Celestial Lights II; Juicy Chaos

The second Celestial Lights party thrown by folklore enterprises and cracker jax productions was similar to the first but with every aspect on steroids. More artists, more music, more people, more lasers. The vibe was real wild, real loud, and real sexy, with peoples coming out to party, dance and share a love for the arts and city lights.

 For this show I painted my fifth edition Dominos by dripping inks on to paper and than folding the paper in half to mirror the butterflies wings. Ancient Zen artists used to attempt to place dots on paper in artistic disorder, this seemingly easy task was actually very difficult to do without forming some sort of arrangement. In Zen we sometimes emphasize disorder or imbalance to reflect that even though we may try to control life's situations we actually cannot. Life, movement, is the destruction of balance against a background of perfect existence and thus there is the realization that suffering itself is how we actually live. Similarly, trying to control other aspects in life, such as a flock of sheep, people, and your self can be equally challenging. The most efficient way to control these aspects is to create the platform for what you are attempting and actually give the control up to allow the universe to take action. If you wish to raise a sheep give it a large pasture if you wish to control a person, encourage them to be mischievous, if you wish to achieve tranquility in your meditation, do not attempt to control your thoughts but rather let them go, watch them, don't ignore them but allow the thoughts to pass and you will find them under your control. This is right effort. This is true freedom. This is to put the universe in your control.

"A snowflake never falls in the wrong place"

At the show I was painting tigers as I had been inspired by a Zen parable also pursued with my Juicy Zen that went along the lines of "In this Zen parable a man is found hanging on to a vine off the side of a cliff with a tiger waiting above him, and a tiger waiting below. Certain death was to be found in all directions and yet the man notices a strawberry growing off the cliff face and has the juiciest, sweetest, tastiest meal of his entire life."  While painting, I took notice that my tiger looked like a strawberry and I came to a realization that the tiger was the strawberry. 

"The pessimist sees danger in every opportunity where as the optimist sees opportunity in every danger." 


We've all experienced the thrill of danger, whether it be a near death experience, street art, gambling all our chips or clearing an obstacle that cowards falter on. There is a rush of adrenaline, energy, the heart rate increases, time slows down, all of the senses become hypersensitive and the body becomes capable of doing things otherwise impossible. Then there is also the rewarding sensation of overcoming the danger, surviving, accomplishing where others have failed.




 In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it. The greatest danger is to not to take the risk. By fearing, avoiding or running from danger we act as the ostrich who hides his head under the sand in fear and only exposes the rest of their body to be consumed whereas facing danger without fear we are able to overcome our obstacles and thus the wise pray not to be delivered from danger but delivered from fear. Danger can only be overcome by taking more risks, more danger. Thus when danger approaches, sing to it and take the opportunity to dance to the tune.

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."-Michelangelo

Tigerberries: 10USD
All other art for best offer!


Juicy Zen
Domino
Dominos
Dominos II
Dominos III & IV; Celestial Lights I

Yoga Power

 I have just now completed the life trans formative Teacher Training program with Corepower Yoga, a bittersweet victory. Bitter in the sense that I will no longer be receiving the superb instruction with some of the greatest teachers (and teacher trainers) that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. A sweet victory in the sense that I am now a certified yoga instructor and feel even more integrated as a limb of corepower yoga.

 When Sarah asked me if I'd be interested in doing a "mini-mural" at our downtown studio I was absolutely thrilled and honored with such an opportunity to be able to reach out and give a message to such wonderful people also on the yogic path. I got the inspiration for my first mural in thinking of the rising of Kundalini or serpant power which is raised by method of the breath of fire among other techniques. Thus I drew fire breathing serpents and where their flames cross a lotus is born. I also wanted to use gestalt and leave a seated figure in the emptiness between the serpents.

