Biography
We all take words for granted: too often we ignore their power, but the calligrapher grasps their potential. To practice calligraphy is to wrestle with meaning – a deft flick of the brush can utterly change it.
The calligrapher can say more with words than words ever could, it is something beyond simple writing. Dharma-Art, a term first coined by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, best describes the incredible potential of making art as part of meditative spiritual practice. The sacred script and rich iconography of Tibetan art transmits not just surface meaning, but the vast wisdom of the Buddhist teachings. Direct and forthright, Dharma-art communicates essential truth with strength, beauty and compassion.
Thought, brush, ink – their timeless marriage unfolds everyday in the quiet studio of Tashi Mannox. In the lazy warmth of the Wye Valley, the morning sun passes over a steaming coffee cup as Tashi settles down to work. Tashi’s connection to Dharma runs deep, inherited at a young age from his parents. Artists themselves, their influence – and that of the lamas who were their frequent house guests – made for an unconventional upbringing! Tashi’s journey to become a Dharma-artist began as a schoolboy, cross-legged on the living room floor of his Birmingham home, rapt attention focused on the teachings of renowned masters of Buddhist thought.
After completing a degree in fine art, Tashi’s path was clear. At 22 he joined the Kagyu order of Buddhist monks, studying with them for 18 years. Though he left the life of a monk behind him at the turn of the millennium, the lessons of mindfulness, empathy and contemplative practice have remained after laying down his robes. A disciplined mind, free of expectation and fear, is the most important of a Dharma-artist’s tools. Rising early to meditate before approaching the day’s task with openness and humility is as much a prerequisite of his art as brush and ink.
Alongside spiritual development, monastic life offered time to explore the vivid iconography and rituals of an entirely different artistic canon. Tashi soon fell completely under the spell of Tibetan art. Master Sherab Palden Beru was his guide to the elaborate forms of traditional temple decoration. Some years after receiving monk’s precepts, a four-year retreat meant he had the opportunity to work as a scribe between practice sessions. In painstakingly copying sacred manuscripts by hand, the essential beauty and truth of Tibetan art and calligraphy shone off the page. Mastering the bold, vital forms of Tibetan illumination and script took dedication, but with dedication and encouragement from celebrated monk-practitioners Tashi’s confidence grew.
A career as a Dharma-artist was a consequence of rejoining the secular world – a decision made with a heavy, but confident heart. In London’s hustle and bustle, a far cry from monastic serenity, Tashi threw himself head first into a new life. Now, some decades into a career that has seen him exhibit his work in galleries the world over, Tashi has developed a unique style all of his own. Timeless and contemporary, his work blends the universality of Buddha-Dharma with the innovation and wry humor of contemporary practice.
བཀྲ་ཤིས་མན་ནོག་སི་རྣམ་ཐར། full biography in Tibetan and English
Tashi Mannox – Dharma Artist – Tibetan Calligrapher.
བཀྲ་ཤིས་མན་ནོག་སི། ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་བ། བོད་ཀྱི་ཡིག་གཟུགས་མཁན།
At the young age of 11 years Tashi Mannox’s mother, Sally Somersby, kindly introduced Tashi to Transcendental Meditation, with the intention to help concentration through his schooling. While his Father, Peter Mannox, became interested in Buddhism and invited Lamas and teachers to their family home. Subsequently, Akong Tulku Rinpoche became established as their family Lama, as well as Lama Shenpen Hookham, both of whom Tashi became closely connected as his lifetime mentors.
བཀྲ་ཤིས་མན་ནོག་སི་ལོ་ན་བཅུ་གཅིག་ཡིན་དུས་ཁོའི་ཨ་མ་ས་ལི•སོམ་མེར་སྦེ་ཡིས་བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེན་པོའི་སྒོ་ནས་ཁྱད་དུ་འཕགས་པའི་སྒོམ་སྒྲུབ་ངོ་སྤྲོད་བྱས་ཤིང་། དེ་ནི་ཁོའི་སློབ་གྲྭའི་སློབ་སྦྱོང་ལ་དམིགས་པ་རྩེ་གཅིག་ཡོང་ཕྱིར་ཡིན། ཁོའི་ཕ་ལགས་ཕིས་ཀྲར•མན་ནོག་སི་ནང་པའི་ཆོས་ལ་དོ་སྣང་བྱུང་ནས་བླ་མ་དང་སློབ་དཔོན་དག་ཁོང་གི་ཁྱིམ་དུ་གདན་འདྲེན་ཞུས་པའི་རིང་ལ། ད་གཟོད་ཨ་དཀོན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁོང་ཚོའི་ནང་མིའི་བླ་མར་གྱུར། དེ་བཞིན་བླ་མ་གཞན་ཕན་ཧུ་ཁམ་སོགས་ག་ལེར་འབྲེལ་འདྲིས་བརྒྱུད་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱི་མི་ཚེ་གཅིག་གི་དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་དུ་གྱུར།
At about the same time he became friends with a renowned Burmese Forest-monk, Ven Dr Rewata Dhamma and two Tibetan Lamas from Palpung, Kham, Ven Lama Thubten and Lama Lodro, who happened to be living a short walking distance from Tashi’s home in Birmingham, U.K.
