Day: September 9, 2012

Gandhara Sculpture at Oxford

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Here are a few of the highlights from the Buddhist sculpture on display at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford which I visited last week. The museum has had a massive redevelopment since I last visited and the galleries are very beautifully displayed and most informative.

The Gandhara sculptures combine the best of East and West – essentially where the sophistication of Greek sculpture meets the depth of Indian spiritual sensibility.  Over at Vipassana Fellowship our logo has always been based on a Gandhara image (though not from this collection) and I find it the most beautiful form of the Buddhist sculptors’ art.

An Indian Wedding

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Earlier in the year I was able to visit my sponsor child, Amala, at Heal Village near Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. It was a joyful occasion to see what a fine young woman she had become through the love and care she received at Heal. Today I received the photographs of Amala’s wedding – so one chapter in her life has ended and a new one begins.

HEAL (Health and Education for All) ensures that all of their children are looked after through their education and into jobs or marriage.  It is a wonderful charity – especially as it takes care not to waste money so that almost all of the contributions directly impact on the children’s day-to-day lives.

Now that Amala has a family to be part of, outside of HEAL, I will be sponsoring another of HEAL’s many children; I’ve seen the huge difference this makes in turning lives around in such a poor area. Almost all of the children are orphaned and destitute before coming into HEAL’s care.

All the very best to Amala and her new husband. I hope they will be very happy together.

Amala's wedding
Amala and her husband

http://www.heal.co.uk