Eight Verses for Transforming the Artist Mind – V1

Being dedicated to training my mind in compassion and wisdom and expressing that in everything I do leads me to find tools to help me work with the challenges life presents. The Eight Verses of Mind Training are just that, tools that I can use to change my thinking. Even if my thinking changes just a little, sometimes that is enough to let a crack of light shine in to soften whatever dissatisfied thought is there.

The Eight Verses were written by a Buddhist master named Geshe Langri Thangpa in the 11^th century. He wrote them for his own use, to work with his own mind and heart. Because they are so inspiring, practitioners ever since have found them invaluable for training the mind. I first learned of the Eight Verses at a Loving Kindness retreat in Boston with Sogyal Rinpoche's student Andrew Warr. After that I read Transforming the Mind by H.H. the Dalai Lama which brought me deeper understanding into the "two wings" of compassion and wisdom. A recommended read!

Training the mind as the Dalai Lama notes in chapter one is an inner discipline. It is a choice I make because I believe that all of us want to be happy. In order to do that I have to start with myself first. Choosing to work with my mind and heart, to develop peace and contentment within myself, that is my commitment so that I may be a cause of good for others. This keeps me pretty busy, my mind is a full-time job. (There are many tools for inner discipline from every culture and spiritual path to fit each person's disposition.)

So what are the verses and how do they relate to art? Well, I thought we could start with Verse 1 and see how it goes. There are a few translations of the Verses and in this article I will be using a Ripga translation by Patrick Gafney.

Verse 1:

By thinking of all sentient beings

As more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel

For accomplishing the highest aim,

I will always hold them dear.

Here's how I interpret this verse . . . If my aim is bodhichitta (enlightenment for the benefit of others); then the reason I am training my mind and heart is for all of us to attain enlightenment; so every sentient being (bugs, animals, trees, flowers, and people) are my purpose and therefore very precious. To hold them dear is to be grateful for and wish the best for them.

I still haven’t gotten to the art part. What comes to mind is what it is to be a working artist. In a day I can be painting, contacting galleries or venues for teaching, writing, bookkeeping, corresponding with students, any of which can involve ups and downs. So when things go wonkie what do I do to keep myself from spinning out? I check my attitude. If I can remember a verse, how precious this life is and the wonder-full-ness of the simplest things, a shift in my consciousness takes place. This helps me to respond with kindness to my stressed self first and then extend that outwards.

For example, I recently submitted a series of pieces to a show in Berkeley. I got an email saying my work wasn't accepted. It was a standard sort of rejection email which is often short in length without much feeling of personal connection. I've mentioned before how I don't really like rejection. So, I took a few breaths and decided I'd email back asking for more information about why my work was not accepted. I did this believing that the gallery director is like me and doesn't want to hurt anyone, just trying to work efficiently. I also felt that it would be helpful for me to know particulars so that I could apply what I learned to future submissions. I got an email back that same day. It was very helpful. First the director explained what she was trying to create as a whole with the show and then that they liked my work but it didn't fit with the overall flow. I felt grateful for the rejection email, my willingness to stretch, and the other person's kind and informative reply. A much better way for me to work with the situation instead of feeling bad.

Helpful hint: I've found it helpful to have visual reminders around my studio and office to keep me on track. Being a visual learner I wanted to create something that would help me remember the verses. I associated characteristics that we attribute to certain animals with aspects of each verse. The first verse has the word "dear" in the last line. This was easy to associate with the grace and gentleness of a deer. The image above is very small, created with gouache and colored pencil. I had bookmarks printed with the root version of the verses and corresponding animal image. The pith or root version (by Geshe Langri Thangpa) for Verse 1 is:

Cultivate the view that all beings are extremely kind.

I keep my study-bookmarks around here and there as reminders when I need to regain my focus.

Stay tuned next week for Verse 2.

Be well,

Susan

Auspicious Inner Support - images of humor and impermanence

In Tibetan symbolism there are the Eight Auspicious Symbols. They include the Parasol, the Golden Fishes, the Treasure Vase, the Lotus, the Conch Shell, the Endless Knot, the Victory Banner, and the Wheel. These symbols signify good fortune and are generally used in events marking new beginnings, gratitude, and for blessing on activities. Both Robert Beer's Tibetan Symbols (Shambhala Pub., 1999) and Dagyab Rinpoche's Buddhist Symbols (Wisdom Pub., 1995) are incredible resources for uncovering the deep and rich meanings behind buddhist symbolism. I have spent many hours reading and reflecting on the images in both these texts. Both books have detailed descriptions and utilization of the Eight Symbols and suggest that they go far beyond a cultural wish for well being; they embody the most profound truths about life, death and happiness as taught by the buddhas.

