Sunday, June 25, 2017

Desperation, brokenheartedness and poverty


Jizo at The Peace Pagoda - Leverett MA
 
The last episode of the "On Being" podcast I listened to was a conversation with former physicist and now artist, Enrique Martinez Celaya - a professor at USC.

Professor Celaya said something very sustaining, that, when I heard it, I understood that it spoke right to the heart of The Jizo Project. Here it is:
"...there’s a tendency for us to think that to be a prophet or to do anything grand, you have to have a special gift, be someone called for. And I think ultimately what really matters is the resolve — to want to do it, to give your life to that which you consider important. And if you have no skills to offer, or nothing special to offer, it’s all the more amazing that you do it, the more remarkable. And I think that resolve is all that really matters.
And in the specific case of art, I think the notion that to bring the future forward by throwing yourself desperately — I think desperation is part of what I consider a prophet to have. Once you have made that resolve to launch yourself forward, then desperation is the only factor: urgency, desperation."
Professor Celaya speaks to the audacity that is inherent in The Jizo Project. I am a nobody. I am by all evidence a rank beginner of no special skill working with clay. I can't even produce Jizo figures without the help of my Teacher. The results have been uneven to date. They are not classic Buddhist figures. They seem preposterous (but oddly plucky)  when they stand next to real Buddhist art. When I started the project I often wondered if there was a special Buddhist hell for those poor unfortunates who make lumpy Jizos..

And yet -

There is a desperation - a brokenheartedness actually - that  drives me to make them. The desperation and heartbreak comes from looking at the world that we've fashioned for each other. If you are uncertain what I am talking about - look into the eyes of the next person that you meet - listen to the timbre of their voice - notice the set of their jaw - behold the nervous swaying back and forth when they should be still. Listen to the skittish litany of vacations, new cars, new houses, successful kids... all recited unbidden as if to reassure not the listener, but the teller that things have not yet come (completely) unhinged..

So - these are the things that the Jizo Project is fueled by - desperation, brokenheartedness, and a poverty of skill..  The trio has prodded me along for a year now to make Jizos and to turn them loose in the world. I knew that to be true before hearing Professor Celaya speak. His words helped reframe how I think about the whole endeavor.. To see that my lack of skill may not be as bad a thing as I once thought.. Or - maybe it is - who knows? It was nice though to hear what another artist thinks about these things..

Yesterday, I brought six Jizos to the Peace Pagoda in Leverett MA - a ballsy move considering the glowing, graceful Buddhist figures that live there.. Two Jizos were discovered by a pair of pilgrims after they finished their circumambulation of the big stupa. One was scooped up by a young boy who was visiting with his Mom and sisters. One was taken into the temple and given to the Abbot (below). At the end of the day - two Jizos were unclaimed, snuggled at the clawed feet of a fierce temple guardian.
 
Chanting at the Peace Pagoda

~


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