དུས་ཚོད་གཅིག་མཚུངས་ཡིན་པའི་རིང་ལ། ཁོ་དང་འབར་མའི་ནགས་ཀྱི་དགེ་སློང་སྙན་གྲགས་ཅན་འབུམ་རམས་པ་རེ་ཝ་ཏ•དྷ་མྨ་དང་། དབྱིན་ཡུལ་སྦར་མིང་ཧུམ་ན་ཡོད་པའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱི་ཁྱིམ་ནས་གོམ་བགྲོད་ཀྱིས་སླེབས་ཐུབ་པའི་ས་རུ་བཞུགས་པའི་བོད་ཀྱི་ཁམས་དཔལ་སྤུངས་ནས་ཡིན་པའི་བླ་མ་ཐུབ་བསྟན་དང་བླ་མ་བློ་གྲོས་བཅས་ཀྱི་གྲོགས་པོར་གྱུར།
Uncharacteristic for a young Western teenage boy, Tashi visited, as often as he could, his local Dharma center Karma Ling, learning Dharma from the Venerable teachers. This laid a firm foundation for the meditation practices from both the Hinayana and Mahayana traditions.
རྒྱུན་ལྡན་གྱི་ནུབ་ཕྱོགས་ན་གཞོན་ཞིག་དང་མི་འདྲ་བར། བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་དོ་སྣང་ཆེན་མོའི་སྒོ་ནས་གང་ཐུབ་ཅི་ཐུབ་ཀྱིས་ཉེ་འཁོར་གྱི་ནང་པའི་ཆོས་ཚོགས་ཀརྨ་གླིང་དུ་བསྐྱོད་ནས་བཀུར་འོས་ཀྱི་སློབ་དཔོན་དག་ལས་ཐེག་པ་ཆེ་ཆུང་གི་རྨང་གཞིའི་སྒོམ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་རྩ་བ་འཛུག་པའི་ནང་ཆོས་ལ་སློབ་གཉེར་བྱས།
At the age of thirteen Tashi and his mother formally took ‘Refuge’ to become a Buddhist. Ven Kalu Rinpoche performed the Ceremony. Later that year Tashi and his parents and sibings met the head of the Karma Kagyu Order, H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje. This inspired them all significantly, especially the witnessing of the famous Black Crown Ceremony of the Karmapa, who was traveling Europe and America at the time. He had an entourage of other eminent incarnate Lamas, including the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoché.
བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལོ་ན་བཅུ་གསུམ་དུ་སོན་ནས་རང་གི་ཨ་མ་དང་མཉམ་དུ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་ཀ་ལུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་སྐུ་མདུན་ནས་ཆོ་ག་དང་བཅས་སྐྱབས་འགྲོའི་སྡོམ་པ་ཞུས་ཏེ་ནང་པ་རྣལ་མ་ཞིག་ཏུ་གྱུར་ཅིང་། ལོ་དེ་རིང་ལ་ཁོའི་ཕ་མ་གཉིས་དང་སྤུན་དང་སྲིང་མོ་བཅས་ཀྱི་མཉམ་དུ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་པའི་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ་མཆོག་འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་སོགས་དང་ལྷན་དུ་ཡོ་རོབ་དང་ཨ་མེ་རི་ཀར་ཆིབས་སྒྱུར་མཛད་རིམ་སྐྱོང་བཞིན་པའི་ཀརྨ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་ཀྱི་བསྟན་པའི་བདག་པོ་དཔལ་རྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་བཅུ་དྲུག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རང་བྱུང་རིག་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གསེར་ཞལ་མཇལ་པ་དང་། སྤྱི་དང་བྱེ་བྲག་གི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་མཛད་རིམ་དག་དང་ཁྱད་པར་དུ་ཞྭ་ནག་བསྒྲོན་པའི་མཛད་སྒོ་ཁྱད་པར་བ་དེས་བག་ཆགས་ཁྱད་པར་བ་ཞིག་བཞག
At the age of 15 Tashi took the initiative to travel to Brussels, alone, to join his childhood friend Lama Shenpen to receive teachings from Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoché. At this time Tashi showed his first interest in learning to read and write Tibetan by copying and singing Khenpo Rinpoché’s Dohas.
བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལོ་བཅོ་ལྔ་ལ་སོན་དུས་རང་ཉིད་ཁེར་རྐྱང་གིས་སྦུ་རུ་སེལ་ལ་བསྐྱོད་ཅིང་། དེར་རང་གི་གྲོགས་པོ་བླ་མ་གཞན་ཕན་བརྒྱུད་ནས་མཁན་པོ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་མདུན་ནས་གསུང་ཆོས་ཞུས། སྐབས་འདིར་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་མཁན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་དོ་ཧའི་ལུང་འདྲེན་དང་གྱེར་འདོན་གནང་བ་བརྒྱུད་རང་གིས་ཀྱང་བོད་ཡིག་འབྲི་ཀློག་ལ་སློབ་སྦྱོང་བྱེད་རྒྱུའི་ཆོད་སེམས་བསླེབས།
At the age of 22 Tashi had completed his formal schooling and further training in the fine arts. Under the direction of Akong Tulku Rinpoche, Tashi then received the commitments of a novice monk from Ven Kalu Rinpoche. Two years later he became a fully precepted Gelong monk under H.E. Situ Rinpoché. This furthered Tashis’17 years of monastic training in the multiple practices within the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions.
བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་རང་ལོ་ཉེར་གཉིས་སྟེང་རྒྱུན་སྲོལ་སློབ་གྲྭ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་རྗེས་ཨ་དཀོན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ལམ་སྟོན་འོག་ཞིབ་ཕྲའི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་ལ་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་བྱས་ཤིང་། ཀ་ལུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ལས་དགེ་ཚུལ་གྱི་སྡོམ་པ་ཞུས། ལོ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་རྗེས་སུ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་སི་ཏུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཞབས་དྲུང་ནས་ཡོངས་སུ་རྫོགས་པ་དགེ་སློང་གི་སྡོམ་པ་ཞུས། དེ་བཞིན་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་ལོ་བཅུ་བདུན་གྱི་དགོན་པའི་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་བརྒྱུད་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་ནས་རྙིང་མའི་ཆོས་བརྒྱུད་ལ་སློབ་སྦྱོང་དང་ཉམས་ལེན་བྱས།
During his time at the Samye Ling Dharma center in Scotland, while learning the monastic sciences form Ven Tenga Rinpoché, which included mandala construction and Tibetan calligraphy, Tashi also apprenticed under the guidance of the master of Tibetan arts Sherab Palden Beru, while building and decorating a traditional Tibetan style temple at Samye Ling.
སྐབས་དེར་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་སི་ཀོ་ཁྲི་ལན་དུ་ཡོད་པའི་བསམ་ཡས་གླིང་དུ་བསྟན་དགའ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ལས་དགོན་པའི་རིག་གཞུང་གི་བྱེ་བྲག་རྡུལ་ཚོན་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་དང་ཡིག་གཟུགས་ལ་སློབ་གཉེར་བྱས། དེ་བཞིན་བོད་ཀྱི་སྲོལ་རྒྱུན་ལྷ་ཁང་བསམ་ཡས་གླིང་བཞེང་སྐབས་བོད་ཀྱི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་སློབ་དཔོན་ཤེས་རབ་དཔལ་ལྡན་བེ་རིའི་ལམ་སྟོན་འོག་སྦྱོང་བརྡར་བྱས།
At the same time, Tashi was trained by Akong Tulku in the art of traditional monks robe making, which included ceremonial hats, Cham dance costumes and thangka scroll framing, serving the many aspects of a fully functioning monastery.
དེ་བཞིན་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་ཨ་དཀོན་སྤྲུལ་སྐུའི་མདུན་ལས་བོད་ཀྱི་སྲོལ་རྒྱུན་སེར་མོ་བའི་ན་བཟའ་དབུ་ཞྭ་དང་འཆམ་གོས། ཐང་ཀའི་མཐའ་སྒྲོམ་བཟོ་སྟངས། དགོན་པའི་སྣ་མང་བཟོ་བཀོད་ཀྱི་བྱེད་ལས་སོགས་ཀྱང་སྦྱངས།
At that time, the Samye Ling center in Scotland was privileged to have H.E. Situ Rinpoché residing for many months at a time, over a period of several years. During this time Tashi would join Situ Rinpoché while he created Dharma art and guided Tashi as an artist. He also recommended and approved Tashi’s first personal seal.
སྐབས་དེར་བསམ་ཡས་གླིང་ཆོས་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་སི་ཏུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ལོ་རེར་ཟླ་བ་འགའ་རེར་གདན་འདྲེན་ཞུ་བའི་ལས་འཆར་ཞིག་ཡོད་པས། དུས་སྐབས་རེ་རེ་བཞིན་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་སི་ཏུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་གིས་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་བཞེང་སྐྲུན་གནང་བར་མཉམ་ཞུགས་དང་། དེ་འབྲེལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱི་ཆེས་ཐོག་མའི་ཐམ་ཀ་དང་འབྲེལ་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་པ་ཞིག་ཏུ་ངོས་འཛིན་གནང་།
At the height of his training Tashi entered a traditional four-year cloistered retreat, deepening his practice of meditation, as well as the Tantras and Yogas. This retreat was directed by Lama Yeshi Losal Rinpoché and other visiting masters such as H.E Situ Rinpoché, Ven Thrangu Rinpoché and Akong Tulku Rinpoché, who bestowed teachings and empowerments.
