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24 апреля 2024 г.
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Completion of the Project
In this world filled with various objects and phenomena, everything inevitably comes to an end. So too has our project reached its conclusion. The education is complete, the descriptions have been compiled and published, and the main goal has been accomplished. This project was conceptual and had no advertising or commercial goals, so it will simply be left as it is for others to see today.
Over the course of the project, more than a hundred original articles and publications were published, and the archive has accumulated about 1,500 photographs and video recordings devoted to the technology and theory of Buddhist art, the school of painting, and the cultural peculiarities of Nepal as seen through the eyes of a foreigner. In a sense, the project became very personal, as the descriptions inevitably passed through the prism of personal experience, and I believe it all turned out quite worthy. In any case, we have created a modest historical document that provides a general idea of the classic system of teaching thangka painting at the Shechen Monastery. Essentially, this was the main goal of the project. As an artist, I have always been interested in the environment of living (in the best manifestation of the word) and interesting researchers, capable of working and dedicating their lives to the service of art. Starting the project in 2017, I was full of sincere enthusiasm and a desire to share the knowledge gained, thereby setting an example demonstrating the possibilities for both direct teaching and deep systematic research in the field of Buddhist art. However, in reality, except for a small number of kind and responsive people who supported the project within their capabilities, the information, gathered and described with such effort, vanished into the abyss of time, finding neither response nor attention. What surprised me the most was the not frequent, but systematic toxic reaction, which in the modern world many apparently already see as normal, and occasionally some community members had to be blocked. Nevertheless, we continued to work silently as much as possible, not losing heart and keeping faith that we were doing useful and important work, although many times I was on the verge of despair, not even having spare money for food, let alone clothing and other necessities. But we continued to work. And I write this now not to complain about a hard life, but so that instead of loud words about some greatness and development, people would pay attention to and support those who really work, and who, while working, sometimes slide down to a difficult existence of poverty. Even now, there are many interesting and useful communities for people, many of whom are in a similar situation. By helping them, we together can bring a little knowledge, goodness, and humanity into this world.
How the Project functioned
As described earlier, the project started in 2017 (you can see the most complete version on Facebook and Vk) during the period when I finished my first year of studies. Since then, work on the community has continued, pausing only for periods when attention shifted to parallel major projects, of which there have already been quite a few by now. Until 2021, I worked on the project alone. Subsequently, my girlfriend Daria, who is fluent in English, joined the project, allowing work on publications to proceed in both languages. Additionally, due to the huge workload at school, there often physically wasn't enough time for writing articles, as I spent 8-12 hours daily on study and painting, and I often recorded the upcoming publication on an audio recording during the lunch break, while Daria subsequently transferred the audio recording to text and did the translation.
At one point my phone broke, and the spare was so old that it couldn't even install Telegram, and WhatsApp only worked until the first request for an update. Therefore, from then on I sent publications to Daria from my com