I had a number of Buddhist, Hindu and Yoga quotes I wanted to use for this specific piece, but Shakespeare stole my heart away.  I heard a particularly inspiring quote after I was raking the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center's garden which went along the lines of: The eye is on fire; forms are on fire; eye-consciousness is on fire; impressions received by the eye are on fire and continued as such for all the senses. Everything is burning which includes our luminous light body, burning imprints and creating the template in a patterned arrangement that makes up all seemingly unrelated events into a grand harmonious orchestra.

The fire is not quenched by pouring oil on it; so desire is not quenched by the satisfaction of desire

Upon Graduating we were all given a Mala, the yoga equivalent of a rosary. The Mala has 108 beads, representing the 108 delusions, lies or desires. The Heart cakra is believed to have 108 energy channels. The Sanskrit alphabet has fifty four letters each with a masculine and feminine counter equating in 108 sounds to the human tongue. There is 1 divine energy 0 resembles an empty circle or MU and 8 resembles infinity. There are a number of other reasons for having 108 beads, but they are to be used as a counter for chanting. As I was fondling my Mala the very night of graduation the string snapped sending beads cascading in every which way. I took each of the 108 beads and chanting "Loka samasta sukhino bhavantu" for every bead, I planted them among the stones of my Zen garden which were collected from various temples and mountaintops of Japan. 


Loka samasta sukhino bhavantu means:
May all beings everywhere be happy and be free and may my thoughts words and actions contribute in some way!

Although I may have "graduated" teacher training, the training has only just begun. I've snagged a couple teaching gigs which includes the largest Hindu temple in the United States, the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, Moe Bodyworks and at my little cuzzies elementary school. I wasn't initially intending to teach children yoga but I went into Renee's school to give a didgeridoo performance and decided to show the children flying yoga. All the kids got so excited they got me excited and I spoke with the community organizer, a yogi of five years, and he jumped on the idea! I then found out one of my favorite teachers at Corepower, Ella Chissotti, also taught kids yoga out of our franchised corepower that I cleaned at! Thus I have begun apprenticing under her incredible guidance. I have found working with children to be incredibly rewarding already, they are so open to learning and eager with their beginner minds. Plus they are just all to playful which is great because I was really starting to take my practice to seriously...

Because in the end of all our searching,
we arrive where we started,
to know our place for the very first time.
The present moment.
A goal and a starting point.

Celestial Chaos

Celestial Lights was a live painting and galleria of nine incredible local artists with home grown music DJ sets and a laser light show all put on by Folklore Enterprises and CrackerJax productions up in the loft above Barfly. The party was booming with electronica, techno and dubstep pumping along with laser lights cutting through four fog machines. This extravaganza stimulated every sensory organ to create an out of this world experience.

For this show I was particularly enjoying the act of drip painting because there is less control in my hands and I can allow the universe to meet me half way. While studying in a Pureland Buddhist temple in Japan I truly learned that the self power (Jiriki) is weaker than that of other power (Tariki). I came from a very “headstrong” place and had thought that to surrender my own power was to “throw my power out” when actually surrender allowed for one to be more fully a part of their surroundings and expand ones power through faith and a willingness to let go, let go of attachments and the struggle for results. There is a similar saying in Zen that says we must know when to be strong and turn the dharma (all things) or allow ourselves to be weak and let the dharma carry us. With that being said, let go and give it up!

Thus for the show I painted a number of drip paintings as well create my own Japanese marble wa-shi paper in which I found form. I find it incredibly interesting that in chinese mythology the term "chaos" is often found to describe formless mass before creation. I also produced my 3rd edition dominoes for the show.

During the show "I" painted my 4th edition dominoes in which I had a number of people at the party also contribute by throwing butterflies to contribute to one larger butterfly and thus really emphasize the nature of the butterfly effect and that of Tariki or other power.

I also did a large ink painting which I had a number of party people collaborate on with me. I truly feel that even when "i" create a piece of art that I am not really the sole creator but an instrument for which others create their art through me so thank you to everyone who came out and contributed their expression, their energy and their art.

small: $10USD  Big $40USD


Come out to our next party May 22nd 2010 @ the loft above barfly!


