In this course we explore Buddhism and avant-garde art in the context of their rich cultural history and profound spiritual connection. It’s a history that stretches from “degenerate art” in Nazi Germany and the mass migration of modern artists and intellectuals to North American institutions of higher learning; there they converged with post-war artists (like John Cage at The New School), who were experimenting with art forms inspired by D.T. Suzuki and Zen Buddhism. The story also includes Tibetan Buddhism and artists Gary Synder, Yoko Ono, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, Philip Glass, as well as Patti Smith, Genesis P-Orridge and Adam Yauch (Beastie Boys). The spiritual connection is rooted in the Buddhist inquiry into human identity and consciousness through the creative and skillful transmutation of forms—what the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche dubbed, “Dharma Art.”