Comment

Comment by Harry Nicholson on July 6, 2012 at 6:54pm

Hello, Robby. I'm just back from helping to hang a display of enamels in Whitby, and then the preview. Even the town mayor was there. 

I'm also drawn to Green Tara. I've an image of her above my enamelling workbench - she helps to keep my hand steady when I load the kiln (I like to think).

Lama Govinda (a German monk, now deceased) wrote 'Creative Meditation and Multidimensional Consciousness' in 1976; it might interest you as it seems close to Jung's thinking. Govinda also wrote 'Way of the White Clouds', about his travels and efforts to salvage the crumbling ancient art of Tibet. New Delhi art gallery has lots of the copies he made.

It is midnight here - must retire now.

regards

Harry

Comment by Robby Baby (Dark Poet of Amour) on July 5, 2012 at 2:15am

Yes, Harry :) I'm reading a book on Tantra and psychology, and I'm also reading LOTS about Jung and archetypes. The deities represent what we want to bring out in ourselves, and, in the case of wrathful deities, what we need to confront our "shadow archetype" so that we may express it in a healthy manner. It's nice to talk of such things with someone else who has a good grasp of it. Vajrasattva is one of the most beautiful of the deities, artistically. I also love all the taras, especially for what they represent, Green Tara especially.

Comment by Harry Nicholson on July 4, 2012 at 4:10pm

Thank you for the positive comment on the image, Aberjhani. I tried to repeat that enamel a few times but none came near to it.

Comment by Harry Nicholson on July 4, 2012 at 4:08pm

Thanks, Robby. I think of those figures as archetypes of aspects of the best human condition. Vajrasattva represents purification (the vajra being a symbol for the clearing of ignorance - and the bell, the essence of reality).

Comment by Author-Poet Aberjhani on July 4, 2012 at 3:39pm

I can see the attraction to this image very easily. It's profoundly ethereal and yet penetratingly present at the same time. Thanks for sharing it.

Aberjhani

Comment by Robby Baby (Dark Poet of Amour) on July 4, 2012 at 1:17am

OHHH I just looked...The vajrasattva at the site is BEAUTIFUL!!! I will share that with spiritual/buddhist friends :) I was just reading more about vajrasattva today, a meditation involving the deity. I think you captured the essence of Vajrasattva very well. I'm glad to have come across your work!

Comment by Robby Baby (Dark Poet of Amour) on July 4, 2012 at 1:14am

Yes, I have a copy of the Bardo Thodol with an intro by Carl Jung, who studied much of eastern philosophy in his career :) Thanks for the link; I'll check it out. I'm taking a very brief look now just before going to bed :)

Comment by Harry Nicholson on July 3, 2012 at 6:51pm

Thanks, Robby. There are other enamels on my blog: http://1513fusion.wordpress.com/

I am pleased with this enamel, it has a satisfying spontaneity. The 'fracturing' on the red figure is beyond my control and was determined by the different expansion rates of the glass layers. 

Karma seems to be a flexible term in modern usage, from what I understand of Buddhist ideas it is the tendencies/habits (or volitions) that determine the nature of a rebirth. Karma translates best as 'willed action'  and it is 'karma vipaka' that is the result of willed action. It is all a bit complex . . .

Looking into 'bardo' I find that it can be applied to other states of change such as: waking, falling asleep, dreaming, and meditation. But it's usually seen as the state between death and rebirth. The famous 'Tibetan Book of the Dead' is, in Tibetan, called 'The Bardo Thodol'.

Comment by Robby Baby (Dark Poet of Amour) on July 2, 2012 at 7:01pm

I really do enjoy this very much :) You really did capture the Bardo state well. It illicits a feeling of transition here. The figure strikes me as being in transition but not lost. Kudos :)

Comment by Robby Baby (Dark Poet of Amour) on July 2, 2012 at 6:59pm

AHH thought so! Yes, the Bardo is the passage from one life to next in tibietan buddhism. It's where your karma decides where you, which realm. This one reminds me of the Hungry Ghost Realm, where the ghosts have distended stomachs from over-indulgence, and pin-needle sized mouths that reflect an inability to consume enough.

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