Zen: The Life of Dogen

from Zen
via Rusty Ring

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to watch a wonderful movie, Zen, a Japanese movie about the great teacher Dogen. I can't recommend this movie highly enough. It's absolutely beautiful, visually and philosophically. It includes many famous sayings from Dogen's life, including this lovely conversation he has with a head cook:

I asked, "What are words?" The tenzo said, "One, two, three, four, five." I asked again, "What is practice?" "Nothing in the entire universe is hidden."

Trust me, this movie will make you see your own life differently. Maybe, like Dogen, you will find yourself on the shore, with the full moon above you.

Sacred Space: Imam Mosque in Isfahan

by Fulvlo Spada

The Imam Mosque, or Mudrasa Imami, of Isfahan is a gorgeous unification of art and religious aspiration. On the outside, painted blue tiles make the imposing building feel light as spirit. On the inside, the arched ceilings look like heaven itself. 

The mosque at Isfahan is particularly famous for its mihrab, a prayer niche that is oriented towards Mecca. Isn't it a beautiful way to orient oneself to what is holy?

Update, 22 September 2012: I planned this post quite a while ago, before the latest outbreak of protests and violence. It really breaks my heart to see people so filled with rage, and to see so much misunderstanding in the world. If this post could make a political statement in any way, it would be a call for everyone to see more clearly—to find peace in the world through peace in themselves.

Magic Clouds, Jeweled Clouds

Nimbus II, by Berndaut Smilde

As if staring up into puff ball clouds wasn't enough of a treat, I've been enjoying clouds as works of art. I guess I'm still thinking of art as ephemeral and bound to the natural world, as in the flower mandalas of my last post.

Above is the magic smoke machine-created cloud, maintained by painstaking control over the temperature and humidity of the installations space.

Below are over-the-top Swarovski crystal-decorated clouds on view at Dumbarton Oaks.

Cloud Terrace, by Andy Cao and Zavier Perrot

If you like the subject as much as I do, try visiting the Cloud Appreciation Society, devoted to spotting clouds and cloud art. On their website, I discovered that a cloud I saw earlier in the year was a special Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud: a beautiful, wave-like cloud that is very prized by cloud collectors. I remember thinking it was a beautiful formation at the time, but there's something about putting a name to it that makes it feel like an accomplishment to have noticed it.

Sacred Space: Impermanent Gifts

Danmala, by Kathy Klein
via Colossal

What is it about us humans that makes us want to rearrange natural objects into patterns? When I find myself in a beautiful setting, sometimes the most natural thing to do seems to be to make some sort of "offering" to the beauty I find myself surrounded by. An arrangement of shells, in some attempt to align my own perspective with the greater landscape. An arrangement of rocks, as a greeting to others, a sign of recognition that my own perspective can blend with others'. 

Kathy Klein's danmalas are a good example of this kind of art. Visit her gallery to see a quilt of technicolor patterns, all created from flower petals. She describes "centering" herself and creating the art in a state of devotional silence. The designs she creates seem to pulsate from the blending of her state of mind with the natural matter she works with.

Some of my favorite art is the kind that is meant to be impermanent. There's something so poignant about making something, knowing that when you leave it behind, it will eventually be returned to the earth. There's something beautiful, too, in leaving the art to be discovered for others who happen to be passing by. I sometimes want to hoard everything that's beautiful, and making something that can be left behind is a good exercise in sharing and letting go, even if a photograph allows us to hold onto the art in some sense!

Shell Offering by me

Truth Dwelling on Earth

Galileo's Moon, by Scout and Catalogue
via Ill Seen and Ill Said

"It is true without lying, certain and most true.

That which is Below is like that which is Above and that which is Above is like that which is Below to do the miracles of the Only Thing.

And as all things have been and arose from One by the mediation of One, so all things have their birth from this One Thing by adaptation. The Sun is its father; the Moon its mother; the Wind hath carried it in its belly; the Earth is its nurse. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into Earth. Separate the Earth from the Fire, the subtle from the gross, sweetly with great industry. It ascends from the Earth to the Heavens and again it descends to the Earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior.

By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world and thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing.

So was the world created. From this are and do come admirable adaptations, whereof the process is here in this.

Hence am I called Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished and ended."

