The Broken Buddha
posted by Caelidh | September 19, 2010
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IcerocketVery good article....
Broken Buddha
The enlightened one as imperfect, cracked, and chipped.
By Meg Barnhouse
7.5.10
I have a photograph in my online art collection titled “Broken Buddha.” It shows the lap of a painted statue. One graceful hand has broken off and is resting on the sole of an upturned foot. I’m trying to figure out why I’m so drawn to this image. The enlightened one as imperfect, cracked, and chipped—maybe that is how my enlightenment feels. It is not all that shiny anymore. A piece or two might have gotten knocked off.
I don’t know why it makes me remember a woman—we’ll call her Julie Gates—who was a pillar of my husband’s Presbyterian church. Tall, slender, righteous, well put together in pumps and pearls. Julie was a community saint and icon who had founded “Senior Communications,” connecting the elderly all over town. Whenever her name was mentioned, someone would breathe out reverently: “Oh, she is wonderful,” and everyone around would nod with downcast eyes and soft faces. She and her husband were to leave that church within a year because it “wasn’t Christian enough.”
MORE....
http://www.uuworld.org/spirit/articles/168671.shtml
Comments
It reminds me of the concept
— Sep 20, 2010
It reminds me of the concept of wabi sabi, as well as the notion that nirvana and samsara are one. It also reminds me that notion that Trungpa spoke about in his book trancending madness, that we are all born enlightened but spend the rest of our lives learning to deal with confused people.
Thanks for posting this...
To many times I feel that when people are seeking enlightment, trancendence, or to conciously "evolve" that they forget that what they are evolving from is perfectly imperfect and what they will evolve into will also be perfectly imprefect. And that for those that seek to become something that they are that they are moving in an endless circle that we call samsara.