སྦྱོང་བརྡར་ཚད་མཐོར་ཕྱིན་པ་དང་བསྟུན། བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་ལོ་བཞིའི་དབེན་པའི་མཚམས་སྒྲུབ་ལ་བསྡད་དེ་སྒོམ་སྒྲུབ་དང་གསང་སྔགས་རྣལ་འབྱོར་བཅས་ཇེ་ཟབ་ཏུ་བཏང་། མཚམས་སྒྲུབ་འདིར་བླ་མ་ཡེ་ཤེས་བློ་གསལ་དང་ཕྱོགས་ཕེབས་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་སི་ཏུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། བཀུར་འོས་བསྟན་དགའ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། ཨ་དཀོན་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་སོགས་ཀྱིས་བཀའ་ཆོས་དང་བཀའ་དབང་གནང་།
During and after the long-term retreat, Tashi became established as a scribe, a practice that spanned many years, meticulously copying ancient Tibetan manuscripts of the various sutras and Dharma practices. Even writing on a daily basis it took a year or so to complete a single volume. Many of these manuscripts were reproduced as everyday usable prayer books and are still in use today. It was this arduous discipline as a scribe that refined his ability in the art of Tibetan calligraphy, especially that of the classical Uchen script.
རྒྱུན་རིང་གི་བསྙེན་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་སྐབས་དང་དེའི་རྗེས་སུ། བཀྲ་ཤིས་ངོས་ལེན་ཐོབ་པའི་ཡིག་མཁན་ཞིག་ཏུ་གྱུར་པ་དང་། ཞིབ་ཚགས་ངང་བོད་ཀྱི་གནའ་བོའི་ཆོས་དཔེ་སྣ་ཚོགས་འདྲ་བཤུས་དང་མདོ་དང་བསྟན་བཅོས་སྣ་ཚོགས་ལ་སློབ་སྦྱོང་བྱས། ལག་བྲིས་གཞིར་བཟུང་གིས་ལོ་གཅིག་གི་རིང་ལ་པོད་གཅིག་ལོ་གཅིག་གི་རིང་མཇུག་རྫོགས། ཕྱག་དཔེ་དེ་ཚོའི་མང་པོ་ཞིག་ཉིན་རེའི་ལག་དེབ་ཏུ་གྱུར་ཅིང་དེང་སྐབས་ད་དུང་བེད་སྤྱོད་བཞིན་ཡོད། དེ་ནི་རུ་ང་བརྩོན་འགྲུས་ཀྱི་ཡིག་འབྲི་བ་འདིའི་འཇོན་ནུས་ལས་བྱུང་བའི་བོད་ཀྱི་ཡིག་གཟུགས་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་དང་། ཁྱད་པར་དུ་སྲོལ་རྒྱུན་དབུ་ཅན་དཔེ་ཆ་རེད།
It was chiefly Akong Rinpoche who encouraged and kept a close eye on Tashi’s progress as a calligraphy artist. He guided and raised the quality of his penmanship with the attitude of: there is no second best.
དེ་ནི་ཨ་དཀོན་རིན་པོ་ཆེས་དབུ་ཁྲིད་དང་བློ་སྟོབས་བསྐྱེད་པ་ལས་བྱུང་བའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱི་ཡིག་གཟུགས་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་ཞིག་ཡིན། དེ་བཞིན་ཁོང་གི་ལམ་སྟོན་དང་གསོ་སྐྱོང་ལས་བྱུང་བའི་ཁྱད་དུ་འཕགས་ཤིང་དེ་ལས་གཉིས་པ་མེད་པའི་སྤྱོད་པ་རེད།
The last seven years as a monk, Tashi was devoted as an attendant to Akong Tulku Rinpoché on their tours to the various Dharma centers around the U.K, Europe and Russia. This included many duties such as assisting in the refuge ceremony and empowerments that Akong Tulku bestowed. On other occasions, Tashi also escorted Akong Rinpoché to visit His charitable projects in Nepal and Tibet, which also educated Tashi in the business of commissioning ceremonial dharma objects and the design of woodcarving to fit out shrines of various dharma centers back in the West.
གྲྭ་པ་བྱས་པའི་ཐ་མའི་ལོ་བདུན་གྱི་རིང་དེར། བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཨ་དཀོན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་དད་དམ་ཟབ་པའི་སློབ་མ་ནང་མར་གྱུར་ཏེ། རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་དབྱིན་ལན་གྱི་ས་གནས་ཁག་དང་ཨུ་རུ་སུར་ཆིབ་སྒྱུར་སྐབས་སྐྱབས་འགྲོའི་སྡོམ་པ་དང་དབང་སྐུར་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཞབས་ཞུ་བ་ཡང་བྱས། ཡང་སྐབས་འགར་ཨ་དཀོན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བོད་དང་བལ་ཡུལ་ན་ཡོད་པའི་རང་ཉིད་ཀྱི་དགེ་རྩེའི་ལས་གཞི་དག་ལ་རྟོག་ཞིབ་གནང་བར་ཕེབས་དུས་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལྷན་དུ་སོང་སྟེ་ཞབས་ཞུ་བྱེད་ཞོར་དུ་ཆོས་ཆས་ཉོ་ཚོང་དང་མཆོད་གཤོམ་གྱི་ཤིང་བརྐོས་སོགས་ནུབ་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཚོགས་རྣམས་ལ་མཁོ་བའི་དོན་ལ་ཆ་རྒྱུས་ཟབ་མོ་ལོན།
At the turn of the millennium, after difficult deliberation, Tashi laid down his monastic duties to pursue a career as an artist. With the intention that he could reach a much wider audience and introduce Dharma further afield through the means of his art and teaching.
