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artemisdreaming:

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Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced [ikigai]) is the Japanese equivalent of the French, raison d’être. In English, these translate respectively as ‘something one lives for’ and ‘a reason for being’. Although the meanings are similar, cultural attitudes toward the concept they embody differ.

Few possess a raison d’être. Those who live with an enduring passion for something can be consumed by it to the detriment of social relationships and a “normal” lifestyle. Thus, there are desirable and undesirable aspects to having a raison d’être.

Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self. Such a search is regarded as being very important, since it is believed that discovery of one’s ikigai brings satisfaction and meaning to life. wiki

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No manual for human beings. 

Dark Victorian

So it is true after all, not merely a rule of art:

change your form and you change your nature.

And time does this to us.

-Louise Gluck (“Parable of the Dove”)

artemisdreaming:

Color in Tibetan Buddhism

Buddhism is the principle religion in Tibet. Buddhism is a very simple, beautiful religion. Buddhists believe that to attain inner peace, you must understand the suffering of the world. Enlightenment, or the calm grasp of human nature and the world around us, is believed to relieve human suffering. All desire for worldly objects generates unhappiness, envy and greed, so Buddhists believe we must learn to detach ourselves and become one with our surroundings in order to achieve nirvana or enlightenment. The religion does not acknowledge a creator or god; instead it is focused on understanding your inner self. The world is an open book, if we could learn to read it, then we will serve the purpose of life. This focus on inner self is highlighted by the religion as it attributes different parts of the body and different states of mind to colors.

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There are five colors in the Buddhist color symbolism, known as panch varnam. These five shades are the essence of everything around us, and demonstrative of the inner qualities. Blue and black are mostly interchangeable; apart from them there is white, green, red and yellow. When one achieves Nirvana, all matter is transformed into light, and the five colors appear as a spectrum, which is called the rainbow body—indicating the inner change inside the soul.

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According to Buddhism, our ears are blue. Air, too, one of the five elements, is blue. Blue is thought to be symbolic of purity, healing, ascension, infinity and coolness. However, black is darkness and hatred. Blue or black actions are affiliated with anger, violence and killing. When one attains Nirvana, hatred is turned into compassion and anger is converted to a reflective wisdom.

White is the color of learning, knowledge, longevity and purity. White is the color of our eyes, and the color of water. While we are resting or thinking, it is white that is influencing our actions. White has the ability to turn ignorance and delusion into wisdom and reality.

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Above:  Colors of Tibet HERE

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Our tongue is red, the color of preservation, sacred blood and fire. Red acts are those of subjugation and summoning, which are thought to arise from attachment. At the height of its power, red turns the illusory attachment created by humans into a calm detached state of discernment.

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The color green is vitality, youth and action. It is said to be the color of exorcism, the act of banishing the ghosts of the past in order to rejuvenate the mind and body. Our head is green; the center of our balance. The wisdom of green enables humans to remove the influence of jealousy in order to accomplish with wisdom that which is attainable.

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The earth is yellow, color of both acts of restraining as well as acts of nourishment. This color is symbolic of the roots of our frame of mind and our ability to renounce. The nose is yellow. Yellow can also convert pride and ego into awareness of the fact that all is one; no one is higher or lower than any other person.

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Above:  Tibetan monks creating mandla HERE

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Mandalas are works of Buddhist art, wherein a design is depicted using powders of the five colors. The interior of the walls is white; then comes red, yellow, blue and black. These mandalas can be seen everywhere outside Buddhist Monasteries, and also in front of palaces, where they act as maps or guides to the palace interiors. The color red is the west, white is east, green is north and yellow is south. The center is always blue on these mandala-maps. (article: thinkquest.org)

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Above:  Detail of the painted architecture on the Tibetan Buddhist temple in the center of McleodGanj.  CrypticFragment

Love & irony

Life after death…