Urthona - A Journal of Buddhism and the Arts
Urthona Issue 30 is published!
On Wed, 4 December, 2013 - 12:29
Ratnagarbha
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Read the new editorial!
The 30th printed issue of URTHONA, journal of Buddhism and the Arts has just been published. It will be appearing from now in Triratna Buddhist Centres around the world.
This is a Celebratory Issue. Urthona has reached its 30th issue, and it is 21 years old! So inside you will find many of our favourite and most inspiring themes from the last two decades.
* Who is Urthona? Ever wondered what William Blake was really trying to say. Been intrigued but baffled by the dazzling images of his mythic worlds. This is the article for you. An accessible, but in depth introduction to Blake’s vision, and how the ‘Zoa’ of Imagination, Urthona fits into it.
* Twenty finest movies from the last twenty years. Our expert movie editor, Ed Piercy reveals all.
* 200 years of Pride and Prejudice – a Buddhist response.
* Dissolving Buddhas: The dazzling bronze sculptures of Sukhi Barber
* 21 ways to make poetry a spiritual practice by Maitreyabandhu.
·
* Report on the Buddha Festival at Nagaloka in India.
* Poetry by Peter Abbs, Ananda, and Kevin Crossley-Holland plus reviews of Seamus Heaney, recent nature poetry, recent classical music releases, Jazz, art cinema, and much more….
Also inside are reminisences about the 21 year history of this unique magazine, and a role of honour for the many genorous spirits who have helped us over the years. Here is an extract from the editorial:
Read the new editorial!
The 30th printed issue of URTHONA, journal of Buddhism and the Arts has just been published. It will be appearing from now in Triratna Buddhist Centres around the world.
This is a Celebratory Issue. Urthona has reached its 30th issue, and it is 21 years old! So inside you will find many of our favourite and most inspiring themes from the last two decades.
* Who is Urthona? Ever wondered what William Blake was really trying to say. Been intrigued but baffled by the dazzling images of his mythic worlds. This is the article for you. An accessible, but in depth introduction to Blake’s vision, and how the ‘Zoa’ of Imagination, Urthona fits into it.
* Twenty finest movies from the last twenty years. Our expert movie editor, Ed Piercy reveals all.
* 200 years of Pride and Prejudice – a Buddhist response.
* Dissolving Buddhas: The dazzling bronze sculptures of Sukhi Barber
* 21 ways to make poetry a spiritual practice by Maitreyabandhu.
·
* Report on the Buddha Festival at Nagaloka in India.
* Poetry by Peter Abbs, Ananda, and Kevin Crossley-Holland plus reviews of Seamus Heaney, recent nature poetry, recent classical music releases, Jazz, art cinema, and much more….
Also inside are reminisences about the 21 year history of this unique magazine, and a role of honour for the many genorous spirits who have helped us over the years. Here is an extract from the editorial:
Twenty one years of fullness (& emptiness) and still going strong…
Twenty one years seems like a long time! it’s a long time to have been running a small magazine, albeit just a blink in the eye of eternity as Blake might have said. Be that as it may we feel there is something to celebrate in Urthona’s continued existence, and so this will be a retrospective issue in which some of our favourite themes, writers and artists from the last 21 years appear.
From the start I wanted Urthona to be a journal for Buddhists and others who had a strong feeling for both western art (ancient and modern) and eastern spirituality. I thought then and still believe that the dialogue between the two is only just beginning, and that there is no reason at all why this dialogue should not eventually be as fruitful as that inaugurated by the discovery of the entire Platonic corpus secreted away in Byzantine monasteries, 500 years ago.
Urthona was started in Bristol ijn 1992. Things really advanced when I moved to Cambridge and met Shantigarbha, who from the start had ambitious ideas for the magazine, got lots of people involved and persuaded us to move from photocopying to a proper printer and a colour cover. Our first colour cover, issue three, spring 1995 featured a truly sublime painting of an iceberg by keith grant, who had not long ago had a major retrospective at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum. Truly Urthona had arrived with this issue and set standards of content that were a bench-mark as the standard of the layout slowly improved. We look forward to our next decade, and extend our deepest thanks to the many, many generous spirits who have contributed in so many ways over the decades.
Yours in the Buddha-Dharma, Ratnagarbha
