Most Buddhists aspire enlightenment. I aspire to simply be Buddhist. I'm far too practical to get anywhere near enlightenment. And by saying practical, actually that's just a nice way of saying I'm far too attached to my ego. I also like my possessions a tad too much. I let little things bother me and I get easily annoyed at people. Actually, it's not all people. I can be quite charming with strangers. It's the people I have to spend a lot of time with that annoy me most easily. I could go on and on, but I won’t...
One of the first times I learned something about Buddhism was when I spoke to a monk after eating lunch at an old diner in the Shenandoah Valley. The place hasn't seen a new piece of furniture or wall decoration since the 60s, which is actually part of its enduring charm, and the reason I like to eat there. The monk, dressed in his saffron robe, with a small entourage of followers, sat at one of the adjacent tables. After my meal, I happened to pass him in the parking lot. I knew next to nothing about Buddhism so I asked him about it. Specifically, I remember, I asked if he had a God that he worshipped. His reply was he did, but he spelled it differently..."G-o-o-d". I guess that clever answer was the hook.
Humans are complex beings, capable of a broad range of feelings and emotions. We all seek happiness with varying degrees of success. Sankhara is a Pali word, describing a Buddhist concept. Roughly (and I emphasize roughly), it refers to the concept of "mental formations." The idea that we suffer because we are attached, and take as unchanging, the very things that cause us to experience many different emotions. A Tibetan Buddhist would understand these emotions are a consequence of mental formations and their basis, therefore, is illusory. That’s a rather fascinating idea to me. It implies that by controlling our state of mind, we control our happiness.
These photographs tried to capture an emotion, and are, therefore, a reflection of grasping. Although the prescription for not suffering is not to grasp, what's life without a bit of grasping?
