Amitabha Buddha and Bodhi
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.
My friend Bodhi has a closer look at one of his favourite Buddhas, the beautiful Heian Era (11-12th century) Japanese Amitabha Buddha statue at the Art Gallery of NSW. It's made of carved nutmeg wood, with black lacquer and traces of red lacquer and gilding.
Sunday was a bit grey and rainy in Sydney, so it turned out to be the prefect day to go to the Art Gallery. Oh, except it seemed half of Sydney had the same idea. It was packed. The Pissarro exhibition was huge, and likewise packed full of people. Bodhi and I both love the Asian Galleries, so after Pissarro we went and hung out there for a while, visiting our favourites. Like the statue above.
10 comments:
Namu Amida Butsu
Namu Amida Butsu
Namu Amida Butsu
[This Amitabha Mantra, or Nembutsu in Japanese, means "Homage to the Buddha of infinite light and life". This mantra is used widely in Japanese Buddhism, but has a core signififance in Jodoshu, or Pure Land, Buddhism.]
I love to chant this mantra in Japanese. And this is my absolute favourite Buddha, ever since I first saw it displayed at the Art Gallery over a decade ago. It deeply moved me, and it held a powerful and positive attraction over me even from my first viewing (when I was not yet a Buddhist). I do love all things Japanese, so who knows ... maybe I was a Japanese monk in a past life?
Amitabha Buddha as a spiritual figure also appeals, and I plan to take on a permanent Amitabha practise once I am ordained into the Western Buddhist Order.
That's why I couldn't post any other pic of Amitabha, other than the one with you in it also! :-)
so THAT'S Bodhi... interesting... :P
:-)
[Ghasso, and Deep Bow]
Yaniboy, if you want a clearer picture of me then click on "Chinese Gardens Part 1" under TOA's My Fave Pics at left. You will see a close-up pic of both myself and The Kid (my 15 year old daughter).
Another picture of just myself, also taken by Andrew at the Chinese Gardens, appears on my Yahoo profile, a link to which appears on my homepage. I'm no longer blonde though, as I was back in those Chinese Gardens pics. Well, at least not this week ;-)
And by the way cutie, I recently added your blog as a permanent link on my homepage.
Always the Man in Black then, B?
Not all black, all the time, Mikey, but its certainly not uncommon for me to be so.
You can't really see it in this photo, but I am wearing blue jeans with my black jacket and t-shirt in this photo Mikey. And I believe that last Sunday I was wearing my blue and black undies (Coordinate and accessorize, m'kay)
Bodes, the underwear thing...
Too. Much. Information.
Sweetie. :-)
Never TMI about underpants, A.
don't you love blogs? the way a post about Buddha becomes all about knickers?
I love that Asian wing at the gallery. Mr OddSocks did the right thing at the right time and got such a nice collection happening.
even though I've wandered away from Japanese art quite a lot (something about the Renaissance pulled me sideways, hmmm...) it was one of my first loves. mum and dad were mad keen to travel through Asia when I was younger so I was lucky enough to get to Japan amongst other countries. this was before the AU$ was floated back in 1983... but it was still expensive! one of the most wonderful, beautiful, and straight-out freaky places I've ever been to. right up there with Morocco for amazement factor...
would love the $$$ to do it again. nearly did in the 90's but I couldn't swallow my pride to accept some financial help from the boyfriend at the time. foolish girl!!! never be too proud!
Post a Comment