Freeform vs Preform

 

Funny

Just now I was watching a YouTube video about Paul Amadeus Dienach, a Swiss man who fell into a coma in 1921 and stayed unconscious for a whole year.  When he finally woke up he claimed he had not been unconscious at all, but that his mind had time-traveled to the year 3906, and he proceeded to write down everything he remembered from the year he spent in the 40th century inhabiting the body of a man named Andreas Northam (I actually have the book, but it's pretty long and I found the style rather tedious so I sought out a video summary^).  Anyway, just as the video came to the part about how mankind evolved and changed over the intervening two millennia, a YouTube advert broke in with how "prostate enlargement still affects a majority of older men!".

The Six Realms

Preparing the last post reminded me that this particular set of masks has never been shown in public in their intended form.  This is how they should ideally be displayed, in accordance with the Buddhist view of life and the universal law of karma.

I sent this photo to someone who majored in Buddhist studies, and he immediately recognized it for what it is, without any explanation from me.  At top center are the deva, "gods" who reside in paradisiacal realms and are the most superior entities in existence, overwhelmingly the greatest of all living beings in power, intelligence and wealth.  The main characteristic of their lives is the absence of suffering;  they live their extremely long lives knowing nothing but pleasure and joy (save perhaps for the occasional challenges from the asura).  But when the time comes, when you've been at the top of the heap, there's no place but down...

And slightly lower than the gods, to their right in the photo, are the asura, also known variously as demi-gods, jealous gods, anti-gods, titans and even demons.  They are also powerful and intelligent, much superior to humans -- their realm actually overlaps that of the gods -- but they are not as gifted as the gods, and they are by nature jealous and suspicious;  they constantly scheme and plot against each other and the gods, but being the lesser of the two superhuman species, when they do war against the gods they always lose, which makes them even more jealous and angry and vulnerable to a lower incarnation next time.

Opposite them on the left is the realm inhabited by us manusha.  Fortunately filled with extremes of both comedy and tragedy -- joy balanced out by misery, delight by regret, and of course, kindness by cruelty -- it provides the best starting-off place for self-development... or self-debasement.

Just below humans are the tiryag, animals.  As with the deva and asura, animals and humans dwell in a shared realm, but being brutes (literally), animals know nothing but base instincts, and their lives, if in the wild, are filled with fear and wariness, and in domestication, are short and toilsome, their lives (and deaths) being absolutely controlled by their human owners;  but still they experience emotion just as humans do, and can learn from experience.  Responding to kindness with what gratitude they are capable of expressing, they may yet evolve and be reincarnated as humans.

Across from animals are the preta, beings driven by the obsession to possess.  They are often shown in art as humanlike but with big distended bellies and thin, narrow throats -- symbols of their characteristic greed and avarice.  They are forever seeking but never finding satiation.  Although the object of their desire tends to be stereotyped as food (hence their common cognomen "hungry ghosts"), but actually it can be anything, including such repellent things as corpses, blood and dung (hmm... me and my hoarding...).

And at the bottom are the naraka, the beings (self-)condemned to hell.  While they may not necessarily be subject to physical pain (although of course this can be the case) the essential feature of their lives is hatred, in both doling it out to others and receiving it from them.  These unfortunate beings' lives are filled with torment and brutality, for which they blame everyone but themselves (I'm reminded of the gangbanger who raped and murdered two schoolgirls and when time came for his execution, allegedly said "Well, sometimes the good guys don't win").

I have also considered displaying these masks in this arrangement,

emphasizing an empty space in the center, to show that in Buddhist cosmology reincarnation is not really a matter of judgment, but the natural working-out of the impersonal law of karma, like attracting like.  "You go where you fit".  Maybe I still will.

Related post:  Continuing On...

Another Accidental Resemblance

I finally realized why this grimacing face

always seemed vaguely familiar!  It's because it's invoking this expression of pure disgust on Clint Eastwood's face in Gran Torino:

Related post:  Synchronistic Event No. 17

Just A Silly Interlude

LOL

Cloud Giant

Whether he be a harbinger of good or evil to come, only time will tell.

[Yeah, I know that's a pretty chickenshit way of foretelling the future, being so vague, broad or ambiguous that it can fit almost any situation;  never mind that I've got a tome myself that contains all of Nostradamus' quatrains]

 

Related post:  Res Ipsa Loquitur

Trouble Brewing

Confrontation in the sky!  A big, ominously dark and dense cloud leans threateningly into the face of a much smaller, frightened cloud, whose hackles are rising straight up.

Antes Y Después

Made back in August, 2014.  At the time I was seeing a psychiatrist.

No Opportunity's Too Small

to bother with, said the eagle-eyed OCD man.

Related posts:  Where Heaven And Earth Touch;   Where Heaven And Earth Touch II;   Cloud-Struck Tree

Space Monster

Sinister cloud looking like it's about to engulf that building like a giant amoeba.

I Think I'll Call It...

Dun dun dun...

My Dragonfly Scroll

Sunspots

Dappled sunlight on the sidewalk, shining through some dense greenery...

Actually, it's spots that are starting to dry after a day of rain.

Related post:  Another Amazing Discovery

Confab

The Evening Deepens

A 43-minute slice of my favorite time of day.

"Come, Comrades, Rise Up!"

The moment I saw this cloud blocking the Sun I was reminded of rabble-rousing and Revolutions (amusingly enough, the bough at the bottom right seems to be echoing the cloud's "gesture").

"Arise, (set to the tune of *'l'internationale' playing in the background) ye sad victims of oppression!  Rise up in your righteous anger and furiously destroy all vestiges of whatever is wonderful that you've been denied!  The _____ (fill in the blank) did it under ____!  Why can't we ____ have our own Cultural Revolution and its natural fruit and reward, the Great Leap Forward?!"

*Traditional anthem of self-claimed communists and socialists, that few of them have ever even heard of today

A Few From Yesterday's Visit

to JoGyeSa, which dates back to the 14th century.  One unusual feature of this temple is that it is located right next to a noisy intersection in the JongNo district, one of the busiest, most heavily trafficked areas in all of old Seoul (that is, north of the Han river;  the city expanded in recent decades to encompass large areas south of the river and now the nouveau-riche live there).  Despite all the activity and distractions right outside the gates, a certain (dare I say... otherworldly?) calmness of mind and spirit prevails on the grounds of the temple -- this I have found to be true of Buddhist temples in general, no matter where they may be.

Neither Here Nor There

Just an amusing photo of my favorite beverage for a time, found in an old folder.

Two Birds

Bird overflying a cloud-bird.

Related post:  The Crawfordsville Monster Returns

Today's Iridescence

The lowering sun was so brilliant I had to hide him behind a building.

The trailing shape of the rainbow-colored clouds reminded me of a peacock's train.

Water Lillies vs Turtle

Last Night's Visit

to DongDaeMun Design Plaza.  I'd never been there at night before, and I have to say I quite enjoyed the crowds and the lights.

 

A Dreamy Threesome

W̶h̶o̶ h̶a̶s̶n̶'t̶ d̶r̶e̶a̶m̶e̶d̶ o̶f̶ it̶

The Sun Imperiled

Yet again!  This afternoon, for the nth time a cosmic monster of unknown origin tried to swallow the Sun.  I was able to capture this pivotal moment before it came close to succeeding, only to find out to its chagrin that Sol is just too hot to handle.  Yeah, take that, you nasty monster!

Also, the image reminds me of old-time frescoes somehow

And especially depictions of knights squaring off against dragons

At least the dragon part

Another

modified photograph.

Water Lily, Water Lily, Water Lily, Turtle

"Whew... I made it!"