Photos by Nick Patton
2nd Edition Dominoes
1st Edition Dominoes
Domino

How to get rid of a Demon and get a foot in the door.

Every third Thursday of the month the Minneapolis Institute of Arts puts on a party and this last February the MIA also decided to align the opening for their fourth foot in the door exhibition. Foot in the Door is an exhibition that happens every ten years and allows for any artist to show their work in the MIA as long as the piece is no larger than one square foot. This year there is 5,000 some local home grown works which creates a visual experience like nothing you've ever experienced.

I decided for my piece that I wanted something to stick out and with only a week to produce the piece, my choice of mediums were limited. I decided to use chalkboard spray on a panel and draw a demon with various ritualistic markings on its face. I then decided to chant mantras while hammering a bunch of nails into the piece to make the piece appear as if a voodoo doll and "stick out". The neighbors then came over and complained that our "party" was being to loud but somehow when they left we had managed to get a hold of their old Christmas tree to burn. The tree lit up rather fast (with the help of vodka soaked paper-bags) and I got the idea to throw my piece to the flames. I decided at the last minute to pull the piece out and throw it in the snow. The charred remains made for an excellent frame for the pictures of the demon being expunged.

When I was arriving to drop off my piece for the exhibition there was a number of artist's walking the other way telling me it was to late and that the officials were turning down artists despite the panels deadline being several hours later because there was just to many artists and not enough time to catalogue them all. Well I decided to talk to a security guard and ask where I might be able to sneak in and he told me exactly where I shouldn't try because he could lose his job. After I slipped into the right gallery wing I found a line that would take minimally two to three hours to crawl through and I had a yoga class in an hour which I had to make. In my frustration I decided to call my friend in the only place I had reception which was the doorway of the museum. As I was telling him I was unsure of what I was going to do an MAEP official was walking out of the building and took the piece right out of my hands and said "I can take this from you" and I was in.

The opening was an incredible event. We arrived early to avoid the crowd but the place was packed full of people anyways, however when we left there was an equally obnoxious line to enter the exhibition as there was to enter a piece in. There is just so much art to see from children's musings to professional masterpieces. Every time I've been I've noticed new things and have found hidden gems that hide in plain site. Also for this third thursday Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lappelles played an amazing set that really topped off the night. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera opening night but there are plenty of pictures on the MIA's website The show runs until June 13th but I would make sure to leave yourself plenty of room to visit a couple of times and see what strikes you next!

Does a Dog MU?

In this Zen Koan a monk asks Chao-Chou, "Does a dog have Buddha nature?"

and Chao Chao replied "Mu"

Which means no, nothing or emptiness.

Does a Dog Have Buddha Nature?

                          Can Tantric Buddhism really be considered Buddhism? The Buddha taught that life is suffering stemmed from desire (although further defined that anxiety is the seed of desire) and that to alleviate suffering one must cease desire by non-attraction, aversion and even ignorance. This is called the sutra path and one of two paths that the Buddha taught. The other path is called the Tantra, Mantra, or the Vajrayana path which is homeopathic to desire in that the antidote to a snakes poison is snake’s venom, a thorn can be removed by a thorn, a burn can be healed by a burn and ordinary desire can be transformed into sublime desire. Both paths which appear to be radically opposed to each other reach the same wisdom through different means of rejection to the existing societal structures.

                          The sutra path is exoteric and thus the primary Buddhism practiced by the laity consensus. This path is otherwise known as the perfection of wisdom. This wisdom is obtained by a lengthy and gradual training in generosity, morality, forbearance, perseverance, and meditative concentration. The practitioner of the sutra path can thus renounce desire and the world through the Buddhist ideal and concept of emptiness.

