Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
*
Yunyan asked Daowu: “How does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion use so many hands and eyes?”
Daowu said: “It’s just like a person in the middle of the night reaching back in search of a pillow.”
Yunyan said: “I understand.”
Daowu said: “How do you understand it?”
Yunyan said: “All over the body are hands and eyes.”
Daowu said: “What you said is all right, but it’s only eighty percent of it.”
Yunyan said: “I’m like this, senior brother. How do you understand it?”
Daowu said: “Throughout the body are hands and eyes.”
*
Dōgen Zenji is a Zen Master who lived during the 13th Century in Japan and travelled extensively in China. Shōbōgenzō (Treasury of theTrue Dharma Eye) is considered to be his masterpiece, which is an elaborate philosophical treatise on Buddhism. The first two Zen poems and the last Koan excerpted above are attributed to this Zen Master, who is associated with the Sōtō sect of Japanes Buddhism. Dōgen Zenji emphasised that the practice of Zazen and the very experience of enlightenment are both one and the same. Zazen (by the method of Shikantaza)is one of the fundamental Zen Buddhist meditative practice which means "just sitting"! In such a seated meditation, one gradually suspends all judgmental thinking and let the words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in any of them. It makes one realise one's true Buddha nature and enlightenment.
*
Just before he passed away into the sands of time in 1253, Dōgen Zenji wrote this beautiful poem :
Our relationships are as shallow as our lives. We do not know how to relate with one's own self. As a consequence of it, we just grope in the dark when it comes to relating with any Other. We live a life of conveniences and compromises. As long as it does not disturb the fundamental axis of our negotiated spaces, the show goes on. Pretty well, that too. We contrive stories to suit the nefaroius designs of our mind. And couch them in endearing terms and ennobling references. With the cunning of reason, we concoct extremely clever narratives on love and care, on responsibilities and duties, on give and take. In actuality, we only create a make-believe world where everything is faked and feigned. Behind every facade of courtship, there is a secret bargain hidden underneath. Which is tragic. But grossly real. The irreconcilable contradictions both from within and outside creates a fractured self which is drenched in inexplicable anguish and miserable loneliness, against the backdrop of the deafening silence of the universe.
Do all intimate relationships undergo crises of sorts and keep on floundering? Why should the bubble finally burst into pieces and plunge into nothingness? How many intimate relationships continue to flourish weathering the rough storms? Is it humanly possible to withstand the travails and turbulences of any relationship and still continue to be in love? One of the most profound chapters on love is in J.Krishnamurti's Freedom From The Known. (http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/freedom-from-the-known/1968-00-00-jiddu-krishnamurti-freedom-from-the-known-chapter-10 ). But apart from getting insights into the psychological understanding of one's own self and the intricate mechanisms of the mind, which might be possible on a serious reading of J.Krishnamurti and Erich Fromm, it is also imperative for a spiritual quest in order to comprehend the meaning of living and loving. Else, we would have to continue to wallow in the deceitful and treacherous manoeuvres of the human mind and carry on with the vanity of the self into an eternally perpetuating void.
Paris, Je t'aime (Paris, My Love) is a collage of 18 short-films directed by 22 different directors of various nationalities on the city of Paris which they all love. Each short film is about 5 to 7 minutes of duration with a remarkable story-telling on various facets of Paris with the multiple meanings in the lives of its human beings. Emmanuel Benbihy, who is mainly behind its production in 2006, had also produced a similar movie of short-films on the city of New York entitled New York, I Love You in 2009. In New York, I Love You, except Fatih Akin's short-film on the life and muse of a painter, the rest of them were a damp squib. May be because, the nature of New York city itself did not inspire the artists as much as Paris did and continues to do. I do not know. Paris, Je t'aime is a collection of short-films containing many delightful vignettes on the denizens of Paris and the splices of their broken contemporary lives.Though I have many other personal favourites in this collection on Paris, Faubourg Saint-Denis by Tom Tykwer stands out as a unique testament on love from the rest.
The story of the short-film by the German director Tom Tykwer gets unfolded in the neighbourhood of Faubourg Saint-Denis, which is an urban district in the city of Paris. Francine (the enigmatically beautiful Natalie Portman) who is an aspiring actress, telephones to her blind boyfriend Thomas (Melchior Beslon) and tells him that their relationship is over. Thereafter, the director delves us into a series of flashbacks, as the nostalgic images of their shared memories dazzle through the mind's eye of Thomas starting from their first encounter. Thomas recollects their wonderfully joyous relationship filled with passion and turbulence. The sudden phone call from his lover makes him reminisce about their torrid past. While he is sieves through the weft and warp of his love life, we too travel down the memory lanes and by-lanes. The short-film ends with another phone call from Francine, when he comprehends the intensity of how much he misses her and finally how the blind lover even starts seeing her. When Tom Tykwer felt creatively exhausted and personally adrift after his real life break-up with his lover Franka Potente, he created this moving portrait on love.