དུས་རབས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་སྐྱོད་ཁྲོད་དུ། བསམ་བློ་དང་སྒོམ་སྒྲུབ་མང་པོའི་རྗེས་སུ། བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱི་སླར་ཡང་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་པ་ཞིག་དང་མི་སྐྱ་ཞིག་ཏུ་འགྱུར་རྒྱུའི་བློ་ཐག་བཅད། ཁོས་རང་གི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་བརྒྱུད་དེ་མི་མང་པོར་སློབ་ཁྲིད་བྱེད་ཐུབ་བསམས།
He first travelled to India to do a purification pilgrimage to Bodhgaya and other sacred sites. While searching for an authentic teacher of Lantsa and Wartu Sanskrit scripts, this quest lead him to Dharamsala where he was directed by the Nechung oracle to one of the last remaining masters of Lantsa and Wartu, Lama Pema Lodrup, who took on Tashi as his student, who quickly learnt this art form.
བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་སྒྲིབ་སྦྱོང་ལ་དམིགས་ཏེ་རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ་གདན་སོགས་གནས་ཆེན་རྣམས་ལ་གནས་མཇལ་དུ་བསྐྱོད། ལནྫྰ་དང་ཝརྟུ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ཁུངས་ལྡན་སློབ་དཔོན་ཞིག་འཚོལ་ཞིབ་བྱེད་བཞིན་པའི་དུས་སུ། རྡ་རམ་ས་ལར་བསྐྱོད་དེ་གནས་ཆུང་སྐུ་རྟེན་སློབ་སྟོན་དང་འབྲེལ། ལནྫྰ་དང་ཝརྟུའི་ཆེས་མཐའ་མཇུག་གི་འབྲི་རྒྱུན་འཛིན་པ་བླ་མ་པདྨ་བློ་གྲོས་དང་མཇལ་ཞིང་། ཁོང་གིས་བཀྲ་ཤིས་དགེ་ཕྲུག་ཏུ་བླངས་ཏེ་མི་འགྱངས་པར་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་གྱི་གཟུགས་རིས་འདི་སློབ་ཁྲིད་གནང་།
This is where a career as a contemporary Tibetan Calligrapher and Dharma Artist started. Tashi initially based himself in London, while learning and perfecting the various other Tibetan scripts and styles. He soon became an established artist, holding solo exhibitions internationally: in London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates and more recently in Bhutan and South Korea.
དེ་བཞིན་དུ་དེང་རབས་ཅན་གྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་བོད་ཀྱི་ཡིག་གཟུགས་ཀྱི་ལས་རིགས་མགོ་བཙུགས། ལོན་སྒྲོན་ལ་གནས་བཅས་ཏེ་ལོ་བཅོ་ལྔའི་རིང་བོད་ཀྱི་ཡིག་གཟུགས་སྣ་ཚོགས་ལ་སློབ་སྦྱོང་བྱས། མི་འགྱངས་པར་ཁོང་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་པ་ཞིག་ཏུ་གྱུར། དེ་བཞིན་ལོན་སྒྲོན་དང་ལོ་སི་ཨེན་ཇུ་ལི་སི། མའོ་སི་ཁོ། ཉིག་ཡོར། ཨ་རབ་མཉམ་འབྲེལ་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ཀྱི་ཤར་ར་ཧ། འབྲུག་ཡུལ་བཅས་རྒྱལ་སྤྱིའི་ས་གནས་མང་པོར་ཁོང་གི་ཡིག་གཟུགས་འགྲེམ་སྟོན་བྱས།
Over the past 15 years Tashi has held numerous workshops, courses and retreats worldwide, teaching Tibetan calligraphy and the meditative approach to creativity, with active concerns in the conservation and preservation of the Tibetan and Dzongkha written languages.
འདས་པའི་ལོ་བཅུའི་རིང་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱིས་འཛམ་གླིང་གི་ས་གནས་མང་པོ་ཞིག་ཏུ་བྱ་གཞག་སྣ་མང་ཞིག་གཉེར་བ་དང་། སློབ་ཁྲིད་དང་སྒོམ་སྒྲུབ་སྣ་ཚོགས། སྒོམ་ཉམས་ལེན་གྱི་སྒོ་ནས་བོད་ཀྱི་ཡིག་གཟུགས་དང་གསར་གཏོད་རྩལ་སྦྱོང་སོགས་སློབ་ཁྲིད་བྱས་ཏེ། བོད་ཡིག་དང་རྫོང་ཁའི་སྐད་ཡིག་ཡི་གེར་འབྲི་བའི་ལས་གཞི་མི་ཉམས་གོང་སྤེལ་ཐད་བྱས་རྗེས་ཆེན་པོ་ཞིག་བཞག་ཡོད།
He is currently working on his second book, a Tibetan writing manual, for Wisdom Publications, while also filming tuition videos for Wisdom’s online academy.
