Images of Buddha

“Every little calm moment that we can have is beneficial, and then we have that energy to share with others,” said Bowman, who is a photographer, psychologist and professor at Naropa University.

The Luminous Buddha: Image and Word, a small book created by Bowman, pairs her photographs with sayings of the Buddha from a collection known as the Dhammapada. Bowman selected the quotes after reading 14 English translations of the Dhammapada by authors from around the world.

When Bowman traveled to Southeast Asia with her husband in December 2006, a photography exhibit and book project were not on her mind. Bowman’s intention was to visit the temples and photograph the lovely statues. The quality of the 1,600 photographs taken during the trip inspired Bowman, who is a student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, to share her discoveries by self-publishing a book and showing her images at Naropa and the Shambhala Meditation Center.

“Nothing stimulates the brain more strongly than a human face,” said Bowman. “But I don’t want people to attach to an image. The Buddha images are there to serve us and help us find the qualities within ourselves.”

Luminous Buddha: Photography of Laos contains 16 photographs in simple gold frames. The exhibit starts at the back of Lincoln Gallery to the right of the stairs. The smell of incense from Naropa’s nearby meditation hall drifts into the space.

“Luminous Buddhas #1,” the image featured on the front cover of Bowman’s book, opens the exhibit with a side view of 11 statues of Buddha. Three of the Buddhas give off a golden glow. One Buddha is bathed in black. Bowman visited a temple in Luang Prabang, Laos, called Wat Wisunalat for five straight days hoping to capture the contrasting light on the statues through her digital camera lens. On the third day, the light, streaming in through windows not covered by glass, landed on an orange cloth draped over one of the Buddha figures for a golden, orange effect.

Over the centuries, Buddha statues have been used to teach Buddhism to people who cannot read. “Buddha’s Long Ears,” a portrait that highlights the Buddha’s ears, teaches viewers that the Buddha is a compassionate listener. Bowman moves from inside the temples to a natural setting in “Buddha in the Mist,” a photograph in gray, gold and green that shows a gold Buddha meditating in the lotus position on a stone platform in a lush, open space.

After photographing many statues in Luang Prabang, Bowman noticed that the facial features varied from statue to statue. During the Laotian Civil War that raged from 1962 through 1975, people from the countryside stored their statues in the Luang Prabang temples, since that area was safe from the bombing. That action resulted in a diverse, treasure-trove of sculptures in that region.

In Thailand, Bowman noticed that the statues and spiritual sites appeared to be better maintained than in Laos and that there were more outdoor temples to visit.

Luminous Buddha: Photography of Thailand features 12 photographs that wind around the main floor of the Shambhala Meditation Center.

“Kuan Yin,” a female image of compassion and loving kindness in Buddhism, is a facial shot of a tan, stone sculpture. Long earrings hang from Kuan Yin’s large ears. Her lips have a hint of red. Her face is calm. In Bowman’s book, the saying paired with Kuan Yin reads, “As the deep pond is clear and calm, so do the skilled become serene, having heard the teachings.”

Bowman discovered “Buddha under the Trees” at the Sukhothai Historical Park in north central Thailand. The park contains a complex of temples dating from the 1500s. The gold-and-green, serene Buddha sits in the lotus position on a red brick platform. Green tree branches frame the figure that is backed by blue sky. Nature and spirituality converge in Bowman’s thoughtful photograph.

“Blue Sky Buddha” is a black-and-white facial image of the Buddha against a brilliant violet-blue sky. Both strong and serene, the image is powerful with its contrasting color and message.

A temple called Wat Pho in Bangkok is the setting for “Reclining Buddha,” a lovely red-and-gold image of the Buddha’s head resting on a glowing red bar. The temple’s patterned walls surround the image. “Be delighters in awareness; keep watch over your mind” is the saying Bowman chose for this image.

Bowman’s images of the Buddha are tranquil reminders that peace is possible and that the place to cultivate calm is within oneself.

On the Bill:
Luminous Buddha: Photography of Laos is on display through May 11 at Naropa University’s Lincoln Gallery, 2130 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-444-0202.

Luminous Buddha: Photography of Thailand is on display through April 30 at the Shambhala Center, 1345 Spruce St., Boulder, 303-543-0009.

Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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by Deborah Bowman, Ph.D. 

Thank you for this tremendous honor.

I’ll begin with a little Zen story relevant to today’s momentous occasion.

 -4 monks at a monastery are sitting in meditation. 

-Overhead the wind is blowing through prayer flags.

 -The youngest monk comes out of his silence and exclaims “flags flapping”.

-A 2^nd monk, who has been there a few years, reflects out loud, “wind flapping.”

-The 3^rd monk, who has been there for over 20 years announces, “minds flapping.”

-The 4th, a wizened old being, having been there most of his life, “mouths flapping.”

 So forgive me if I flap my mouth today…

- I’d like to reflect on the power of touching the earth

 with both confidence and humility, with our humor and humanity. 

 -Humor, humility and human have the same root word - humus…earth. 

-Humor, humility and the human journey are all about letting go

 and realizing we are all in this compost pile together.

-Rumi, an 13^th century poet and mystic in the Sufi tradition of Islam says:

 I would love to kiss you.

