"The Dragon's Gift" is an assemblage of image, sound, motion, and practice that will add a rich, productive complexity to anyone's relationship with Buddhism, Asian art history, ethnography or the museum experience itself.

Generally speaking, we cannot look at a Bhutanese thangka in the same way that we look at a medieval depiction of the crucifixion or a Hawaiian ali'i's feather cape. This is because a typical "museumized" piece of spiritual technology has been completely disconnected from those who would normally be using it. Sometimes there is no one left to do so, but more often the object has been stolen or appropriated. In contrast, "The Dragon's Gift" is an unprecedented collection of fully energized power objects that will eventually return to "active duty" in the mountain monasteries they came from — in many cases, restored to their original centuries-old glory.

That means that these works executed in applique, bronze, mineral pigments and choreography are not illustrations, decorations or ritual gestures whose meaning and purpose have faded with time. They are functional systems for clarifying the mind and heart according to Buddhism's highly practical educational system, the concrete goal of which is the liberation of all sentient beings from suffering.

After several circuits through the galleries it becomes clear that these works are deeply interconnected and reflective of one another. The instruments on display and the masks and costumes worn by dancers are actual versions of those that might be clutched by a deity in one of their thousand hands, sprouting as a head-atop-a-head. In gorgeous, high-definition videos of cham, or sacred dance, monks whirl, dip, and sway with richly detailed fabrics blooming and collapsing around them. They are living echoes of the various deities and guardians that surround the central figures in many thangka. In both cases the purpose may be to exorcise demons, which in the Buddhist context are, according to Ven. Khenpo Phunstok Tashi's catalog essay, understood as "agitations of the mind projected outward into an appearance of reality." Whether the dance is contemplated by an entire community or an image or sculpture is contemplated by a single monk, the intended results are the same.

At the same time, much of the work can be read with a modern and non-Buddhist sensibility. Whether personifying bodhisattvas in their various "moods" (from peaceful to wrathful), presenting portraits of revered teachers and their "adventures," or documenting the many lives of the Buddha, thangkas follow a logic we are all familiar with. Heavenly clouds billow, fiery haloes blaze, symbolic weapons are brandished, mythic beasts rear their heads, eyes pierce and armies of allied supernatural beings crowd the frame. Deities conquer forces of evil by trampling representative figures underfoot, and various "superheroes" rescue people from disasters in this and the many parallel worlds of the Buddhist cosmology. Such imagery is analogous to the extravagant martial arts battles featured in anime such as "Dragon Ball Z" and films like "Matrix: Revolutions."

And yet some of the images are still shocking. One panel in "Jakata Tales" shows King Dayoe, one of the Buddha's past incarnations, whose selflessness was so boundless that he cut off his own head for a bounty hunter pursuing the reward posted by a jealous rival. Further, many thangkas are powered by explicit imagery of sexual union and cross-species hybridity — none of which can be interpreted according to Western standards. These images run to multiple levels of symbolic depth and are based on Buddhism's profound knowledge of the mind and heart's vast capacities when they are uncluttered and unobstructed by desire and attachment.

This is nothing less than an open invitation.

What "The Dragon's Gift" accomplishes is a stunning awakening of the viewer to the possibilities of sacred art and inter-cultural collaboration; imagine the likelihood of the Vatican lending a piece of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, or the French government touring carved saints and gargoyles pulled from the facade of Notre Dame Cathedral! Lucky you live Hawai'i. The exhibition debuts here, and will tour the Mainland with the blessings and consent of Bhutan's spiritual and political leaders. Together with the Academy they have crafted an expression of globalization, which normally distorts traditions instead of truly presenting them. This unique collaborative has found Hawai'i an export that is tuned to the needs of the 21st century.

David A.M. Goldberg is a cultural critic and writer. He is a lecturer in art, art history and American studies at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.