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Posts Tagged ‘Buddha’

Where the Road Ends

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on February 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
—Buddha

This is a new painting that recently went to Watts Fine Arts in Zionsville, outside of Indianapolis.  It’s a large canvas, 20″ tall by 60″ wide, that is called Where the Road Ends. 
 
I often use a pathway or road leading into my work, the idea being that it serves as an invitation for the viewer to enter the scene.  Sometimes the path simply cuts through the landscape and runs to a horizon, a symbol of  the continuity of the journey.  But sometimes the path seemingly ends and I find myself at these times asking myself what that means, both in the context of the painting and in my mind.  Is it the reaching of a goal, such as the truth to which Buddha alludes above?  Or is it merely a road that comes to an end?   
 
Probably both are correct.  In the process of painting I don’t go forward with this final image in mind.  The road neither ends nor goes on when I am in the midst of painting.  It’s just there.  But at a certain point, the composition demands that a decision be made, to either continue with it or to let if disappear behind a knoll.  The easier decision is always to continue, to let the path represent  the continuum of time.  It is natural and something we can all relate to in some way.  We understand theconcept of the journey.
 
But to terminate the road means that there is some sort of finality, an endpoint.  Be it wisdom, truth, death or some other sort of epiphany, this terminus presents a great opportunity for symbolism.  Enter the single Red Tree.  Set against the end of the path and the  landscape that opens to lines of distant hills, it becomes an icon for that for which we strive. 
 
 Perhaps it is a symbol for our wiser self in the here and now, enlightenment found.  Perhaps for some it represents an afterlife, the step beyond our earthly journey.  Or it could be any number of other readings.  But however it is read, the Red Tree here, sitting away the end of the road, demands engagement from the viewer, demands that they consider its meaning to them.
 
And I like that.
 

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Just a Thought

Posted in Quote, tagged , , on August 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Mystic Voice The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings…

As the shadow follows the body,
As we think, so we become.

  • From the Dhammapada
    Sayings of the Buddha

This immediately brought to mind the current state of public dialogue in this country.  There are those whose thoughts are full of fear and anger that soon manifests as angry words which in turn become angry deeds.  Soon these deeds have become the norm and thereafter becomes who we are.

We need to be careful about how we feed our thoughts, about who we allow to influence us. As we think, so we become.

This was brought to mind by a column this past weekend in the New York Times from Frank Rich, warning of the rising, once more, of domestic terrorism here in the USA.  Irresponsible words  feed other angry, fearful minds.  Long repressed angry deeds are triggered.

Those who shake the trees should be careful- they don’t know what may fall from the branches.

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