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Maya Devi: The Buddha's Mother and the Sacred G...

The story of the Buddha's life begins with his mother. Queen Maya Devi was the wife of King Suddhodana, ruler of the Shakya clan of Kapilvastu, and the birth mother...

Buddha Statues: What the Hand Gestures (Mudras)...

Pick up a Buddha statue - in a museum, a temple or a living room - and the hands are doing something deliberate. These hand gestures, called mudras, form a...

The Buddhist Stupa: Meaning, Relics and Nepal's...

A stupa is a Buddhist commemorative monument, usually housing sacred relics associated with the Buddha or other saintly persons (Britannica: Stupa). Nepal's Kathmandu Valley is home to two stupas on...

Nepalese Symbols: Ashtamangala, Om and the Endl...

Look at Nepali handicrafts - a singing bowl, a pair of cymbals, a carved pot - and certain small emblems keep recurring: a knotted weave, a lotus, a conch, the...

Tibetan Silver Daggers: Craft and Symbolism of ...

A dagger in Tibet could be more than a blade. The Powerhouse Museum describes a type of small sheathed personal dagger made especially in the Kham region and used by...

Green Tara: Meaning and Iconography of the Belo...

Tara is one of the most popular deities in Tibetan Buddhism and across the Himalayas: a goddess of compassion known as a savioress, who rescues those in peril (Rubin Museum:...