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Past Exhibitions

Buddha | Nature: Five Dialogues on Our Shared World

Date March 1–May 10, 2026

Location Main Campus | Beck Building

Parking at Beck Garage
Drop off at Beck Building

Ready to Visit?

Member and All Access tickets include same-day admission to this Special Exhibition, all other Special Exhibitions, and the MFAH Permanent Collections.

Email Your Questions [email protected]

Now On View

Buddha | Nature: Five Dialogues on Our Shared World

Date March 1–May 10, 2026

Location Main Campus | Beck Building

Parking at Beck Garage
Drop off at Beck Building

Ready to Visit?

Member and All Access tickets include same-day admission to this Special Exhibition, all other Special Exhibitions, and the MFAH Permanent Collections.

Email Your Questions [email protected]

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.
 
The exhibition unfolds across five galleries, each with a unique focus:
 
  • Samsara introduces the interwoven cycles of life through Beverly Penn’s new commission Samsara, made from invasive plants cast in bronze and paired with the 12th-century Tibetan Wisdom Buddha.

  • Impermanence brings together Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Mount Fuji—a sweeping image of dawn on twin folding screens—with a meditating Buddha from ancient Gandhara, evoking the fragile balance between permanence and sudden change.

  • Karma examines historical reckoning through a 6th-century terracotta Buddha flanked by works from Cannupa Hanska Luger and Erick Swenson, two distinct visions of humanity’s relationship with nature.

  • Compassion pairs a Chinese Buddha triad with Liu Xiaodong’s large-scale portraits of families and migrants, extending empathy across social, cultural, and ecological boundaries.

  • Awakening concludes the exhibition with Beili Liu stitching red thread in the Arctic Circle, her patient gestures mirrored by an 8th-century Buddha head whose power endures even in fragment.
The timeless sculptures from the Xuzhou Collection were created as touchstones to something greater, links between humanity and the divine. In Buddha / Nature, that mediating force turns toward the present, inviting visitors to reflect, recalibrate, and consider the part each of us plays in shaping a world in flux.
Plan Your Visit
Free Audio Guide in English and Spanish
Hear insights about the exhibition from the curator and featured artists.
Related Publication 
Approaching the Buddha: Transmission and Transformation is available through the MFA Shop (713-639-7360) and the Museum’s Hirsch Library (713-639-7325).
Buddha / Nature: Five Dialogues on Our Shared World / March 1–May 10, 2026
“Buddha / Nature: Five Dialogues on Our Shared World” is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and dedicated to the memory of Mr. Robert Hung Ngai Ho (1932–2025). 
 
Major support is provided by:
Jerold B. Katz Foundation