ཉེ་ཆར་ཁོང་གིས་ཁོའི་དེབ་གཉིས་པ་ཞིག་སྟེ་བོད་ཀྱི་ཡིག་གཟུགས་ལག་དེབ་ཅིག་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔར་སྐྲུན་ཁང་ལ་སྤྲོད་འཆར་ཡོད་པ་དང་། དེ་བཞིན་ཡེ་ཤེས་དྲ་ལམ་གྱི་གློག་བརྙན་གྱི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཡང་བྱེད་བཞིན་ཡོད།།
སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་ཆོས་དབྱིངས་སྣ་ཚོགས་རང་གྲོལ་ལམ་ཀླུ་སྨྱོན་ཧེ་རུ་ཀས་དབྱིན་ཡིག་ནས་བོད་ཡིག་ཏུ་བསྒྱུར། ནོར་བ་ཡོད་ན་དགོངས་དག་ཞུ།། །།
Exhibition & Events history
November 2023 – April 2024
Guest artist collaboration with Maharishi street-wear, for Spring Summer 2024, celebrating their 30-year anniversary on the year of the Wood Dragon. As exhibition of works especially created for the collaboration are on show at the Maharishi flagship store in Soho, London from February to end of March 2024.
22nd – 28th October 2023
Yoga, mediation and creativity retreat with Tashi Dawa, at Le Grand Banc, in the wild Luberon hills of Provence.
22nd Sept – 22nd Oct 2023
Exhibitor with the World Seoyea Jeonbuk Calligrphy Biennale, South Korea. Invited as special guest to attend the opening ceremonies on 21st – 24th Sept.
14th – 20th May 2023
Yoga, mediation and creativity retreat with Tashi Dawa, at Le Grand Banc, in the wild Luberon hills of Provence.
8th – 9th April 2023
Tibetan Calligraphy workshop with the Shang Shung Institute of Tibetan Studies, London
23rd – 29th October 2022
Yoga, mediation and creativity retreat with Tashi Dawa, at Le Grand Banc, in the wild Luberon hills of Provence.
30th July and 1st October 2022
Teaching a two part course of Tibetan calligraphy over two weekends, at Samye Dzong in Brussels, Belgium.
June – July 2022
Solo exhibition with IATS – International Association for Tibetan Studies held in Prague. The exhibition then moved to Tibet Open House. July 14 till July 27 : Škplská 28, 110 00 Nové Mêsto, Prague, Czech Republic.
16th March 2022
Guest Lecturer at the Letter Exchange, London. Tashi speaks on the history and development of Tibetan written language to the present day – its origin in Sanskrit and the many different Tibetan script styles and penmanship – both geographically and Historically.
13th March 2022
A workshop on the Meditative Approach to creativity, with the interactive creation of an Enzo at the heart of the experience. Sangye Yoga School. West London.
5th November – 5th December 2021
Contributing exhibitor with the 13th Jeon-Buk Calligraphy Biennale, South Korea.
25th Sep – 2nd Oct 2021
Specialist at LiveBeyond, teaching and leading meditation and workshops in calligraphy and ‘The Meditative Approach to Creativity’, Marrakesh, Morocco.
27th Sep – 4th Oct 2020
Specialist at LiveBeyond, teaching and leading workshops in calligraphy and ‘The Meditative Approach to Creativity’, Novanta, Tuscany, Italy.
7th – 19th February 2020
Specialist at LiveBeyond, teaching and leading workshops in calligraphy and ‘The Meditative Approach to Creativity’, Barichara, Colombia.
October 2019 – 12th January 2020
Contributor to Lettering Exhibition. Ruthin Craft Centre, North Wales.
9th – 10th November 2019
Tibetan Calligraphy masterclass at the British Library – as part of their Buddhism Exhibition.
October 2019
Solo exhibition at Terton Gallery, Thimphu, Bhutan. Featuring the launch of a first collaboration jewellery piece with Bhutan based Malaya Jewelry.
7th – 13th July 2019
Contributor to a Tibetan calligraphy exhibition during the 15th International Conference on Tibetan Studies at inalco – 65 rue des Grands Moulins, CS 21351, 75214 – Paris.
1st – 9th June 2019
Retrospective exhibition as part of Chalice Well Dharma Festival, Glastonbury. U.K.
3rd – 18th May 2019
Expert guest of LiveBeyond – to teach and lead meditation as well as talks and workshops on creativity. Barichara, Colombia.
