Since we just moved off Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday, let's move on to some art in a tradition that is contemplative, but wants to get you away from all that "downer" bad stuff [and the "upper" good stuff too, cuz that apparently causes suffering eventually too ...].
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| Artist Amanda Giacomini, 10,000 Buddhas, paint on old building. |
Join the crowd of enlightened beings and let's get past all this suffering. There's a meditation center around the corner from my house which I have mentioned before. There used to be a memorial portrait of a dead member named Curtis on this wall, but I suppose he's been memorialized enough and art is a river in this part of town, especially street art. It all passes by, so enjoy it while you've got it.
Didn't take much digging to find out that this is part of a larger project by this artist to paint 10,000 Buddhas. If figure on this wall, she's gotten about maybe, 340 toward goal? See her website.
If you're thinking the term "10,000 Buddhas" sounds vaguely familiar, there are monasteries in HongKong and Ukiah, California, a pagoda, and a cave in China with old wall paintings that all sport this name. What they all have in common is, you guessed it, a lot of representations of the Buddha in one place.
But why "10,000?" If you know some Asian languages, 10,000 is the term that stands in culturally for the concept "really big," kind of like "million" does it for us Americans. Hence: "I feel like a million bucks!" "Thanks a million!" I guess there's been less inflation in Asian countries...
Anyway, here's to that artist's meeting her ambition of painting 10K, cuz ambition and the celebration of excess are primary Buddhist virtues right?
Anyway, gotta go and pay the rent.
Love,
Pops
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Be truthful and frank, but be polite. If you use excessive profanity, I'll assume you have some kind of character flaw like Dr. Wong. Tks!