_____________________________________
Faubourg Saint-Denis~Tom Tykwer :
- "Yes?"
- "Thomas, listen!"
- "Francine?"
- "Listen!
There are times when life calls out for a change. A transition. Like the seasons. Our spring was wonderful, but summer is over now and we missed out on autumn. And now all of a sudden, it's cold, so cold that everything is freezing over. Our love fell asleep, and the snow took it by surprise. But if you fall asleep in the snow, you don't feel death coming. Take care."
- "Francine... I remember it exactly
It was the 15th of May
Spring was late to arrive and rain clouds were gathering
And you were screaming ~
Francine: "Let me out. Please! Bruno? Bruno you bastard! Bruno, i'm dying here! Please Bruno! Bruno Please! I can't take it anymore!"
Thomas: Hello!
Francine: "Why can't anybody hear me!"
Thomas: I hear you! Who is Bruno?
Francine: I'm rehearsing, can't you see?
Thomas: Umm no, sorry.
Francine: No, no, i'm sorry.
Thomas: You are an actress?
Francine: Trying to be... I've and audition today
Thomas: At the conservatoire?
Francine: Yeah.
Thomas: What kind of scene was that?
Francine: It's... it's from this pretty bad movie i was in once. It's my only one so far but... i'm this prostitute who gets beaten and raped by her pimp and then he locks her in this dark cell all day long and she goes nuts, but at the end they still get married.
Thomas: A pimp and a prostitute?
Francine: (Sounds a bell) Shit! it's ten?
Thomas: So?
Francine: I have to be there at ten.
Thomas: I know a shortcut, come on!
Francine: Wait! Wait!
Thomas: This way.
Francine: Are you sure?
Thomas: Straight!
Francine: That was fast. Thanks!
Thomas: Good Luck!
And of course you were accepted
You left Boston and moved to live in Paris
A small apartment on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis
I showed you our neighbourhood, my bars, my school
I introduced you to my friends, my parents
I listened to you as you learned your lines
I listened to your singing, to your hopes, your desires
I listened to your music
And you listened to mine
You listened to my Italian, my German, my bits of Russian
I gave you a walkman and you gave me a pillow
And then one day, you kissed me
Time passed, time raced
And everything seemed so easy, so simple, free
So new and unique
We went to the movies
We went dancing, shopping
We laughed, you cried
We swam, we smoked, we shaved
From time to time you screamed, without reason
Sometimes with reason
Yes, sometimes with reason
I walked you to the Conservatory
I studied for my exams
I listened to your singing, to your hopes, your desires
I listened to your music
And you listened to mine
We were close, so close, ever closer
We went to the movies, we went swimming
We laughed together, you screamed
Sometimes with reason, and sometimes without
Time passed, time raced
I walked you to the Conservatory
I studied for my exams
You listened as I spoke Italian, German, Russian, French
I studied for my exams
You screamed, sometimes with reason
Time passed without reason
You screamed without reason
I studied for my exams
My exams, my exams, my exams
Time passed
You screamed, you screamed, you screamed
And then
I went to the movies
Alone
Forgive me, Francine!"
Thomas: Yes?
Francine: Hey what happened? You're gone all of a sudden. You hung up? Was it that bad? Thomas, are you still mad about yesterday?
Thomas: No...
Francine: Tell me, was it believable?... I see, shit! It doesn't work like that huh? How are you supposed to say: "our spring was wonderful; but summer's over" without sounding completely melodramatic? Ughh Whatever! The director loved it, so i have to find a way. Thomas, are you listening to me?
The above Invite is for a function on the eve of the release of a Book entitled VENKAT SAMINATHAN : DEBATES AND DISCUSSIONS. It is a festschrift by various scholars, critics and friends from India, Sri Lanka and North America on the multifarious works of one of the most fierce and very important literary, art and cultural critic of modern Tamil society, Venkat Saminathan, spanning over five decades. Currently living in Bangalore, the 78-year old Venkat Saminathan, is a legendary persona of uncompromising principles and an ethical vitality that has become so rare during these testing contemporary times. It has taken more than two long years to co-ordinate and compile, to add and delete, to select and edit the writers and their writings. The idea to bring out an honourary volume on Venkat Saminathan emerged during one of those lovely Scotch-inspired moments, on a starry night in JNU's Brahmaputra Hostel room of Shanaa, the wonderful artist friend from Yaazhpanam in Sri Lanka. It could finally be materialised only out of the sustained perseverance of Dilip Kumar, the writer from Chennai and Ahilan, the poet from Yaazhpanam, Sri Lanka. The hardbound tome priced at Rs.300/- which is around 500 pages, is being published by Sandhya Publications in Chennai.
