The Ephemeral is Eternal

"While studying as a medical student, Wolfgang Laib became dissatisfied with modern science's mechanistic treatment of the human body. He turned to art to explore the universe through its life-giving essences (pollen, milk, rice) and its substantial materials (stone, beeswax, resin)..."

-placard viewed in an exhibit of modern Buddhist-inspired art at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City

"Osamu Tezuka (1928-89) is the godfather of Japanese manga comics. He originally intended to become a doctor and earned an M.D. before turning to what was then a medium for children. His many masterpieces from that period include the series known in the U.S. as Astro Boy..."

-cover jacket introduction to the author of a comic series about the Buddha

"My animation professor said that he was 'on track' to be a doctor until his mid-20s, then realized he was trying to live someone else's life and went into film. At break, I asked him if he had any advice for someone going through the same thing. He said that he wished he knew how common this abrupt left turn (away from medicine or engineering or law into art and humanities) is actually quite common, especially amongst bright people. He said that it's too easy for smart people to go into medicine because people see that they are smart and just push them towards med school. So basically, he said not to worry too much about what's going to happen next. Many people have gone on from med school to succeed in artistic fields."

-email from my sister, a film production major at USC, dated 1/15/2011

THERE IS A WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE. I'll be leaving for India on February 7th, arriving in Kolkata on February 9th.

Soul Food

Art restores my faith in humanity. I visited the Met recently, and can't help but wonder whether it is entirely unjust to consider the human civilizations before our current one more "backward." The marvels of Oceanic wooden carvings, Rodin sculptures, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Van Gogh's passionate flourishes are just but a few of the artistic triumphs of our species. Of course, being the yoga practitioner that I am, I had to wander over to the South & Southeast Asian art exhibit, which was unfortunately cordoned off for the most part. I peered over the velvet rope at the Shiva Nataraja statues, so iconic of Hinduism. There was a Ganesha statue made of sandstone, with careful detailing of his headdress and broken tusks, as well as such smoothness of Ganesha's elephant trunk. I was impressed by a mural of the Medicine Buddha with his entourage, covering the entire wall of a giant exhibition room. It must have taken the artist quite a long time to finish that! I saw countless bodhisattvas and buddhas, though all lovely, none inspired the same response in me as the one I saw in Deer Park (Sarnath). Most of all, I was touched by the artists' patience, devotion, and faith. How much dedication it must take to paint a twenty foot long calligraphy scroll, to carve intricate detailings into bronze, and to inscribe tiny flowers on French porcelain! The beauty and splendor captured fleetingly in these works of art reminds of the Truth that is out there. This is beauty that is not on the superficial reality-show-makeover level. I left the museum feeling like I'd eaten a hearty meal, satisfied on a level beyond just that of my stomach.