Have I told you the Stitching Buddhas® origin story, the story of how I started teaching the art of silk thangka through a Virtual Apprentice Program ten years ago? It starts in Italy in 2008…
Milan, Italy – February 2008
“Hello, is this Leslie?”
asked the woman’s voice on the phone. “I just found your work on the Internet and was absolutely stunned. It’s exactly what I want to do. I knew there had to be something like this, some way to practice Buddhism with fabric. Can you teach me?”
I listened, unsure how to respond as she continued, “I’ve been stitching for a long time and anyone who’s seen my work knows that details don’t faze me. I’ve been practicing Tibetan Buddhism for more than ten years, too. I really want to do what you do. Can I come visit you?”
Louise was in France and I was living in Italy at that time. I’d left India at the dawn of the new millennium, and moved to Milan to live with my then to-be (and now once-was) husband, Francesco. I’d been quietly making silk thangkas on my own in the living room of the sunny two-bedroom apartment we shared with his two teenage children. My art website attracted a few emails a year from women—and a few men—asking if I offered any workshops and if I was coming to their area to teach any time soon (their areas being Australia and Guam and Canada and Singapore and California, etc). I didn’t. I wasn’t.
How could I teach this?
I struggled to see how I could ever teach this art to such widely scattered inquirers. Tibetan appliqué work is slow and arduous, to say nothing of the learning process. It was always transmitted from master to student in long-term, residential apprenticeships over the course of years. I had spent four years learning it at my teacher’s side in India.
What could I possibly teach in a short workshop? Just getting the hang of wrapping a horsehair with thread could take days . . . or weeks.
But here was a woman so determined to learn that she was ready to book a flight to come see me!
Her children were growing and didn’t demand as much attention anymore. After managing her family’s life abroad for many years, Louise was back home and looking for something meaningful to do with her time and energy—something that would unite her creative skills with her deepest longings for connection and purpose. And, now, she was on her way to spend a weekend with a total stranger, to see what she could glean about this magical craft of making buddhas out of fabric.
A thread of wonder that inspires others
She seemed to know that, by creating these precious images, she could help herself and others connect with their highest qualities and experience the Buddha’s presence in the world. She felt very lucky to think that by following her own thread of wonder, as I had followed mine years earlier in India, she might also give something deeply meaningful to others.
Louise’s insistent curiosity led me to create the Stitching Buddhas® Virtual Apprentice Program and opened the door for other spiritual, creative, fiber-loving, meaning-seeking women to follow their wonder threads too.
In October 2008, I sent Louise her first lesson. Over the following months, I worked feverishly, writing new lessons to keep up with Louise’s progress. Soon, I was emailing students in Singapore, Guam, Australia, and the U.S. who were eager to stitch their artistic and spiritual yearnings together. That was ten years ago.
In the ensuing months, we established an online atelier where students could post photos of their work, get feedback, ask me questions, and connect with each other in community. Over time, I added video demonstrations and a Practice Stage for advancing students to build beyond the basic skills.
This year, I moved everything onto a more streamlined online teaching platform and re-introduced the course in celebration of its tenth anniversary.
You can sign up here: https://threadsofawakening.com/teaching/
P.S.
Louise, who so fortuitously instigated the creation of the Virtual Apprenticeship, is still an integral part of the Stitching Buddhas community. She’s mastered Tibetan appliqué art and has now completed three thangkas of her own, continually weaving the creative and spiritual threads of her life together and creating beauty for all to enjoy.
Louise, Pau, France
“The attention given to each stitch has brought my own spiritual practice into new focus. Just like spiritual practice, this too is a continual process towards a deeper refinement. And, if I can create images that may also inspire others, may the blessings continue!”