Upon contemplating these symbols in relationship to inner support I immediately saw a connection between the human skeleton and the basic aspects of each symbol's attributed blessing. For example the Golden Fishes generally wish one to have abundance and fertility in all aspects of their lives. This idea relates to the pelvic and hip bones, their ability to support the body in reproduction and creative energy.

Bones also have a deeper significance of our impermanence and death. Georgia O'Keefe and Frieda Khalo painted bones and their poignant relevance in our acceptance of life cycles. Cultures such as Tibetan and Mexican embrace this lightness and humor in their images of bones and skeletons. These images reflect the integrated understanding that there is no separation between life and death. Often there is such humor expressed in these images that one sees the lightness beyond the grim. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche writes, "A genuine sense of humor is having a light touch: not beating reality into the ground but appreciating it with a light touch." (Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Shambhala. p 32.)

Choosing aspects of the human body for symbolic reference is not new to me. In a flash of artistic vision I saw that the Eight Symbols corresponded with aspects of my skeletal structure, our inner support system. I found this delightful and place for play. It is interesting to note that Dagyap Rinpoche included a translation of The Heap of Good Fortune Sutra (Symbols, p.32) in which the Eight Symbols are compared to the head, eyes, neck, tongue, speech, hands, body, and feet. In further reflection and sketching flowers appeared. Perhaps Georgia O'Keefe and Frieda Khalo were inspiring me with these ideas. Yet, it made sense to incorporate flowers and the meaning associated with them into these drawings. It was as if the bones were the structural means and the flowers the compassionate wisdom.

Bone meal is often used to fertilize flower gardens, blossoming new life. Flowers are culturally used to express joy, love, sympathy, purity, and much more. Combined with the bone images are specific flowers that encourage contemplation of death and rebirth, impermanence and enlightenment, compassion and wisdom, and the precious good fortune of inner support.

This series of eight illustrations layer the Eight Auspicious Symbols with structured areas of the human skeleton and the integral beauty of life experienced through flowers. I created them with Prisma pencil over watercolor wash on cotton rag paper (10" x 10"). The representational/narrative quality is intentional to create a feeling of underlying humor.

Be well,

Susan

Breakthrough: Painting Through the Dark

When I lost both my parents and husband within the year's time I was fortunate to have a spiritual program, supportive friends and health care professionals. However, time felt endless, hours dragged and nights, as you can imagine, were dark. Over the cycle of a year and especially a period of excruciating weeks I had to find ways to focus beyond my debilitating anxiety and depression.

I turned to art. While I have a background in art this may have been a natural place for me to turn. Yet I had to force myself to paint. I had to agree with myself that I would do at least one painting a day during the darkest weeks. This may seem like it was easy but don't be fooled. Anxiety and depression make everything hard. It was hard to see or find the point to anything. That was my experience.

Creativity became one of the strengtheners, courage builders, which carried me through panic and terror. At my kitchen counter I had a "care station" set up with my art supplies where I could paint at any moment standing up. (Part of the anxiety experience was that my back and legs shook, quaked, and standing while I painted seemed to help).

First I used a huge Sharpie then I moved to a large box of unused tubes of acrylic paints. The consistency reminded me of finger paint and the bold colors seemed appropriate somehow. Also, I decided I would only paint with my left hand, my non-dominant hand.* This was different than the art that I usually did which were small, detailed illustrations. My thinking was to access the child in me who was free and without concepts of how the painting (and life) should look. It wasn't about looking good. The paper was nothing special, a large 18" x 24" sketch pad. I needed room to scribble and move.

Each day I'd go to my art station whenever I needed to. I would say to my inner girl, "OK, I don't know what you want to paint today. . . you show me." I wouldn't think of anything really, maybe a question or wish, but no set idea. It felt good to quiet my mind. I just let my left hand choose the colors and then feel how the brush felt on the paper. I let the brush move where it seemed to want to go.