                          The Tantric path is geared for those whom have greater difficulty to renounce the world yet possess great compassion and sharp faculties to not be deluded by attachment to samsara. Tantra most commonly purifies the mind in stages so that the practitioner can experience and understand their consciousness. The Vajrayana path utilizes magical ritualistic meditating techniques which greatly accelerates the practice and develops the same virtues and knowledge of the sutra path. The mantra path pinnacles in the instantaneous practice otherwise known as the “great seal” or Mahamudra. The initial stages of the great seal consists in dissolving ordinary perception into the perception of emptiness whereas the “completion stage” or “great seal”, cognizes the ultimate nature of mind itself and ceases perception of the ideation so that the luminosity of mind appears and the mind can be aware of its own emptiness. Tantra is thus much more than ritualistic techniques, but in fact acts as a meditative discharge of insights developed within the Mahayana philosophical tradition.

                          Both paths lead to the same wisdom. This is the middle course between the conventional and ultimate truths. That is the middle way between everything consisting of an inherent existence and the nihilism which denies phenomenon’s causal relations.  Thus we find an emptiness of inherent existence which makes dependent origination possible. The conventional truth of appearances and the ultimate truth of emptiness can then be simultaneously comprehended. With no difference in the profundity of the highest wisdom between Sutra and Tantra, the superiority of the Tantric vehicle resides in the method.

                          The Tantric path reaches realization through yogic discipline of the mind. The Vajrayana yokes the creative powers of the mind by stimulating and then harnessing desire to use in focusing the five senses and aggregates (form, conception, volition, perception, and consciousness) with the mandala of the Buddha-mind. Man as the Mandala, is a microcosm of the macrocosm. Man and the world become fundamentally identical and thus sexuality, as ones of the world’s main driving forces, is reintegrated. This mastery of mind, emotions, sexual energy, mental and physical bodies, all act as an inner yoga to bliss. The spiritual body turns passions and lust into a divine love. The completion process finds that man’s essential nature is of bliss and not of conceptual thought but a basic state in which winds traverse the nadis channels and are sealed by mind-body with the consort.

                          Human beings experience their bodies and their sexuality in many different ways which can be a vivid abuse of desire or a sensual religious experience. Desire can act as an offering to enlightenment where the blissful mind sees the true nature of things and can offer and receive without attachment. Integrating the two truths, the yin and the yang, the womb and diamond, can be expressed as a sexual union of the god or Buddha with his female consort representing his energy. Sakti, or Kundalini energy, is a feminine serpentine energy which is coiled around the base of the spine. Usually sleeping, this energy can be awakened to traverse  the nadis channels and rise up the spinal column to the Ajna Cakra behind the center of the eyebrows and even fly beyond the body for the heavens. The energy is pumped up into the sky by winds produced with Tantric rites such as pounding Mantras (chants) with repeated utterances and breathing techniques which often involve the five normally forbidden ritual substances of liquor, meat, fish, seminal fluids and the self. The Yaksini or practitioner gives the body as a sacrifice of food for the Goddess and liberated of a suffering existence the bonds are broken and the soul joins in union with the Sakti to fly. 

                         Sexuality has a great capacity to offend however through boldly defying the social norms there is salvation to be found. Tantra is not a degeneration of Buddhism influenced by persuasion of a corrupting culture but rather a highly philosophical and ritual synthesis geared to realize the notion of the two truths and alleviate suffering by transforming desire through the most efficient expedient means possible. By placing desire in the service of liberation rather than sacrificing the world for liberations sake, desire is reinstated with the perspective of salvation which implies a certain disposition of the Tantric practitioners relationship with the cosmos as integrated within an all-embracing system of micro-macro cosmic correlations. Tantric Buddhism is thus really Buddhism and not a completely autonomous system that replaces and surpasses all that has come before but truly acts as a supplement to the traditional path of Buddhism.

                           

However be for-warned,
 for when you begin to focus on something,

that something eventually begins to focus on you.

                         

                                                                        References

Newman, John, Vajrayoga in Kalacakra Tantra

Faure, Bernard Japanese Tantra, the Tachikawa-ryu and Ryobu Shinto

Lopez, Donald S. Jr. Meditation on Emptiness

White, David Gordon. Kiss of the Yogini

White, David Gordon.  Tantra in Practice 

Matted to standard frame size 11"X14" .    $15USD + shipping