Arts in Amida

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Comment by Dharmavidya on September 8, 2009 at 9:30am

Thanks Koshin. Yes, poetry does play a big role in Pureland practice. Zuigen Inagaki is a particularly notable modern example, but many people express their faith through poetry. Not only that, but the inspiration - the Muse - for poetry especially among the arts has an other power dimension to it that is probably recognised in most cultures. Spiritual and artistic inspiration are not far apart and poetry, as the art that expresses through words, is in a particularly interesting 'borderline' position between the sayable and the inexpressible.

Comment by ko shin, Bob Hanson on September 8, 2009 at 4:49am

I would be interested in the place of or the role of Poetry in our practice. It is an important one. The muses seem to come from a place that cannot be controlled or put in a box like our thinking or moving towards concepts to avoid realization. Where did that one come from? Peace ko shin, Bob Hanson

Comment by Wong Zhi Xiang (Shaku Hanryo) on September 5, 2009 at 7:41am

Thank you all for initiating this group on Arts in Amida. I have also posted some images on the Pure Land tradition which can be found on my profile page. I wish this group every success.
Gassho,
Hanryo.

Comment by Ven. J.M. Dharmakara Boda on September 2, 2009 at 5:25pm

Great addition to the Amida NING. Art is a great way to bring the Dharma to a new generation, not just painting, photography, and crafts, but also in the area of puppetry and the performing arts in general.

Although not specifically to Pureland, you might find some inspiration in the following links:

Digital Art:
http://www.mahabodhi.net/mantra/

Performing Arts:
http://www.mahabodhi.net/script/toc.html

Comment by Marta Melniczuk on August 26, 2009 at 12:32pm

Thanks a lot for invitation, I am glad to be with you and wish you all happiness and fulfillment!
Marta

Comment by Simon Morley on August 24, 2009 at 8:58pm

Hello. My goal is to import buddhist ideas into mainstream discussions of contemporary art, but also to import some of these mainstream ideas about contemporary art into buddhist thinking. For instance, I'm currently editing a Reader on contemporary art and the sublime. What does buddhism have to say about this concept?

Comment by Sophie Rogers on August 24, 2009 at 4:05pm

Hello everybody who reads this. I am an artist, I am fascinated by art. It has been my religion for so long. I have been surrounded by many artists also following art as their be all and end all. I have seen the good and the ugly sides. I have loved it and hated it. I have tried to rid myself of being an artist and I have stubornly perservered at 'being an artist'.
For my self it can be amazing, a spiritual experience if you like. I recommend everyone gives art ago. Be warned though, its addictive.

Namo amida bu

sophie

Comment by Konchog AlTorres on June 1, 2009 at 7:37pm

The promotion of the ARTS in the community is a fine means by which we can express ourselves and communicate with others that not on the path. I have even used the movie "Little Buddha" to help others gain a brief insight into the life of Gautama. The free expression of writing, poetry, music, graphic arts, painting and more truly does contribute to reaching the many. It allows us all to sometimes express that which words can not convey.

Comment by Sally Ridgway on May 12, 2009 at 11:13am

Dear Friends,

I have read with great interest the discussion around distinctly Buddhist approaches to creativity and would here like to put forward some of my own thoughts around this subject. I begin with a very short story...........

'A man took a flower once and without a word held it up before the men seated in a circle around him. Each man in his turn looked at the flower, and then explained its meaning,its significance, all that it symbolized. The last man however, seeing the flower,said nothing, only smiled. The man in the center then also smiled and, without a word,handed him the flower..........Zen is what happens when anyone, anywhere, at any time, sees.' 'Wandering in Eden.' by Michael Adam.

For me art is ultimately one of perception. An open heart and mind is one that is able to receive and respond with compassion and non-judgement to the world. We meet and are met by all that we create. One of the great beauties of the creative act must surely lie in the invitation to step aside from habitual perception so that eyes can see anew. Through creativity we are enabled to meet the world in new ways and to appreciate life through symbol, mark, sound, movement, shade, and tone. This sensory information from our primitive brain comes before the censoring mind can interrupt or distort its flow. Some would say it is therefore a deeper, maybe even more enlightened level of perception. certainly a more heartfelt one I would say. One that has all the potential of 'clear seeing', of new understanding and of richer experience. Is this then a religious act?

I step aside from the conscious interference.of the judgments, attitudes and preferences, that would control my every move, and instead, invite the free flow of my unconscious its expression. I am a movement artist who comes from an interdisciplinary arts background. For me, the language of the body is my most eloquent means of expression . It is not however, my only means. I work with improvisation as the ongoing process of life and creativity. Increasingly I am now less concerned with product but instead feel every moment, every point in time, as a pause in the process and an act of creation. When prompted these acts sometimes emerge as impromptu 'happenings'. If they have an intention it must lie in provoking perception so that maybe just for a short while collective awareness and shared sympathy is raised. Maybe these secret musings, once offered as the public property of ritual that focus the collective eye of my witnesses, prompt another perception into consciousness. And maybe this is too a religious act?

It is this other element of creativity that carries improvisation and unconscious expression ultimately towards a spiritual act. For in the act of seeing lies all those elements of religious life of wonder and goodness. I am concerned by how my art is met and seen and witnessed. Through the wisdom and goodness of those eyes my inner witness is restored and upheld, re-telling my tale by placing all sensing, feeling and imagining, within the primacy of actual, physical movement. In other words, everything I come to understand is rooted in what I actually SEE. This encourages us to own those feelings unequivocably, to fly with our imagination whilst maintaining the hold on reality, and to delve into our truth in the sensations that arise within us without losing sight of what is before us.

Part of my training as a Somatic Movement Therapist is in Authentic Movement (AM). This practice pays homage to that flow of unconscious expression through the eyes of the witness. The honor of bearing witness to the Unknown brings us as the one who watches to a place of great humility. Together with my own inner witness consciousness of all that was previously unconscious is gained through judicious, non-judgmental and compassionate sharing. In my therapeutic practice I refer to AM in its pure form. In creative workshops it is laced between improvisation and creative movement explorations. It represents for me all that I hold sacred in the creative act, uniting that with healing in its capacity for true seeing, and offering a means within which to practice all those tenets of religiosity in general and of Buddhism in particular.

Blessings. Namo Amida Bu.
Sally

Comment by leekelleynd on February 7, 2009 at 6:39pm

Dear purple nova,

Thanks for inviting me. Try this: http://www.gigigabrielle.com
If you can't reach it, I may have to contact my domain.
I will look you up straight away.
Lee

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