Art v. monkey mind

Ada_B

Today, I was at this lady's house for a support group. As we were leaving, I said to her "I'm going to my meditation class this afternoon. I don't suppose it would be something that interests you?"

To which she said "Oh no! That's not for me at all! I wouldn't have the concentration!"

Then I looked behind her at an embroidery on the wall and almost smiled. She's an artist - does wonderful work in mixed media, sewing, printing and embroidery. The picture on the wall was bright and colourful, with and intricately hand-printed background and a hundred silk flowers, each individually hand-dyed and decorated with embroidery, before being stitched into place. It must have taken days of painstaking work and phenomenal patience. And yet this was the woman who "couldn't meditate", due to "lack of concentration".

If only my monkey mind were half so gifted.

taiyaki

it's a shame. as an art teacher i get students who come with pre conceived notions of themselves not being good at art.

my whole goal is to destroy and redirect my students to their inherent creativity.

isn't it fun how we place limitations on ourselves. i've learned that a belief is all that stands between what i can do and what i can't.

fun thought.

riverflow

my whole goal is to destroy and redirect my students to their inherent creativity.

isn't it fun how we place limitations on ourselves.

I seem to recall Mark Rothko wrote a few essays on children's loss of the creative impulse because purely representational art is implicitly drilled into their heads early on. It becomes the yardstick to measure by, and if the kid can't meet that standard, then he/she buys into the notion "I can't draw." The same is true of so many other activities ("I don't know how to sing," "I don't like reading," etc.).

Sadly, we quickly learn to place limitations on our abilities because we think there is some absolute yardstick to measure ourselves by.

taiyaki

i think it's a natural process. we have to learn the false and construct these walls.
we have to meet and experience all of it. then from there we can reclaim our original innocence.
such is the difference between a buddha and a child. the child is pure out of ignorance. the buddha is pure out of wisdom. the buddha has come full circle from ignorance to clear wisdom. the child still has to suffer and overcome the false.

i truly believe that is the essence of zazen. to just sit and that alone being the goal and means. when we do anything just for the act of doing it and that alone justifying the action...then we grow and finally see the dance and enjoyment called life.

also artists have tremendous capacity to meditate and see clearly. i feel the artist is closest to the mystic as any true artist touches upon that wondrous place where art flows from.

it's sad that most artists are extremely insecure. it's my job to fix that.

person

For whatever reason she probably didn't feel comfortable going and that was the first excuse that came to her mind. You could say something meditation is meant to help develop your concentration, if she still hesitates then just make an open invitation to join you if she ever feels like it and leave it at that.

Since she is able to do an elaborate embroidery she has some type of concentration. Thubten Chodron has said to people who say they have a hard time visualizing a Buddha in meditation, "If I say 'pizza', an image of a pizza comes easily to mind, complete with particular toppings and size." So its really just a matter of familiarity with the particular type of concentration.

riverflow

it's sad that most artists are extremely insecure. it's my job to fix that.

:thumbsup:

Ada_B

@person During the support group meeting, for people with physical health conditions, another lady had brought up the subject of meditation. From her descriptions, it was more what my teacher would call relaxation (listening to whale music or whatever) but she found it beneficial.

So when we were leaving, I just happened to mention that I was going to a meditation class and it seemed reasonable to offer an invitation to the others in case anyone was interested. I don't think my artist friend felt pressurised, not at all from her reaction. I expect she thought I was inviting her to an hour of listening to whale music, or something like that! She has invited me back for coffee some other time.

Dandelion

As an artist, I do my best work when i'm in a meditative state. I have always been like this, even before I met Buddhism. I expect your friend also gets into a meditative state when making her beautiful works of art, even if she doesn't realise it.

genkaku

Not sure if it's entirely relevant, but here's an article I wrote a long time ago about creating calligraphy: http://www.blackmoonzendo.com/calligraphyclass.shtml