Yab Yum:
"Vajrasattva with consort, Vajragarvi
Vajrasattva (Sanskrit: वज्रसत्त्व,Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ། Dorje Sempa) is a bodhisattva in the Mahayana, Mantrayana/Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. In Chinese Buddhism and the Japanese Shingon tradition, Vajrasattva is the esoteric aspect of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra (see Tibetan thangka on wall) and is commonly associated with the student practitioner who, through the master's teachings, attains an ever-enriching subtle and rarefied grounding in their esoteric practice.
Yab-yum (literally, "father-mother") is a common symbol in the Tibetan Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet. Yab-yum is generally understood to represent the primordial (or mystical) union of wisdom and compassion, depicted as a male deity in union with his female consort through the ideas of interpenetration or coalescence. In Buddhism the masculine form is active, representing the compassion and skillful means (upaya), and the feminine form is passive and represents wisdom (prajna), both being necessary to enlightenment."
"Vajrasattva with consort, Vajragarvi
Vajrasattva (Sanskrit: वज्रसत्त्व,Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ། Dorje Sempa) is a bodhisattva in the Mahayana, Mantrayana/Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. In Chinese Buddhism and the Japanese Shingon tradition, Vajrasattva is the esoteric aspect of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra (see Tibetan thangka on wall) and is commonly associated with the student practitioner who, through the master's teachings, attains an ever-enriching subtle and rarefied grounding in their esoteric practice.
Yab-yum (literally, "father-mother") is a common symbol in the Tibetan Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet. Yab-yum is generally understood to represent the primordial (or mystical) union of wisdom and compassion, depicted as a male deity in union with his female consort through the ideas of interpenetration or coalescence. In Buddhism the masculine form is active, representing the compassion and skillful means (upaya), and the feminine form is passive and represents wisdom (prajna), both being necessary to enlightenment."
About the Artist:
JAMPA DORJE, aka Richard Denner, was born 1941 in Santa Clara, California, and was a Berkeley street poet in the 1960s. While living in a wilderness cabin, in Alaska, he began printing chapbooks on a hand press with worn fonts of type; there are now over 400 titles in the D Press backlists. He found himself eventually working cowboy on a cattle ranch, tree planter on the slopes of Mount Saint Helens after the blast, and was a longtime proprietor of Four Winds Bookstore & Café in Ellensburg, Washington. Jampa has completed a traditional solitary, three-year retreat in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This wandering poet-printer-yogi now studies at Central Washington University and is an Ellensburg Art Treasure.
Check out more of Dorje/Denner's work at his online archive @ www.dpress.net
Check out this short clip from First Friday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSDJV0p4ydg
JAMPA DORJE, aka Richard Denner, was born 1941 in Santa Clara, California, and was a Berkeley street poet in the 1960s. While living in a wilderness cabin, in Alaska, he began printing chapbooks on a hand press with worn fonts of type; there are now over 400 titles in the D Press backlists. He found himself eventually working cowboy on a cattle ranch, tree planter on the slopes of Mount Saint Helens after the blast, and was a longtime proprietor of Four Winds Bookstore & Café in Ellensburg, Washington. Jampa has completed a traditional solitary, three-year retreat in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This wandering poet-printer-yogi now studies at Central Washington University and is an Ellensburg Art Treasure.
Check out more of Dorje/Denner's work at his online archive @ www.dpress.net
Check out this short clip from First Friday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSDJV0p4ydg
AN ART HISTORIAN’S PERSPECTIVE:
"Jampa Dorje’s Yab-Yum series is a visual and spiritual exploration of human experience, our struggles, and the ultimate quest for inner harmony. Dorje contemplates the transient nature of existence and the continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, beautifully encapsulated in the sacred Yab-Yum symbolism of the divine union of masculine and feminine energies. Dorje’s In Advance of Entropy series explores similar themes of harmony and transience through the techniques of assemblage and abstraction. Dorje breathes life into the broken tiles, guitar strings, and found objects that tell a story of resilience and regeneration. The act of carefully selecting, arranging, and fusing these disparate elements subtly suggests the Yab-Yum tradition. These two series serve as mirrors reflecting the human condition, the fragile beauty of our existence, and the eternal search for balance and meaning within the chaos of life. Through figuration and abstraction, Dorje seeks to guide viewers on a spiritual and emotional journey. Dorje invites viewers to immerse themselves in the intricate dance between form and formlessness, order and chaos, mindfulness, and entropy. "
—Dr. Lu Auz, The Metal Museum
"Jampa Dorje’s Yab-Yum series is a visual and spiritual exploration of human experience, our struggles, and the ultimate quest for inner harmony. Dorje contemplates the transient nature of existence and the continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, beautifully encapsulated in the sacred Yab-Yum symbolism of the divine union of masculine and feminine energies. Dorje’s In Advance of Entropy series explores similar themes of harmony and transience through the techniques of assemblage and abstraction. Dorje breathes life into the broken tiles, guitar strings, and found objects that tell a story of resilience and regeneration. The act of carefully selecting, arranging, and fusing these disparate elements subtly suggests the Yab-Yum tradition. These two series serve as mirrors reflecting the human condition, the fragile beauty of our existence, and the eternal search for balance and meaning within the chaos of life. Through figuration and abstraction, Dorje seeks to guide viewers on a spiritual and emotional journey. Dorje invites viewers to immerse themselves in the intricate dance between form and formlessness, order and chaos, mindfulness, and entropy. "
—Dr. Lu Auz, The Metal Museum
The Palace Gallery is excited to welcome Yab Yum, Repetition & Difference, by Jampa Dorje
which will be on display NOVEMBER 3rd- 25th, 2023! The exhibit opens First Friday, November 3rd at 5-7pm with sculpture, painting, and performance! We hope to see you there!
which will be on display NOVEMBER 3rd- 25th, 2023! The exhibit opens First Friday, November 3rd at 5-7pm with sculpture, painting, and performance! We hope to see you there!