibet, their goal is raising the awareness of the plight of the Tibetan people and to help preserve Tibetan Buddhist culture and tradition. Upon purchasing a work of art, collectors enter into an agreement to sponsor a young monk in training at the Drepung loseling Monastery in Karnataka, India. The price of the art is set by the artist and based upon a year or more sponsorship ($240/year) at the Monastery. In addition to the artwork, collectors receive a sponsorship package with a photograph and information about their sponsored monk. Sponsorships are granted to school-aged students with no outside means of financial support. Student monks can be adopted without purchasing art for $20 a month with a year commitment. For more information on Artists for Tibet, please visit their website at http://www.artistsfortibet.org

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

The Drepung Loseling Educational Fund was established in 1988 to preserve traditional Tibetan culture by sponsoring a monk in training at Drepung loseling Monastery. The Fund helps provide basic needs of food, health care and education for school-age monks with no outside means of financial support. Over half of the monks in training are refugees whose parents remain in Chinese occupied Tibet and cannot provide for their support.

Drepung Loseling Monastery was one of Tibet's largest monastic universities. Located in the hills on the northern outskirts of Lhasa, it was established in 1416 as an institute of higher Buddhist education. At its zenith, Drepung loseling housed some ten thousand, student monks. These were drawn not only from Tibet, but also from China, Himalayan India, Mongolia, and the Mongol regions of Eastern Russia. Following the invasion of Tibet by communist Chinese in 1959, thousands of refugees took refuge in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Dharmsala, in Northern India, is home to the Tibetan Government In Exile and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the country’s political and spiritual leader.

The Drepung Loseling Institute Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Practice and Culture was established in Atlanta, Georgia with the mission of preserving the endangered Tibetan culture, which today leads a fragile existence in the exiled refugee communities in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The Institute offers both theoretical and practical training, to academic students/researchers and the general public within the context of the authentic Tibetan framework. The Institute is affiliated with Emory University and serves as the North American seat of the Drepung loseling Monastery. For more information please visit http://www.drepung.org

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