There is a great story I read in a fantastic book called "Color" by Victoria Finlay. She traces the history of colors, and it really is a fun and fascinating book.

According to Tibetan Tradition, Monghyr is the mythological birthplace of painting itself. Here is the excerpt:

"There were, so the story goes, two kings who lived in the sixth century, B.C. Every year they would exchange gifts--outdoing each other, as rich people often try to do, with the cleverness and expense of their choices. One year one of the kings decided to give his rival the ultimate present--a painting of the Buddha who was at that time still alive and living in Bihar. No painting had ever been done before, but, undeterred, the king assigned the job to a man who seemed to have potential. But when he arrived at the place where the Buddha was in meditation, our first artist realized he had a problem: he was so overwhelmed by this subject's enlightened glow that he could not look at him. But then the Buddha made a suggestion. "We will go down to the bank of a clear and limpid pool," he said helpfully. "And you will look at me in the reflection of the water." They found an appropriately limpid pond, and the man happily painted the reflection.

"When the king received the gift and looked at the portrait, he had an intuitive understanding of reality. In terms of Buddhist teachings he realized that the world we see with our eyes is just a reflection of a reality that we cannot quite grasp. But the story also gives an insight into the power of painting, suggesting that this thing is a reflection of truth can also somehow be truth, and that the best art can give its viewers enlightened understanding of the world."

My prayers for the Buddhist Monks and Tibetan activists....they are stronger than I could ever imagine to be...I pray that somehow healing will come to this land and people one day....