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Buddha Dolphin
lobster
Crusty Veteran
As we all know the Buddha had extended ear lobes from wearing overweight ear rings, was an aristocrat and sometimes wore a swastika. Or not.
We are the Buddha - and not. With all our flaws and terminal vices.
The Buddha is also a Westerner, also a statue, also a principle, also Nothing; less than a God.
How do we encompass all these possibilities? We may not have the multitasking capacity unless we are the Female Buddha. So too with our brothers and sisters working on the limitations or depth of their culture and Dharma.
There is a new depth, steeped in heritage, open to expansion. We have to be mindful as always. We are not Buddhas nor are all uniformed sari wearers. As symbols and carriers of the dharma virus (also available as an inoculation) we should respect even Holy Dolphin, when they become available.
Just as the East has its old age, street level dharma, so too in this kali-yuga we have new age Puddhism. Each has its level, place and capacity. Each of us learns. In the West we learn humility and gracious behaviour from our antecedents. We learn the value of the ancient teachings. We have to know our place in this milieu. It would be arrogant to think we can become first rate Buddhas without effort, letting go of time and place and resting in the Dharma.
However the Dharma is in the West. Fervent. Expansive. Scholarly. Ready and awaiting . . .
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Comments
They have deeper significance.
As his Unholiness Olli the Octopus always told me: " We are just characters in our own stories " . . .
Always had a weakness for the lobster telephone... 0898 Ollie the Octopus!!!
I can not remember if Dali produced three or five lobster phones. One is in the Tate, London - not Tate modern as it is rather old school. Every time I go there I ask for Lobster themed artwork . . .
In fact if you go to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London do ask for Lobster themed artwork. They have a special book and under 'L', they may still have Lobster.
Just one of the areas of service for marine kind . . . In fact . . . the day I asked for the whereabouts for the painting, 'Lobster with dead chickens' I was authoritatively informed no such painting existed in their collection. Well I was in the digital section and had just looked it up, it did exist. I was asked to leave the digital section for being some kind of unknown weirdo (ain't it the truth).
I managed to locate it anyway . . . anyway that is part of my services to Arte. :screwy:
Meanwhile . . . the search continues . . .
Do we really expect our Buddhist iconography to ape the beauty and talents of our antecedents? I see no reason why the Buddha is not a dolphin by now . . .
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/a-still-life-with-fruit-vegetables-dead-chickens-and-a-lo114163
Maybe we have artists here who donate to their local centre? My artwork is more artichoke than dharma and best left in the bin. However I love to see the expression of peoples practice. Can you imagine a reclining Buddha by Henry Moore, a series of Soup cans containing Andy Warhol dharma?
They must be out there, the post-raphealite Sangha romantics, the Zen Dadaists. The Jackson Pollock (good fish) Buddha mind and so on . . .
It's good that you feel it should be left in the bin - in my mind, that's when you know you're onto something - I find that if the expression is honest (for want of a better phrase), it at best reflects the indescribable... so no matter how skillful, the final product is a pale illusion of the reflection of the indescribable - to the honest artist, an abysmal shortcoming... this seems to me to be a price the artist pays personally - a burden taken on so that the expression may be propagated - of course the indescribable has a life of it's own - who knows how a theme will translate in the mind of the observer... so for me, the shortcoming of the expression is not transmitted to the audience, only the potential to share an expression of the indescribable.
We hold up the sky.
We dear friends, dance to the rhythm of the rainbow.