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Art, Attachment and Beauty
thickpaper
Veteran
I was reading this Yeats poem recently:
A Cradel Song
THE angels are stooping
Above your bed;
They weary of trooping
With the whimpering dead.
God's laughing in Heaven
To see you so good;
The Sailing Seven
Are gay with His mood.
I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown.
I find it very moving and sad and beautiful. It is about attachment, like many aesthetcially beutiful things are. But as a Buddhist this raises a question that a world without attachment would be a world which is artistically impoverished.
How do we strike a balance in life and culture between attachment and creativity? Or as Buddhists should we just assume that one day we can reject creativity and art?
A Cradel Song
THE angels are stooping
Above your bed;
They weary of trooping
With the whimpering dead.
God's laughing in Heaven
To see you so good;
The Sailing Seven
Are gay with His mood.
I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown.
I find it very moving and sad and beautiful. It is about attachment, like many aesthetcially beutiful things are. But as a Buddhist this raises a question that a world without attachment would be a world which is artistically impoverished.
How do we strike a balance in life and culture between attachment and creativity? Or as Buddhists should we just assume that one day we can reject creativity and art?
0
Comments
While many Buddhists were outraged at the actions, many were also conscious of the impermanence.
Everything must crumble into decay, one day, no matter how hard we strive to preserve it in its majesty.
The Parthenon is as transitory as the day lily.
Only the transitoriness of one thing is slightly longer than the other....
I think those most concerned with the restoration of these giant Buddhas are not Buddhist but archeologists, historians and lovers of Art.
Love beauty, love art, love style, love magnificence. But know it's all day-lilies....