Inner Landscapes

Tao-Pursuing Knacks

Xiu Zhen

THE INTERNAL ALCHEMY OF THE TAO

Explanation of the Inner Alchemy Chart

This chart was never copied for over a couple of hundred years. There was only the original. It was never passed down to the rest of the world because it is so profound and mysterious that an ordinary person would have no way to understand it. It was rediscovered in the library at High Pine Tree Mountain in China suspended from the wall. It was carefully drawn and the printing was clear, so it was eventually reprinted at that time. When I first discovered this, I decided to reprint it with a complete explanation using the Healing Tao practices. By practicing the Healing Tao formulas you can start to comprehend the detailed illustrations of this mural connecting with our body and the universe. It is with this understanding that I give you this explanation of Internal Alchemy so beautifully illustrated in this ancient Taoist rendering.

The Tao adept saw human body as a microcosm of the natural world. Its anatomy was a landscape with mountain, river, streams, lake, pool, forest, fire, stars a natural harmoniously landscape. It shows a torso and head with few easily identifiable structures –

Master Mantak Chia

The numbered areas 1 to 5 are a series of nine sacred mountain peaks. These mountain peaks are like the funnels, which are able to draw down universal energy. This energy is then concentrated in the caves of the mountains. Taoist adepts go to mountain caves for initiation. In the human head there are nine different centers (peaks or points), which are able to extend to the heaven to make the connection to the cosmos. The cavity in the brain, the body and energy centers are like those caves in a mountain which you can concentrate, store and transform energy.

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1. IMMORTAL REALM is located in the center just in front of the crown. It is this point where our energy is able to ascending to heaven making the connection with the heavens drawing down even more powerful universal energies.

2. TOP OF THE GIANT PEAK is located in the back of the head. When we tilt the head and push the Chi back it reaches its highest point. This peak is connected to the North Star and the thymus gland. It is where we receive the descending universal energy.

3. MUD PILL is located in the center of the crown (Bai Hui or the hundredth meeting point) and when it is open it feels like soft mud. The crown point is connected to the Big Dipper and the hypothalamus gland. It is at this center that you can project your energy (soul or spirit) up or receive the energy down giving way to a two way street.

4. HOUSE OF RISING SUN is the third eye. At the middle of the forehead likely above, this center is able to receive the sun and moon energy, and is used to launch the soul and spirit bodies into space travel.

5. NINE PEAKS MOUNTAIN is more directly connected to the mid eyebrow and has a close connection to the pituitary gland. This center is used to received the cosmic force and used for launching the soul and spirit bodies the earthly plan or human plan traveling.

6. OBSCURE SPIRIT ALTER is between the Mud Pill and in front of the Giant Peak where the spirit and soul bodies are leaving and entering into horizontal flight.

7. CAVE OF THE SPIRIT PEAK is the jade pillow between the 1st cervical and the base of the skull which is know as the God mouth where we can receive universal knowledge.

8. TRUE JADE UPPER GATE is a water gate near to throat connecting to the brain.

9. SOURCE OF RISING LAW is behind the soft palate which is connected to the pituitary gland.

• 9a.The two circles representing the sun and the moon within us are the left and right eyes. By learning how to roll the eyes in a circle motion, we can blend these different energies together enabling us to direct the energies with our eyes. When we roll the eyes up looking to the crown, these energies along with the sexual energy will rise up to the crown. When we roll the eyes down looking to the lower Tan Tien, we bring the premixed energies down to our energy centers (reservoirs) storing them there.
• 9b. The figure of the old white headed man with eyebrows reaching down to the ground is Lao Tze (one of the founders of the Taoism). He is a seated figure with long eyebrows which is connected to the earthly energy.
• 9c. The blue eyed standing foreign monk holds the heaven in his hands. The standing figure is Bodhidharm, the founder of the Zen Buddhism in China, which is holding up his hands to reach the heavens being more connected to the heavenly energy. These two energies or natures are mixed together to form a new Taoist concept, the practice of the Modern Taoism or the Healing Tao system. It is the blending and the harmonizing of our heavenly destiny and our earthly nature.

