Temenos Academy Newsletter August 2025
Temenos Academy
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August 2025 MICHAELMAS TERM PROGRAMME Futher events to be announced
H. E. Khöndung Asanga Vajra Rinpoche In the chair Professor Grevel Lindop Monday 29 September 2025 The Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the four major traditions, holds a rich and unbroken lineage that stretches back to the 11th century, rooted in the ancient Khön family. Founded by the great scholar and yogi Khön Könchok Gyalpo, and flourishing under the towering genius of Sakya Pandita, the Sakya tradition became both a spiritual and political force in Tibet, guiding the region through periods of profound transformation. This talk will explore the origins, key figures, philosophical contributions, and enduring spiritual legacy of the Sakya School—from its formative years and influence over the Mongol Empire, to its continued role in global Dharma transmission today. Through historical insights and living heritage, we will uncover how the Sakya tradition has upheld the profound teachings of the Buddha with clarity, scholarship, and compassionate guidance for nearly a millennium. His Eminence Khöndung Asanga Vajra Rinpoche, born in Seattle in 1999, is a direct descendant of the ancient Khön lineage through the Sakya tradition. He began his monastic training at age five in Nepal and received teachings from eminent masters of Tibetan Buddhism. From 2014 to 2024, he studied Buddhist philosophy in India. Appointed as Head Lama of Sakya Vietnam and Guru Sakya Monastery in Darjeeling, India, he also founded Sakya History Resources project. In 2024, he completed the traditional Buddhist philosophical studies and began an MA in Buddhist Studies at SOAS, University of London. Venue
& Admission
Pattern
and Contemplation:
RICHARD HENRY In the chair Emma Clark Monday 27 October 2025 In this illustrated talk, artist and geometer Richard Henry will reveal his very personal relationship to the art of Islamic geometric patterns, from his early travels in the Islamic world and his fascination with the contemplative dimension of the art, to its impact upon his own artistic practice. He will examine the symbolic role of geometry, the visual hierarchy within Islamic art and the underlying language of symmetry hidden beneath surface forms. He will also discuss his educational work and research, which has spanned several countries, and the revival of Islamic geometric art as a contemporary practice. Richard Henry is an artist and teacher with a specialism in Islamic geometric pattern. He has worked in painting, print and tile-mosaic and is interested in traditional methods (using compass and straight edge) of pattern construction for artists and craftspeople. He has carried out research in Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Turkey and Iran and regularly leads international study tours to many of these locations. He previously developed courses for British Museum's World Arts and Artefacts programme and is currently Director of Studies on the MA programme at the Kings Foundation School of Traditional Arts.
Poussin’s Meditations on Time, Providence and Eternity JULIA CLEAVE In the chair Christine Rhone Monday 17 November 2025 This illustrated talk will focus on five exceptional paintings by Nicolas Poussin: A Dance to the Music of Time (Wallace Collection) and the final works which crowned his career: The Four Seasons (Musée du Louvre). In the case of Dance these themes are presented under the guise of classical mythology, whereas in The Four Seasons, they are framed in terms of Biblical eschatology, the cycles of nature and of human life. Though differing markedly in mode, and dating respectively from the 1630s and the 1660s, in both cases they explore the relationship between our mortal and immortal destinies. While the authority of these compositions derives from Poussin's subtle deployment of number, geometry and harmonics in their deep structure, what is immediately engaging to the viewer is his power to invoke human dramas and the beauties of nature, while haunting us with his often enigmatic symbolism. Julia Cleave is an independent scholar with a special interest in the Pythagorean, Hermetic and Christian Mystery traditions as they are to be found, still largely unacknowledged, in Renaissance and Early Modern art and literature. Her previous lectures at Temenos, have included studies of works by Verrocchio, Leonardo, Botticelli, Giorgione and Poussin, and of three plays by Shakespeare. Her essay: ‘An alchemical reading of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra’ is available on the Temenos Academy website. She is a Fellow of the Academy and a member of the Council and Academic Board. Venue
& Admission
READING ESSENTIAL TEXTS - HAMLET Two places have become available for the Reading Essential Texts seminars with Dr Joseph Milne. This term the group will continue their study of Shakespeare’s Hamlet recommencing Act 3 scene 2. Timings Wednesdays, 17 September – 19 November, 2.30-4pm Venue
KAIROS SUMMER SCHOOL 2025 18-21 September 2025 Our friends at Kairos will be hosting a 3-day workshop at Dartington Hall on the theme ‘The Music in Geometry and the Geometry in Music’. For
more information click
HERE
THE ARCHIVE Our website Archive hosts many audio and video recordings of lectures, digital versions of all thirteen issues of the journal TEMENOS, and the texts of seventy articles from Temenos Academy Review. New material is added regularly. https://temenosacademy.org/main-lecture-archive Many of our audio recordings are available as PODCASTS.
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