8th November – 27th December 2018
Contributor to The 5th International ‘Calligraphies in Conversation’ Exhibition held at Oakland Asian Cultural Center in Oakland, California, U.S.A.
11th – 15th July 2018
An exhibition of the original works for Sacred Scripts – A Meditative Journey Though Tibetan Calligraphy, during Dharma Festival 2018 at Gaunts House, near Wimborne, Dorset, UK.
8th – 10th June 2018
Dharma Art Weekend workshop with Tashi Mannox at the Hermitage of the Awakened Heart – Ynys Graianog, Ynys, Criccieth, Gwynedd, Wales. LL52 0NT.
29th April 2018
A piece called Beyond Hope and Fear was especially created for Tibetan Calligraphy Day 2018, which falls on April 30th, an exhibited with a collection of other Tibetan calligraphy participants organised by the Latse Library of Tibetan, NYC. and shows at the Sherpa Temple in Jackson Heights, NY, U.S.A.
9th February – 3rd March 2018
The Meditative Scribe – a retrospective exhibition of Tibetan calligraphic and Dharma art at the Trace Foundation – 132 Perry St, 2B, New York, NY 10014.
8th – 10th September 2017
Turin in North West Italy hosts a weekend course in how to learn Tibetan Uchen calligraphy. Limited spaces, please follow the link here to book a place.
7th – 9th July 2017
A weekend workshop – ‘A Meditative Approach to Creativity’ at Tan y Garth Hall, Pontfadog, Llangollen, North Wales. The unique nature of this two day course focuses the approach to creativity as more important to what is created. This is achieved through an attitude of non expectation and fearlessness in both meditation and action. Therefore to accept the perfection in the imperfection in the created end result of an ensō.
Course program and booking here in the link.
27th April 2017
‘Scripts of Heart and Mind’ – calligraphy demonstration and talk at the Trace Foundation, NYC, explaining the historical development and the richly diverse variants of the Tibetan Written language systems. The event was joined via podcast by hundreds of keen followers across Tibetan.
22nd April and 3rd May 2017
Two lectures with calligraphy demonstrations at the Rubin Museum of Art, NYC, ‘The Painted Mantra’ & ‘Sacred Syllables and their Sounds’ – as part of their Om-Lab program of events. The Lectures we followed by book signings of ‘Sacred Scripts’.
3rd April 2017 – 30th October 2019
Solo Exhibition with Amankora – Thimbu and Paro, Bhutan. The Exhibition comprises of 30 pieces on the theme of Guru Rinpoche, which coincided with the famous Paro tsechu celebrations. The exhibition launch and book signing of ‘Sacred Scripts’ was opened by Ven Myrik Rinpoche and attended by Bhutanese dignitaries including two of the Bhutanese princesses.
23rd Nov – 3rd December 2016
A premiere exhibition of the original calligraphy works that feature in Tashi’s new book Sacred Scripts, at The Table, Hay-on-Wye, U.K.
13th – 24th October 2016
Sacred Scripts book launch and book signing:
Sunday 16th October book signing at the Golden Notebook, Woodstock NY.
Sunday 23rd October book signing, talk and calligraphy demonstration at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, Staten Island, NY.
16th – 22nd July 2016
The second Tibetan calligraphy/meditation retreat in the Welsh countryside, focusing on the Umed script styles.
April – June 2016
Exhibiting participant with Sarjah Biennial 2016. “dot” exhibition at the Sharjah Calligraphy Museum in the United Arab Emirates.
7th – December 12th 2015
Participant at the Ziya Art Centre that hosted its second Calligraphies in Conversation International Exhibition in multiple locations across Northern California.
14th – 22nd August 2015
Tibetan Calligraphy/meditation retreat, perhaps the first of its kind in the West. This eight-day course in the art of Tibetan handwriting was held in the conducive and beautiful border countryside of Wales. The calligraphy-meditation retreat consisted of how to properly construct the classical Uchen script, from the foundation of the alphabet through to the many subjoined letters, onto forming words and sentences in a coherent and beautiful formation. The remaining days of the retreat focused on forming traditional mantras as well as seed syllables as a useful aid to Buddhist visualisation practices. This retreat proved very successful and will be held annually on each of the other traditional Tibetan scripts such as the Umed styles.
24th April 2015
A talk on The Role of Calligraphy and Art within Dharma
followed by a Tibetan calligraphy workshop at London Samye Dzong, Bermondsey, London: 25th – 26th April 2015
20th – 22nd Nov and 28th – 30th Nov 2014
Intensive Tibetan calligraphy workshop in Venice and Tuscany with the Shang Shung Institute of Tibetan studies.
Course program here in the link.
24th October- 3rd November 2014
Solo exhibition with a weekend Tibetan calligraphy course at The Foundation of Contemplative Studies Moscow as well as a lecture at the Contemporary Calligraphy Museum of Moscow, Russia.
4th – 6th April 2014
Tibetan calligraphy course at the Dzogchen Community in Conway, Massachusetts.
2nd April 2014
‘The Painted Mantra’ Solo Lecture given at The Rubin Museum of Art, NYC.
