This art history video discussion examines the Buddha of Medicine Bhaishajyaguru (Yaoshi fo), c. 1319, Yuan dynasty, water-based pigments on clay mixed with straw, 24 feet, 8 inches x 49 feet 7 inches / 751.8 cm x 1511.3 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

This is a lecture to share with students to build an understanding around the Buddhist concept of three marks on reality.

On the front, students are offered a coloring page based on an object in our collection. On the back, through the lenses of "DISCOVER, IMAGINE, CREATE" students can learn a little about the object, think critically and creatively about the object, and do another related creative activity.

The second of three lessons on Eastern Hemisphere, students learn how physical environment influences human activities. Silk roads connected Europe with China and other areas of East Asia by overland routes. Deserts and mountains posed obstacles for travelers and merchants. Students examine physical maps of the area and determine which routes would best avoid obstacles. They compare the routes they have chosen with the overland and maritime routes of the time period. Key questions: How did physical geography influence the trade routes of the silk roads? Why Europeans traded with China? What are the costs and benefits of cultural interaction?

It's perfectly human to grapple with questions, like 'Where do we come from?' and 'How do I live a life of meaning?' These existential questions are central to the five major world religions -- and that's not all that connects these faiths. John Bellaimey explains the intertwined histories and cultures of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Lesson by John Bellaimey, animation by TED-Ed.

Art is often about making ideas and beliefs visible. For centuries, religions across the globe have used images to represent complex and abstract ideas about humankind's place in the cosmos. Students can use this interactive exercise to spend thoughtful time with a religious work of art and become curious about the way art can help communicate sacred and profound ideas.

Trans-regional exchange through routes such as the Silk Road across Asia to the Mediterranean basin, maritime routes across the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and Trans-Saharan routes across North Africa allowed groups of people to exchange goods, knowledge, and ideas. Conflict and cooperation, economic pressures and political alliances, as well as conquest, migration, and trade have all resulted in rich cultural interchange. Use this resource set to explore how art can illustrate various ways in which technologies, forms, images, symbols, beliefs and concepts are adopted, adapted, and/or reinterpreted by communities across the globe until 1500.

Ten works of art from Virginia Museum of Fine Arts are presented with contextual information. Suggested inquiry-based activities paired with each object can be used in the galleries or classroom to promote discovery, critical thinking, and authentic engagement with art.

An introduction to Zen, a form of Buddhism that emphasizes seeking one's own Buddha nature through meditation.