This painting, titled Blue Medicine Buddha, came through some years ago when I was dealing with the experience of betrayal. I had been to Tibet and had visited the extraordinary rock face painting of this Wise One in Lhasa.
I share it now with direct quotes from the above link, in a spontaneous embrace of the wisdom of the middle way. In this approach the idea is to stand in the center between pain/pleasure, gain/loss, praise/blame, fame/disgrace.
I find that this type of review can bring great peace of mind. It's another way to rest in natural great peace our 'neurotic mind' part. We bring it back to center. I love these kinds of tools. They feel sane to me.
"Believed to transform the human failing of anger into a clear mirror-like wisdom. With this wisdom, we see things just as they are, impartially and unaffectedly. Indeed, whether it be a red rose or a bloody dagger, a mirror will reflect both just as they are. It will not be judgmental and distinguish between the two reds, attempting to hold to the first and flee from the second. No reflection in a mirror sticks to it, and none repels it. The mirror always stands imperturbable and immutable, just as we should, whether the circumstances be favorable or unfavorable to us.
He makes the earth touching gesture. This gesture recalls the incident just before Buddha's enlightenment when he was challenged by Mara, the personification of evil. Mara was convinced that the spiritual throne where Buddha was sitting belonged rightly to him.
Accordingly he challenged Buddha to prove his claim to the seat. Buddha moved his hand to touch the ground with his fingertips, and thus bid the goddess Earth to bear witness to his right to be sitting where he was. She did so with a hundred thousand roars, and validated Buddha’s assertion.
It is the direction where dawn takes place. Indeed, Buddha’s victory over Mara heralded the dawning of a new, spiritual reality. "
This past week marked the 50th anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising that plunged an ancient and magestic culture into the long and relentless hellrealm of Chinese occupation. A tension filled milestone marked by prayer vigils, protests and observances.
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