As part of their Bodies in Balance Tibetan medicine exhibition.
March – May 2014
Participant at the ‘Calligraphies in conversation’ International exhibition collective between Islamic and Eastern art. At the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California.
14th Feb 2014
Intensive Tibetan calligraphy workshop in Brussels at Samye Dzong Belgium.
August 2013 – March 2014
Tashi Gallery.Located in Hay-on-Wye, on the Welsh border. UK.
4th – 30th June 2013
Joint Exhibition with Calligraphy stone carver Richard Kindersley at the Monnow Gallery, Walterstone, Hereford, HR2 0DY
Monnow Valley Arts Centre
17th January – 6th February 2013
‘Illuminated Optimism’ an exhibition of limited edition prints from the Illuminated series at Cave, 210 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3TQ
1st November – 15th December 2012
The 4th International exhibition of Calligraphy at the Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy, Moscow.
As sole representative of Great Britain and of ‘Tibetan calligraphy’, for the third term running, Tashi contributes especially created art pieces to this world class event.
9th – 29th October 2012
Featured exhibition contributor and guest with the “Himalayan Cultural Days” at the Kullo Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia.
Tashi also lead two days of Tibetan calligraphy workshops in the exhibition space of the Kullo gallery.
1st April – 1st May 2012
Participant with Sarjah Biennial 2012. “Universe” exhibition at the Sharjah Calligraphy Museum in the United Arab Emirates.
The art pieces especially created for this exhibition can be viewed here in the link
From March 2012
Tashi accordingly invited to join the American based ‘Integral Life’ Gallery.
16th – ” ” October 2011
Laughing in the Face of Death exhibition.
Prints of the five Skull paintings premières in London at the complimentary surroundings of the Jivamukti Yoga Centre.
10th – 18th September 2011
Herefordshire Art week presents a limited edition print exhibition of a selection of Tashi’s Illuminated Iconographic series, featuring the Laughing in the Face of Death set of five masterpieces.
10th – 12th September 2010
‘Sacred Calligraphy’
3rd International Exhibition of Calligraphy 2010 in the historical Russian town of Velikly Novgorod, hosted by Contemporary Calligraphy Museum of Moscow. The exhibition features art pieces of world class calligraphy artists from 43 countries, Tashi being the sole participant representing Great Britain.
During the exhibition period Tashi will give a lecture explaining the sacred meaning of the Mani mantra.
7th April – 7th June 2010
The Sarjah Biennial 2010.
Tashi shows three major calligraphy pieces alongside other world celebrated calligraphy artists, at the 4th international exhibition of calligraphy in the United Arab Emirates.
October 14th – November 14th 2009
2nd International calligraphy exhibition.
The Moscow Contemporary museum of calligraphy.
Featuring a calligraphy piece especially commissioned by the museum, also on lone is four other art pieces by Tashi, these will go a world tour until 2014, starting with Paris.
The Exhibition hosts artworks of 100 calligraphers from 33 countries and nears 200 calligraphy masterpieces on show.
Of the exhibition participants, Tashi is the only contributing artist in Tibetan calligraphy and the sole participant representing Great Britain.
January–February 2006
Black on Black
Private View retrospective, Islington,
N1, London.
November 2004
Contemporary Tibetan Calligraphy Brings Eastern Promise to Hoxton.
Abundance, Journeys in Sanskrit & Tibetan Calligraphic Art.
Exhibited at The True Studio,
N1 Shoreditch.
October 2003
Urban Spirit
Alberto Vilar Gallery, The Prince’s Foundation, Shoreditch, London.
Launch of Soulhouette project.
June 2002–present
Commissioned, by Isabella Blow, to create calligraphy and illustrations for the accompanying book to the international, touring exhibition “When Philip Met Isabella: Philip Treacy’s Hats for Isabella Blow”, curated by The Design Museum, London. A painting by Tashi is featured in the main exhibition, which visits Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Denmark and more, before returning to London at the Design Museum.
June 2003
Follow the Tiger
Private View retrospective,
Shoreditch, London.
May–June 2003
Exhibition at The Box
Covent Garden, London.
September 2002–March 2003
The Chambers Gallery
Calligraphic Art exhibited in Chelsea,
New York.
December 2002
Creative Momentum
Joint-artist exhibition at the Linda Wrigglesworth Gallery, Mayfair, London and the Metropolitan Hotel,
Mayfair, London.
November 2002
Designated main contemporary artist at the 2002 Asian Art Event, London.
March–April 2002
Ri-newal
Exhibition of Tibetan calligraphy at the Kismet Gallery, New York.
September–October 2001
The Four Contemplations
Banner Exhibition at the Pineal Eye, Soho, London.
August–September 2001
The Linda Wrigglesworth Gallery
Tibetan Calligraphy exhibition in Mayfair, London.
April 2001
Maharishi Clothing
Guest artist for Maharishi Clothing’s Spring/Summer collection 2002. Tashi’s [original images and calligraphy for embroidery and prints; conceptual development and design].