The Book :VENKAT SAMINATHAN : DEBATES AND DISCUSSIONS
Editors : Pa.Ahilan, Dilip Kumar & SathyaMoorthy
Venue : Devaneya Paavaanar Library, Anna Salai, Chennai
Date : 30.04.2011, Saturday, 5.30 pm
The Book will be Released by senior Writer : K.A. Satchidantham
The Book will be Received by senior Translator : K.S.Subramanian
My father, Thomas Constantine, now 82, acquired this painting in the late 40's at the age of 19, as payment of a $104 dept from a young man he worked with, who's Father received the painting as a gift from the artist himself. My father accepted the painting as payment, he found it an interesting political depiction of the world. At 19, my father, a Cypriot immigrant saw the meaning of the painting. I remember this painting, rolled up in our Garage, as a little girl. My father sold the painting to Heckscher in 1968 for 15,000. My father has a great explanation of this painting. This is what the artist thought of what was going on in the world at the time he painted it, very, very politically symbolic. The Donkey, the public, who walk with binders and are fed news/newspaper propaganda, Nazi Germany, killed in the name of the church, (the big guy with the wreath of Jesus and a candy coated cross) and other Governments sit around and do nothing (the guys with no heads, writing laws/deals and sit around twidleing thumbs) as the banks get bigger, the dollar sign in the sun, and is all the money made on war, as the people suffer and are imprisoned in their own lives. (the person behind bars on the floor with the scull) Notice the shoes, Rich People in Gov. The Guy who is whispering (with all the guns,tanks and arms under his arm) was thought to be the Man who really started the rise of Nazism that Led Hitler to who he was and what he did. (not sure of the guys name), also notice the rope at the end of what the donkey is standing on, that is something that is used to pull the rug out from under you ... yes, a very interesting painting, and very political.
I entered the above post, about my Father selling this painting to Heckscher .. here is a great explanation of the painting..
It is a scathing indictment of the corrupt military establishment of the Weimar Republic. A fat, weapon-carrying industrialist whispers in the ear of a decorated general wearing a laurel wreath, identified as Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), who was Field Marshal during World War I and second president of the Weimar RRepublic (1925-1934). Headless ministers ready to carry out their orders surround the two. In front of von Hindenburg is a funerary cross painted red, white, and black, the colors of the former German imperial flag. A bloody sword recalls the general’s deeds during the war. A, tilts precipitously, threatening to throw von Hindenburg, the industrialist, and the ministers down the stairs donkey, the symbol of the German burgher, stands at the edge of the table, wearing blinkers emblazoned with the imperial eagle and gobbling up the lies printed in the press. Under the table, a child is seen behind the bars of a prison representing Germany’s future. The table, painted green and red, the colors of money and blood and into the pit of death below. At the upper left, a dollar coin eclipses the sun,suggesting that capitalism and power, represented by the military-industrial complex, will lead to apocalypse. Above the figures, destruction is seen in the fires in the dark background. A World War I airplane is seen at the upper right. Eclipse of the Sun was exhibited at the Galerie Flechtheim in Berlin in 1927, but it did not sell and Grosz brought it with him when he came to the U.S. in 1933.
Research by The Heckscher’s Chief Curator Kenneth Wayne has pieced together its subsequent history. In the late 1940s, the painting came into the possession of Thomas Constantine, a house painter who acquired it as reimbursement for $104 he had loaned a co-worker friend in lower Manhattan. The friend’s father had acquired the painting directly from Grosz. Too large to hang, the painting was rolled up at Constantine’s Long Island home for many years. He eventually tried to sell the painting to several major New York museums, but didn’t find a buyer. In 1968, Heckscher Museum Director Eva Gatling saw the painting at the Harbor Gallery in Cold Spring Harbor. She pursued its acquisition with singular vision and commitment,soliciting contributions from the Museum membership. Today, this masterpiece of twentieth-century art is The Heckscher Museum’s most acclaimed painting and quite plausibly the most important artwork on all of Long Island.