    —Translation of The Emerald Tablet, by Sir Isaac Newton

Postmodern Hymn: Bowl of Oranges

Today's hymn comes from Bright Eyes, an indie group headed by Conner Oberst. I love Bright Eyes for the bravely earnest lyrics and for the creative melodies. "Bowl of Oranges" is one of their more uplifting songs: 

"And we'll keep working on a problem we know we'll never solve 

Of Love's uneven remainders, our lives are fractions of a whole. 

But if the world could remain within a frame like a painting on a wall. 

Then I think we would see the beauty. Then we would stand staring in awe 

At our still lives posed like a bowl of oranges, 

Like a story told by the fault lines and the soil."

Destino

A collaboration between Dali and Disney, which I find incredibly beautiful.

The original collaboration was completed in 2003, after Disney's nephew found the storyboards and 17-second clip and saw the project through to completion. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film.

Messy, Alchemical Art

Sugar Bowl, by Adele Shaw
via Inclusions Gallery

I met Adele Shaw at a museum I visited in San Francisco years ago. I remember thinking how amazing it was to talk to an artist about her work and how important it was to not say anything stupid. I remember her smiling.

At the time, she was working on a project called "oology." Luckily I've saved my postcard, because I can't find images online anywhere. I thought it was beautiful work; I still love how embodied and playful it is, and how delicate it is, too.

Scanned postcard from Adele Shaw's "oology" exhibit

Now it seems she works mainly on canvas, but still with beeswax. In her own words:

"My painting is a influenced by the power of nature and inspired by the chaos of people’s chronic search for order, space, and story. 

I paint first with water colors, then with encaustic paint, layers of hot beeswax, pigment and resin. I coerce it onto paintings as a hot, drippy, excitable mess. . . . 

Encaustic painting is an alchemical process of extreme versatility. It is both additive and subtractive. It can be painted, sculpted, or moulded. Between the layers the process is quite unpredictable."

Freedom or Gold

"Have you ever seen anything more beautiful? Come on, man, look around us. Do you realize what we've got? We can work when we want, sleep where we will, eat from the Lord's bounty. . . . We're free. The two freest men in the whole world."

    —Alexander McKeag, a character in the Centennial miniseries

Richard Chamberlain as Alexander McKeag (captured by me)

We just finished watching the Centennial miniseries (which I also posted about here). My favorite episodes were the first three because they dealt with the exciting, strange, and heartbreaking encounter between Europeans and Native Americans, and the environment of North America. If you enjoy historical dramas on cable, such as Deadwood or John Adams, I think you'd enjoy Centennial.

The point of this post isn't to review the series, though; it's to share the best moment in the series. It's when two trappers argue about what's worth striving for: freedom or gold. Go to 3:48 in the video, and watch at least to 5:23. I think it's a dialogue that every one has at one point or another.

Doorway Blessing

I've been thinking about posting a blessing near our front door, as a little reminder of how I'd like to live. Kind of like the mezzuzah of Jewish tradition, except completely different, because I wouldn't be playing by the rules.

Some contenders:

1. The closing prayer of the Navaho blessingway:

In beauty I walk 

With beauty before me I walk 

With beauty behind me I walk 

With beauty above me I walk 

With beauty around me I walk 

It has become beauty again 

It has become beauty again 

It has become beauty again 

It has become beauty again

It's hard to beat wisdom as beautiful as that. Whole books have been written about the Navaho concept of beauty, which can also be translated as harmony. More on that some other time. 

2. Some words a teacher used to say:

Now go out into the world, and expect the unexpected . . .

Simple words that I return to again and again.

Illustration by Carson Ellis for Wildwood
via Mrs Fancy Pants

3. Some words that I write myself that somehow capture the idea that the world is magical and I'm a part of it.  But if there are already such eloquent expressions out there, I'm not sure if I can say it any better.

Stay tuned! 

Let Us Build Altars

Three Bee Hives, by Michelle of United Thread

"Let us build altars to the Blessed Unity which holds nature and souls in perfect solution, and compels every atom to serve an universal end. . . . "

Chickadees and Avocado Tree, by Michelle of United Thread

" . . . Let us build altars to the Beautiful Necessity, which secures that all is made of one piece; that plaintiff and defendant, friend and enemy, animal and planet, food and eater, are of one kind."

    —"Fate," by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Poppy Pods, by Michelle of United Thread

I've been thinking about altars as mindful collections lately. While I was thinking about what sorts of things would be on my altar, I realized that I've already started one, with the surprises found on my daily walks—egg shells, a bit of a bee hive, a beautiful black-and-white moth . . . The fragile gifts of life are all around, it seems.