the Photography of Don Farber
After extensive photographic studies in England and San Francisco, Don Farber returned to his native Los Angeles in the early ‘70’s.
A member of a generation deeply affected by the Vietnam War, he sought spiritual answers and solace in seminars and talks of teachers from the East including Krishnamurti, Swami Satchidananda, Swami Muktananda, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
His first photographic project focusing on spiritual life documented the rehearsals and performance of the Cosmic Mass, directed by the Sufi master Pir Vilayat Khan.
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Young monk with his brother, Sonada Monastery, Darjeeling Dist., 1989
Eiheiji Monastery, one of two headquarters for the Soto Zen sect, Fukui Prefecture, Japan 1990
A priest of the Nichiren sect of Mount Minobu pays respect to Mount Fuji, 1992
Okunoin cemetery at Koyasan, the main center for Shinbone Buddhism, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, 1991
H.H. the Dalai Lama, Santa Monica, California, 1989
Sarnath, the place where the Buddha gave his first teachings, near Varanasi, India, 1997
A Nepali woman feeding the birds at dawn at Bodhnath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1997
Kongobuji Temple, Koyasan, Japan, 1989
Temple interior, Leh, Ladakh, India, 2017
Young monk on stairs, Sonada Monastery, Dharjeeling Dist., India, 1989
Nicherin priests in training, Minobu, Japan, 1990
Monk and Snow, Takamoru-in Temple, Koyasan, Japan, 1989
H.H. the Dalai Lama, Mirik, India, 1997
Monks going for alms during the Makabucha ceremony, commemorating the great assembly of the disciples of Buddha, Was Phra. Dhamakaya Monastery, Thailand, 1990
Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) Initiation given by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and monks from Namgyal Monastery, the mandala made from sand. Santa Monica, California, 1989
Thich Nhat Hanh, Malibu, California, 1992
Prayer Wheels with mantra Om Mani Padme Hum embossed on the outside. As the wheel turns and the practitioner recites the mantra silently or out loud, compassion for all sentient beings is generated. Bir, Himachal Pradesh, India, 1997
Sacred dance performed by monks, Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim, India, 1997
Zanskari mothers and children going to an encampment during the Dalai Lama’s visit, Zanskar, Ladakh, India, 1997
Taizan Maezumi Roshi, Zen master of both the Rinzai and the Soto traditions, performing a wedding ceremony, Los Angeles, 1981
The Very Venerable Kalu Rinpoche leading a ceremony to consacrate a stupa in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1986
Tamang Boy Monk and Family, Sonada Monastery, Dharjeeling Dist., India
A monk hits a gong to call the sangha to attend a ceremony
Children playing by the stupas at Sonada Tibet Buddhist Monastery, Darjeeling, India, during the last ten days of the funeral for Kalu Rinpoche
Butter lamps lit as offerings to the three jewels—the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—to save all sentient beings by dispelling the darkness of ignorance
Kalu Rinpoche, the boy recognized as the reincarnation of the late Very Venerable Kalu Rinpoche, in Santa Monica, California, 1995
Three Women, Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, Los Angeles, 1977
Her Eminence Jetson Kushok Chimey Luding, the sister of His Holiness Sakya Trizin, one of the foremost female masters of Tibetan Buddhism. Los Angeles, 1990
The annual Hoonko ceremony at hibachi Honganji temple honoring Shinran, the founder of the Jodo Shinshu sect. Kyoto, 1991
Nun delegates to the World Fellowship of Buddhists Conference, spending a day at Disneyland, Anaheim, 1988
The Venerable Palden Gyatso was imprisoned in Tibet for thirty-three years by the Chinese government for peacefully protesting. He holds torture instruments used in Tibetan prisons, which he smuggled out as witness. Los Angeles, 1998
A monk sweeping leaves, Wat Suan Mokkh, Thailand, 1990
Khandro Tsering Chadron, wife of the renowned late Sakya master Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and a master in her own right
Venerable Ani Patchen who helped lead her people in 1959 after the death of her father, a powerful chieftain in Eastern Tibet. She spent twenty years in Chinese prison refusing to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Boy riders, Hemis Monastery, Leh, Ladakh, India
A Ladakhi Man in Zanskar, Ladakh, India
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In 1975, he met the Vietnamese Zen master Dr. Thich Thien-An, who had founded the International Buddhist Meditation Center near downtown Los Angeles. Dr. Thien-An received and assisted Vietnamese refugees arriving in California after the fall of Saigon, establishing the first Vietnamese Buddhist temple in the U.S. He became a student of Dr. Thien-An and made a project to photograph Buddhist life at the temple every Sunday for nearly 10 years. Encouraged by Dr. Thien-An, he took photographs as unobtrusively as possible, mindful of the sacredness of the moment. After the master’s passing in 1980, Farber spent several years practicing and photographing at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, founded by the Japanese Zen master Maezumi Roshi.
Farber then began living in Japan, having begun a lifelong project of documenting Buddhist life worldwide including that of Tibet, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, and Thailand. In 1997, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to photograph and research Tibetan Buddhist life, in India and Nepal, and with his Tibetan wife Yeshi and small daughter went to live in his wife’s village, the refugee settlement of Bir in Himachal Pradesh. He began to concentrate his photography on Tibetan Buddhist life making portraits of more than a hundred Tibetan Buddhist masters. His photography of the Dalai Lama spans nearly forty years. While respecting all spiritual traditions, Farber gravitated toward Buddhist life because of its “emphasis on direct experience… I find it endlessly inspiring to be a part of this way of life, which emphasizes loving-kindness, compassion, wisdom, and non-violence, and believe it can have a critical role to play in the survival of the planet.”
Don Farber’s books and photos have been published by Aperture, UC Press, and many others. His photographic works have been extensively exhibited and are held in numerous private and museum collections. He is the founder of the non-profit foundation Dharma Heritage Project, an archive documenting endangered Buddhist traditions, making available the photography, video, and research for scholars to include in their publications, for museum exhibitions, magazines, books, websites, and films.
It is an honor to share some of the photos of Farber, especially auspicious in the 90th birthday year of the Dalai Lama.
Select prints of Farber’s photographs are available for acquisition. Please inquire.
Our thanks to Don and Yeshi Farber; Paula Fouce of Paradise Filmworks; Adrienne Moberly and Larry Villau;
and Andy Romanoff of The Eye of Photography for information in this bio.
All photographs © Don Farber 2025. All rights reserved