A museum grows in Manhattan

So I have a traditional list of the best museums I've been to:
-British Museum in London, gives you a good sense of all the things this little island nation has done, both positive--spectacular reading room--and negative--stolen, poorly-displayed Elgin Marbles.

-Imperial War Museum in London, possibly the protypical only-the-British museum--only people with an almost pathological sense of superiority could spend their free time cheerily visiting a recreated WWI trench, sitting through a simulated a WWII blitz, and climbing over a dowdy British-made Mark V tank in order to snap photos of an immense German Panzer.

-Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, a brand-new, huge collection smack in the middle of downtown that somehows smacks of authenticity.

-National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, it's essentially thousands of years of China's cultural treasures, stolen away just ahead of the Communist's victory--unbelievably, the intricately carved ivory and beautiful jade jewelry all survived the long trip unscathed.

-Freer and Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., a world-class Asian art collection coupled with unparalleled arts and cultural programming, staffed by some of the nicest people around.

-Noguchi Museum of New York, dedicated to sculptures and other works of Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese American who seemingly existed out of time.

-The Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth is worth going to just for its Louis Kahn-designed building (fitting that it's the most prominent photo on the website).

-The Terra Museum in Chicago is my favorite small museum--it's tucked into a modest building right along the Magnificent Mile's shops, and is a wonderfully calm place to find some unexpected gems.

-The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the best museum I've ever gone to.

So now I've got to add a 10th museum to the list: The Rubin Museum of Art, dedicated to the art of the Himalayas.

It's located in Chelsea, near Loehmann's, in a building that was the original Barneys department store. Two of the amazingly friendly and knowledgeable gallery guides told us Donald Rubin, the museum's founder along with his wife Shelley, was looking for a site to open his museum in, happened along, went in, liked the building, and bought it.

It's that kind of a place--the collection is essentially whatever caught the Shelleys' eyes, the descriptions on the walls are refreshingly straightforward (WHAT is Himalayan art; WHERE does it come from; WHY does it look this way; HOW is it made), the staff walks around and talks to you, the space is airy and simply-designed, and there's even an area where you can write and submit your own exhibit captions.

And because the museum, organized around its geographic idea, is inherently multi-cultural and multi-media, you leave feeling as if you've really gotten a thorough education about the art of the region and the cultural and religious beliefs of its Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and Bon adherents.

Bon? Even one of the Rubin curators said she'd never heard of this faith before coming to the museum. It seems to have hundreds of thousands of practioners today, mainly living in Tibet--but its roots may stretch back thousands--5,000?!--years, and who knows, like Sanskrit gave birth to many of the world's languages, maybe Bon is one of our uber-faiths.

The Bon Foundation says:

The ancient roots of Bon religion derive from a profound respect for nature and emphasize the healing of physical and environmental as well as spiritual afflictions.

As Indian Buddhism was being established in Tibet, many native Bon elements were incorporated into the incoming religion, resulting in a distinct religion known today as Tibetan Buddhism.

In turn, Buddhist influences are abundantly evident in Bon religion as it currently exists. The two religions are distinct in many ways but share a strong and identical commitment to bringing an end to all suffering.

Although they trace their origins to ancient times, Bonpo practice a living doctrine dedicated to perpetuating the teachings of their founder Tonpa Shenrab, who occupies a preeminent position in Bon culture similar to that of Sakyamuni in Buddhism. Tonpa Shenrab's teachings are collectively known as Yungdrung Bon or the "tradition of Eternal Wisdom" and include the Nine Ways of Bon that outline the laws of cause and effect on the path to spiritual liberation.

Image from Rubin's 'The Demonic Divine in the Himalayan Art' exhibit.