Tonight is the first figure drawing session of the semester and my first opportunity to incorporate mindfulness into my experience. Drawing with meditation garnish, if you will. I've taken some time to try and prepare for the session and to try and figure out what I'm supposed to be doing anyway. Unfortunately, in the chaotic collegiate atmosphere (dukkha, dukkha, dukkha), I have only fond the time to read one article. However, despite my limited source material, I think I have a slightly better grasp at what I am attempting.
In the article "What does mindfulness really mean?", Bodhi (2011) examines mindfulness as it is described in the original Pali cannon. These writings are the oldest surviving Buddhist texts, which seemed like a good place to start my meditation education.
Sati, or mindfulness, is described in the Pali Nikaya (a collection of ancient Buddhist teachings) in this way,
This concept translates very clearly to the act of drawing from life. In order to effectively capture the likeness of a subject, it is necessary to observe it exactly as it is. Although this sounds obvious, it is actually quite complicated. We have so many preconceived ideas about what things look like that it is easy to slip and start drawing the idea and not the actual object. These caricatures are always poor replicas of the original. When I try to draw a model I have to be careful to draw what I am seeing, and not what I think I should be seeing. Although there is a person in front of me, they are unique from all other ideas and images I have of "a person." I have to pay attention to the patterns of light and dark, to the exact shapes and contours of their body, to all the imperfections that never made it into my "person" archetype.
In a sense, I've been somewhat mindful all along.
Although the direction to "contemplate the body in the body" is meant to describe the act of paying close attention to one's personal physical being, I think the exercise of focusing deeply on an external object could be equally illuminating. I will be making a conscious effort to see reality as it is, and not as I would like it to be.
In the article "What does mindfulness really mean?", Bodhi (2011) examines mindfulness as it is described in the original Pali cannon. These writings are the oldest surviving Buddhist texts, which seemed like a good place to start my meditation education.
Sati, or mindfulness, is described in the Pali Nikaya (a collection of ancient Buddhist teachings) in this way,
"And what, monks, is right mindfulness? Here, a monk dwells contemplating theThe word "contemplation" in this passage is anupassana in Pali. Anupassana can be broken down into anu, which can be translated as "closeness", and passana, which means "observation" (Bodhi 2011). To contemplate something can then be described as the act of closely observing the object, feeling, or phenomena.body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having removedcovetousness and displeasure in regard to the world. He dwells contemplatingfeelings in feelings . . . contemplating mind in mind . . . contemplatingphenomena in phenomena, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, havingremoved covetousness and displeasure in regard to the world. This is called rightmindfulness." (Pali Nikaya quoted in Bodhi 2011)
This concept translates very clearly to the act of drawing from life. In order to effectively capture the likeness of a subject, it is necessary to observe it exactly as it is. Although this sounds obvious, it is actually quite complicated. We have so many preconceived ideas about what things look like that it is easy to slip and start drawing the idea and not the actual object. These caricatures are always poor replicas of the original. When I try to draw a model I have to be careful to draw what I am seeing, and not what I think I should be seeing. Although there is a person in front of me, they are unique from all other ideas and images I have of "a person." I have to pay attention to the patterns of light and dark, to the exact shapes and contours of their body, to all the imperfections that never made it into my "person" archetype.
In a sense, I've been somewhat mindful all along.
Although the direction to "contemplate the body in the body" is meant to describe the act of paying close attention to one's personal physical being, I think the exercise of focusing deeply on an external object could be equally illuminating. I will be making a conscious effort to see reality as it is, and not as I would like it to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment