Highlighting the connection between spiritual forms and the natural world through the millennia, the exquisite works in this exhibition bring Buddhist ideals to bear in the present.  Buddha / Nature: Five Dialogues on Our Shared World traces a path through Buddhist wisdom using both ancient sculpture and contemporary art to illuminate the ecological and ethical questions of our time. Five remarkable works from the Xuzhou Collection, on long-term loan to the Museum since 2021, anchor the exhibition and appear for the first time in a fully contemporary setting at the MFAH.

Grounded in achievements of relevant academic research, the exhibition brings together more than 200 rare and valuable artifacts across four sections: “The History of Sakya Monastery,” “Grand Unity,” “The Culture and Art of Sakya Monastery,” and “Treasures of Sakya Monastery.” Through tracing the history of the millennium-old Sakya Monastery, the exhibition showcases its distinctive artistic traditions, and explores its significant role in the development of China as a unified multi-ethnic country.