Celestial Gallery by Romio Shrestha - 9781601090065 - Compare Prices on New & Used Textbooks, Cheap Textbooks

Originally published in a format over two feet tall, Romio Shrestha's beautiful art book is now available in a more standard size. Consisting of bold reinterpretations of age-old scroll painting, Celestial Gallery showcases intricately rendered Tibetan-style mandalas. In vivid detail and vibrant colors, master painter Shrestha and his team of artisan monks have created contemporary Nepalese versions of such deities as White Tara and the Medicine Buddha, as well as the Dakini mandala and other traditional Buddhist iconography. The Buddha’s message — “Be a light unto yourself” — is echoed in these visionary works, many of which have been showcased in major collections and museums including the British Museum and the National Museum in Moscow. Together they give readers an opportunity to experience afresh a timeless tradition with much to offer the world.

		Celestial Gallery by Romio Shrestha ISBN-10: 9781601090065 ISBN-10: 1-60109-006-4 ISBN-13: 9781601090065 ISBN-13: 978-1-60109-006-5 Hardcover 2007-09-28 Mandala Publishing Find Lowest Price
Editorials

Product Description Originally published in a format over two feet tall, Romio Shrestha's beautiful art book is now available in a more standard size. Consisting of bold reinterpretations of age-old scroll painting, Celestial Gallery showcases intricately rendered Tibetan-style mandalas. In vivid detail and vibrant colors, master painter Shrestha and his team of artisan monks have created contemporary Nepalese versions of such deities as White Tara and the Medicine Buddha, as well as the Dakini mandala and other traditional Buddhist iconography. The Buddha’s message — “Be a light unto yourself” — is echoed in these visionary works, many of which have been showcased in major collections and museums including the British Museum and the National Museum in Moscow. Together they give readers an opportunity to experience afresh a timeless tradition with much to offer the world.
Reviews

Celestial Gallery - Quality Publication The large format publication is awesome. The artwork is of excellent quality and serves as inspiration for joyful meditation sessions.
Great Thangka! I have a modest collection of new, good-quality Thangka ($150 to $400, up to 25"), but the quality of the Thangka displayed in this collection are beyond my price and size range. If you are considering buying a Thangka, get this book first to see how high the bar can go. No faded antiques here. For the most part the book's format is one page text, one page painting, but some intricate Thangka such as the "Wheel of Life" are broken down and explained in more detail.
Romio Shrestha Is Not What He Presents Himself To Be I've owned this book for 7 years. I admit that I love the art --the mandalas are beautiful. Romio Shrestha is a good MANAGER of good artists (I've never seen him actually PAINT a mandala HIMSELF, and even he admits that the mandalas are painted by monks he has "commissioned.") And Ian Baker's text to this book is extraordinary. BUT -- and these are some BIG concerns: INACCURACY: The mandalas contain numerous inaccuracies in them, and do not reflect deity or yogic practices as accurately, precisely or in as much detail as do the works of many others who actually PRACTICE the Dharma (which Romio does not) -- day in and day out -- see, for example, thangkas painted by His Holiness the Dalai Lama's personal thangka artist in Dharamsala, or even more Western-accessible Andy Weber. AS IMPORTANTLY: I've met Romio Shrestha. He is a player, a wanna-be playboy, and a charlatan -- a cheap imitation of what non-discerning and gullible Westerners will believe a tantric master to be, or a self-appointed swamiji or yogi. When I met Romio the first time, he was at an international WOMEN's peace conference, lurking about, pretending to be a yogi or swami, chanting mantras and "casting spells" on sacred pendants -- all a pretext for the fact that he was stoned out of his gourd. All he was doing (I saw this, first-hand) was smoking pot in a hotel room designated for the media production team -- trying to pick up women!!! Romio tried to come on to me by chanting the Ganesha mantra while holding and offering to me a cheap fake silver Ganesh pendant. I recognized the pendant instantly as identical to the handfuls of pendants I had picked up on my many trips to India, dozens of years previously. The main problem for Romio was twofold: (1) I am intimately familiar with the Ganesh mantra -- Ganesh is one of my protector deities!; and (2) as a longtime practitioner of a Kriya Pranayam meditation practice, a longtime Tibetan Tantric practitioner (I keep my samaya), and with live-wire activated Kundalini, I am INTIMATELY familiar with energy player PRETENDERS. As soon as I chanted the Ganesha mantra back to him, Heart wide-open, staring him directly in the eyes the whole time -- he scurried away, like a cockroach does when the light is turned on. I bear Romio no ill will. Romio is, ultimately, pretty harmless to most people (except pretty young things, whom he will try to pick up by his pretense of being a "tantric master.") He's got trickster energy -- which can actually be quite fun, when it's recognized and acknowledged as such by the person who is the container for it (rather than some kind of "high teacher" egoic pretense). The bottom line is that he has NO genuine spiritual juice, NO genuine foundation in Tibetan tantric practices, and he is FAR from being a genuine spiritual master, of any kind. The art he helps bring into the world is beautiful. But his schtick? Kindly stated, it's mundane at best. Things are never as they seem . . . especially where spiritual materialism is concerned. Thanks for listening -- to my humble opinion, of course! :)
Grandly sized The near poster sized book of mandalas is truly perfect for the subject. Traditionally done in sand to mirror the transcient nature of life and beauty, this book is wonderful to behold. One can easily frame the individual plates but it's not merely a bound poster book. The text is nicely written and informative. The mandalas are really first rate, so intricate and detailed, that they transcend even beauty. It's surprisingly heavy (nice glossy paper) for a book that is the thickness of a children's book. Best displayed open to your favorite page.
Incredible Artwork! What a beautiful, sacred and incredible collection of artwork. The book is absolutely stunning!