These painting moments brought me relief, if only for the time period I was actually painting. I was often surprised and delighted by the images that came out. It was as if my small, sweet inner-self was encouraging me to feel better. Grace was working through my inner child. I painted whatever I wanted and the innocent joy that came out was so contrary to how I felt, it gave me hope; hope that I would emerge from the desperate darkness.

As I said, the anxiety and depression lasted about a year. I did get through it, one day at a time, one painting at a time. The process was neither a spiritual crisis nor nervous breakdown, although the medical world may call it that, it was a spiritual breakthrough. Inside, I found resilience and resolve. You can too. May this article and paintings help those in need of hope.

Be well.

Disclaimer: No part of this article in any way suggests that you replace professional help with art. If you are anxious and/or depressed go see your doctor. The information is this article is an activity you can do as extra support for your wellbeing.

*Non-Dominant Painting© Susan Keale

Art and Wisdom

Having returned from a weekend workshop at the Shambhala Mountain Center with Sue West (Art Director of Naropa University) on "Contemplation and Art" I feel inspired and frustrated. Sue is an amazing source of artistic and spiritual information and experience all of which she is willing to share. Our daily practice was contemplation on words of wisdom from gurus to artists followed by the art process as meditation. I love art for this reason – it is meditation in action. As Rilke writes in a Letters To a Young Poet, "I know of no other advice than this: Go within and scale the depths of your being from which your very life springs forth." The weekend art practice was to paint from within.

So why do I feel frustrated? Because my ordinary mind came roaring back the minute I got home which happens particularly when I'm tired. I found myself being very critical of my art and accomplishments. In today's daily reading from As We Understood I am reminded that we all have our talents and gifts to share. Sue West also said on the first day of our retreat that we are radiant beings. This is proven by the fact that we radiate heat and therefore energy. Anything from a smile to art from our hearts is radiated forth to the world. With these reminders I return to balance.

The system that I have been reflecting on in regards to what makes a Bodhisattva artist is from Buddhism. In an article from Shambhala Sun entitled "The Bodhisattva" Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche explains that, "the bodhisattva is not a god or deity but a way of being we can all aspire to." It is an ideal to which we commit ourselves to put others before ourselves. Sogyal Rinpoche puts this into a simple formula: many > one. When we work to benefit the many, we too benefit since we are part of the whole. Checking our artistic intentions when we create is a good place to remember our interconnectedness. Are we creating from a place of joy and delight? If not, say for example we are expressing grief or fear in our art, is our intention to heal? When we realize that suffering and confusion exist in ourselves and others we commit to alleviating it. Through training our minds and actions we can realize inner peace.

This is true wisdom. We can develop this wisdom by listening and reflecting on the teachings of enlightened beings and then through meditation we gain the practical experience that eliminates our doubts. As an artist this can be accomplished by attending workshops that provide an environment within which we can hear the experiences of other artists, contemplate on the shared truths and information, and have the opportunity to move beyond our habitual way of perceiving. We work to see through habitual mind and delusion. In Words of My Perfect Teacher under "Transcendent Wisdom," Patrul Rinpoche presents "eight similes of illusion." They are poetic descriptions of how to perceive our inner and outer world with non-attachment and gentle humor. When we see the falseness, the delusion of our thoughts and emotions we, as Pema Chodron writes in Comfortable With Uncertainty, uncover "the wisdom we are blocking – the wisdom of bodhichitta – [which then] becomes available." If we practice art from the very depths of our hearts with the aspiration to be of benefit to others then we are definitely working to manifest being Bodhisattva Artists.

The art that I created above is inspired by contemplating on wisdom. Traditionally wisdom is represented by the bell and the feminine. (And the dorje and masculine depict compassion. Both compassion and wisdom are necessary for enlightenment.) While I was reading about wisdom I also watched a documentary on string theory whereby everything is interconnected. This is represented in my drawing by the wavy lines in the background. This piece is created with gouache and colored pencil.

This concludes the series on the six principles of bodhichitta in regards to becoming a Bodhisattva Artist. I am grateful for the inspiration from my many teachers. May these my musings be of benefit to you.

Join me next week as I begin writing on the good wishes within the Eight Auspicious Symbols (Tibetan) and Art.

Joyous creating!

Susan