EVENTS: Passion & Compassion: Images of Love in Indian Art (12/04/2014)

The BU Center for the Study of Asia, BU Global Programs India Initiatives and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts cordially invite you to to join us for a private tour of the South Asia Gallery followed by a discussion and a wine and cheese reception.

Passion & Compassion: Images of Love in Indian Art
Discussion, Private Tour of the South & Southeast Asia Gallery & Wine/Cheese Reception

Laura Weinstein, Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art at the Museum of Fine Arts; &

David Eckel, Professor of Religion and Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Religion, Boston University.

A moderated discussion will be led by Deepti Nijhawan, Director of Boston University Global Programs India Initiatives.

Thursday, December 4, 2014
5:30 – 7:30 pm

Location: South & Southeast Asia Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston http://www.mfa.org/visit/getting-here

Each person requires a ticket ($25) to enter the MFA (free for members & students with valid ID).
On arrival at the MFA, please come directly to the South and Southeast Asia Gallery.

UPDATE 12/2/14: REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED!

BU affiliates only (faculty/staff, students, alumni). Limited spaces available; please register below:

Parking: paid parking available at MFA parking garage/lot.  Metered parking is difficult to find in the area, so please plan your time accordingly.

Laura Weinstein is Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  She completed her Ph.D. under Professor Vidya Dehejia at Columbia University, where she researched a group of illustrated manuscripts produced in the South Indian city of Hyderabad in the sixteenth-century.  Since arriving at the MFA, Boston, in 2009, she has curated several exhibitions of Persian and Indian paintings as well as an exhibition of Qur’an pages from the MFA’s collection. In 2011 she led the reinstallation of the Museum’s South and Southeast Asian collections. She is currently working on a touring exhibition of the highlights of the MFA’s Islamic art collection and an accompanying catalog.

David Eckel is Professor of Religion and Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Religion at Boston University. His scholarly interests include the history of Buddhism in India and Tibet, the relationship between Buddhism and other Indian religions, the expansion and adaptation of Buddhism in Asia and the West, Buddhist narrative traditions and their relationship to Buddhist ethics, and the connection between philosophical theory and religious practice. His teaching at Boston University has been recognized by the Metcalf Award for Teaching Excellence (1998). He also has served as the Distinguished Teaching Professor of the Humanities (2002-5) and as Director of the Core Curriculum (2007-13).

His publications include Bhaviveka and His Buddhist Opponents (Harvard); Buddhism: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places (Oxford); To See the Buddha: A Philosopher’s Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness (Princeton); and “Is There a Buddhist Philosophy of Nature?” in Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions).

Before joining the faculty at Boston University, he served as Associate Professor at Harvard Divinity School and as Administrative Director of the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions. In 2013, he was a Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia, where he delivered a series of lectures entitled “Modes of Recognition: Aspects of Theory in Mahayana Buddhist Narrative.”