The price of kissing is your life.

 Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,

What a bargain, let’s buy it.*

-Rumi, in this flash of genius invites us to collapse opposites.  

-Here “my life” is like my ego, desperately trying to hang on to what it knows -

while “my love” connects to what is alive and of the earth.

-The many mothers and fathers in our audience know this well.

-Parents discover, the first time they plant a confirming kiss

on the cheek of their new born child,

their “life” as they knew it is compost.

-They’ve entered Zorba the Greek’s full catastrophe living -

not “doing my life” but learning to “do love”.

-This year several of my students in the Counseling track

expressed the wisdom of “composting” in papers reflecting on their internship

as therapists in the greater community. 

 One states …

“…one of my biggest lessons was the reminder that I am simply a part of my clients’ journeys; I am not their answer, savior or rescuer.” 

from another student…

“Looking back, I can honestly say that I applied the teachings learned at Naropa

and sat with my fear, my feelings of discomfort, of not knowing

and ultimately and naturally began to relax

and enjoy the relationships with the people sitting across from me.” 

and distilling the words of another…

 ”…I am able now to give myself permission ‘not to have done it all perfectly’

and to welcome the learning that transpired from my own imperfections. 

-I am noticing the voice inside my head now speaks to my learning and growth

 in lieu of the voice that haunted me with criticism most of my life. 

-In addition to learning the skills of therapy, Naropa has taught me how to be in the world in a way that brings me peace and connection.”

Her words echo a gesture of the Buddha. 

-After sitting for seven days under a Bodhi tree, some 2500 years ago,

he touched the earth and reconciled the demons of self doubt,

perhaps his version of the inner critic.

-He was wrestling with his capacity to take what he had learned

and communicate it effectively in the world. 

-He was at a threshold, much like our graduates find themselves today.

 -In his meditation, the Buddha discovered a path to relieve suffering in the world.

-As the story goes, after his realization, he was challenged by “Maras”,

nightmarish demons questioning the authenticity of his experience. 

-In response to the Mara’s attack the Buddha touched the earth

asking for witness to his enlightenment.

-In the mythology of SE Asia, when the Buddha touched the ground,

the earth goddess rose up and wrung an ocean of water from her hair. 

-The earth shook and the demons vanished.

 -When we humbly touch the earth as our witness,

we touch into the truth of our own being and discover confidence. 

-We ground in the groundlessness of an ever shifting reality.   

-We wring ourselves of illusion

and allow the demons of our imagination to dissolve in the ground of awareness.

-Another student expressed an aspect of this grounded awareness in a final paper summing up her work with the veterans of Vietnam, Kuwait and Iraq:

 ”I have seen changes in my clients from a year ago

and that is a really wonderful experience. 

-Of course, I have changed right along with them

and I am amazed at how much I have grown. 

 -I hereby claim my right of passage as a therapist

and I know that I have chosen the right path for myself,

because my heart feels full.”

-One of my favorite quotes of H.H. the Dalai Lama is “emptiness is fullness”. 

-The Buddhist scholars among our graduates have wrestled with the concept of emptiness, and to my best knowledge, so has every student

that has passed through the halls of Naropa University. 

-It is a hallmark of contemplative education -

being more interested in emptying out then filling up. 

-What is there to lose? Only fear and prejudice.

 -Filling yourself with facts and technique is easy compared to emptying out. 

-The task of realizing emptiness is the highest challenge -

yet lays the ground for the deepest knowing.

 -Now is the time to appreciate whatever glimpse of emptiness you may have achieved. 

-It is at the heart of true learning;

only through emptying out, can we receive the fullness of life. 

-The ecstatic poet, Mary Oliver, touches into fullness in a poem called TheRoses,

from a collection of writing that won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. 

In The Roses she says….

One day in summer

when everything

has already been more than enough

the wild beds start

exploding along the berm

of the sea; day after day

you sit near them; day after day

the honey keeps on coming

in the red cups and the bees

like amber drops roll

in the petals: there is no end,

believe me! to the inventions of summer,

to the happiness your body

is willing to bear.**

-You, graduates, are the wild bed of roses exploding by the berm of the sea. 

-You are the amber drop of a bee.  You are the red petals.

-Graduation is a time of fullness.  You have worked hard turning your compost heap. 

Now is a time of blooming.

 -Every graduate in our audience today has wrestled with “maras”

and each one of you is now planted in the fertile loam of a discipline. 

-How can you trust this? 

-Because you have touched your experience, you haven’t only read about it in a book, you have danced and sung and wrote and wept your tears into the earth.

-The flower that is blooming in you is the compassionate heart.

-Out of a sense of compassion, rooted in the direct experience of his body,

the Buddha stepped across a threshold and began his work of teaching.

-He was known to do it with humor, humility and humanity.

 -Now is the time for you to step across a threshold. Go in confidence -

for the wisdom and compassion you have uncovered

is as real as the earth beneath your feet. 

 -May you touch it for the rest of the days of your life.

 Many blessings on your journey. 

*John Moyne & Coleman Barks, translators.  1984.  Open Secret: Versions of Rumi.  Putney, Vermont: Threshold Books.

 **Mary Oliver, American Primitive. 1983.  Boston: Little, Brown and Company.