September
2001
|
|
LIVING
IN THE SPIRIT
Cultivating Compassion
Through Sacred Art
YVONNE RAND
THE BUDDHIST TEACHINGS proclaim that there is a path for the cultivation of wholeness,
for liberation from suffering, for waking up fully, for being present in each moment
with whatever is so. The cultivation of Heart/Mind means the progressive actualization
of our potential as human beings and arises out of the inseparability of compassion
and wisdom. The ground of the practice is the capacity for regarding, for seeing,
for being with the cries of the world without reaction and without judgment.
My first experience as a practitioner in the Buddhist tradition was with Zen Master
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in the mid-1960s. Much of my early experience as a Zen student
took place within the framework of watching Suzuki Roshi up close and scrutinizing
the details of his activity and his meditation. What both he and Dainin Katagiri
Roshi showed me was the actuality of compassion manifested in the small and large
details of every aspect of their lives.
Over a long time I began to understand, experientially, that the cultivation of Heart/Mind
could not be separated from cultivation of compassion both for myself and for all
other beings.
Through the years the experience of looking at, studying, absorbing, and meditating
upon painted and sculpted images of compassion in the Buddhist tradition has become,
for me, an increasingly reliable method for generating and stabilizing the capacity
for compassion. The combination of keeping company with teachers who have themselves
cultivated their capacity for compassion and giving persistent attention to the images
of compassion from the sacred art of Tibet, Japan, and China has helped me find my
way to the actual experience of becoming more deeply compassionate myself.
I first encountered the sacred art of Tibet in the 1980s and found that the clarity
and beauty of that iconographic system enabled me to trace and recognize the symbolism
as it adapted itself into other cultures in Buddhist Asia. Certain images of the
Bodhisattva of Compassion, manifesting as Avalokiteshvara, Tara or Jizo, as well
as the Medicine Buddha, have left me feeling that my heart has burst open. Images
that are painted or sculpted by artists who are themselves realized practitioners
seem to communicate most potently the qualities that make up compassion. To have
such direct experience with sacred art, especially when I can live with a particular
figure over some time, has been a process that has encouraged the emergence of my
own capacities.
Zanibazar was a great artist monk and a highly realized practitioner in the Tibetan
tradition. In 1996 I saw some of his sculptures at the Guimee Museum in Paris. The
exhibit of Zanibazar's work was like a magnet for me. I could not stay away. I kept
going back again and again. When the same exhibition came to San Francisco I went
to see Zanibazar's figures repeatedly. After a while the images dropped into my inner
eye in a way that informed my own practices on loving kindness and compassion and
nudged me closer and closer to a capacity for rousing these qualities in myself.
Living with an image and letting myself open to the image wakens an intelligence
and capability that I often seem not to know I have within me. I was fortunate to
study with the late Tara Tulku, a lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He advised
me to practice only with images I found beautiful. I am grateful for his counsel.
Beautiful images do open my heart, and the teaching they carry can seep in and percolate
through the blindness and resistance that keeps their fresh sight from me.
In the meditation room where I practice and teach there is a bronze figure of standing
Avalokiteshvara. He stands with his left hand in the position that symbolizes "all
is well" and with his right hand in the position that symbolizes generosity.
I have been looking at and walking by this figure for years. One day, as though out
of the blue, I realized that the two aspects must arise together. Generosity begets
the inner sense that all is well. If I can but step back and expand on the breath,
both arise together. The moment of insight arising from recognition of the relationship
between generosity and all is well initiated and continues to prompt the on-going,
gradual refinement and deepening of my understanding. Now, some years later, I still
pause in front of the figure with wonder and gratitude for the teaching that this
icon offers.
Yvonne Rand is a meditation teacher and lay priest in the Soto Zen tradition. Her
principal teachers include Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, Dainin Katagiri-roshi, Tara Tulku,
H.H. the Dalai Lama and Yaeko Nakamura-sensei. She has been teaching for 29 years.
She conducts frequent retreats with groups of students in Marin County, California,
at Goat-in-the-Road, a place for Buddhist practice.
Upcoming Events featuring Yvonne Rand: The Faces of Wisdom and Compassion:
How to Practice with the Iconography of Buddhist Sacred Art Lecture with slides.
Friday, Sept. 28, 7:30-9 p.m. $15. Reaching for the Pillow: Compassion Practice in
the Zen and Tibetan Traditions Workshop, Saturday, Sept. 29, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. $125
. Sunday Morning Meditation and Dharma Talk Sunday, Sept. 30, 9-10:30 a.m., $10 donation.
Contact Clouds in Water Zen Center at 651-222-6968 or email info@cloudsinwater.org.
Home | Wellness? | Writers Info | Subscribe | Links | Contact Us
P.O. Box 897
Stillwater, MN 55082
tel:
715-259-3385 or fax: 715-259-3386
email: info@tcwellness.com
©
2001 Twin Cities WELLNESS newspaper.
All rights reserved.