10. The DRAWBRIDGE is the tongue and the POND OF WATER is the mouth which holds the saliva. In the Taoist practice, when you touch the palate with the tongue (the Source of Rising Law known as the heavenly pool), we connect the circuit forming the link between the governor channel (yang) rising from the perineum up the spine to the head then down to the palate and the conception channel (yin) descending from the root of the lower jaw to the perineum. Once the tongue touches the palate, the Chi is activated. The sexual energy is pumped up to the brain, activating the hypothalamus, pituitary and thymus glands secreting more hormones. The sexual energy, especially the orgasm energy, will help draw in the heaven energy from above and the earth force from below. When you mix these two forces with the sexual energy the hormone secretion is stimulated. This creates an abundance of Chi and fluid. This fluid which flows like a waterfall down through the palate across the upper palate to the back down to the mouth and the throat (Twelve storied pagoda) from where we are able to swallow it down to fill the other two Tan Tiens. This water is also know as the nectar, water of life or the golden elixir.

11. GOVERNING MERIDIAN is located from the perineum up the spine to the head then down to the palate.

12. CONCEPTION OR RELEASING MERIDIAN is located from the root of the lower jaw to the perineum.

13. TWELVE STORIED PAGODA or twelve story tower is the throat center, CV-22. When the sexual energy is pumped up to the crown (reversing the flow) due to the Healing Tao practices of Testicle and Ovarian Breathing, Power Lock, and the Big Draw through the spine to fill the Lower Tan Tien (kidney and sexual centers) (lower reservoir), the Middle Tan Tien (solar plexus and heart center) (middle reservoir), and Upper Tan Tien (brain, and crystal room) (upper reservoir). During its passage through the spine into the brain center the sexual energy is transformed. After the upper reservoir is filled, then the energy flows down the palate through the tongue down the throat into the heart nourishing it.

14. I TILL MY OWN FIELD (Tan Tien or Elixir Field). Inside my field is a magical sprout (the immortal fetus or the unborn spirit) that lives 10,000 years. The color of its flowers (opening of the consciousness and the wisdom) resembles gold and they do not wilt. Its seeds are like Jade pebbles. Its fruits are round. To cultivate it, I depend on the earth of the middle palace (the solar plexus). To irrigate it (the sexual energy reverse the flow up to the crown) I depend on the fountain of the upper valley. After much toil, I achieve the Great Tao and stroll freely through the earth becoming an Immortal of Peng Lai Island.

15. COWHERDER BRIDGE STARS symbolizes the yang elements of the heart, fire and compassion fire. He looks like a child which we call yang heart. In Taoist Text and the Christian Bible, they refer it as becoming like a child again which is the symbol of spiritual wisdom, innocence and simplicity. Extending out of the cowherder�s crown, you find the Big Dipper, which symbolizes the connection of the heart to the heaven seeking harmony with the cosmos. The Taoist regard the Big Dipper as the cosmic timepiece. During the course of the year, the Big Dipper makes a 360 degree rotation pointing to all the stars collecting all the universal power in the Big Dipper�s cup. The law of the heaven is called destiny and the law of the earth is called nature. The harmony between the destiny and the nature is the Tao, the great way. Those who follow the Tao fulfill their spiritual destiny and enjoy the fruit of the earthly nature. The Taoist way of life is to tap into the energies of the heaven and earth while blending and harmonizing them with the human energy in order to cultivate and conserve the vital force in our bodies. Heaven Forces manifest into the celestial energy and its power appears to us as thoughts, consciousness, fate and destiny. Healing Tao is the practice of connecting the heaven (destiny) and the earth (nature) together. Some system or religion separate the heaven and earth into two realm forcing us to choose one.

16. WITHIN THE 50 REALMS IS CONCEALED THE MYSTERIOUS GATEWAY is opposite the heart which has a close relation and connection to the heart that generates the Big Aura protecting the heart and the crown.

17a. LUNG SPIRIT HWA HAO FROM THE EMPTY IS COMPLETED is the power and ability of the lung to totally empty so it can received more. Each inhale and exhale of our body is the breath of the universe expanding and contracting.

17b. HEART SPIRIT TAN YUAN ALSO CALLED GUARDING SPIRIT is located in the liver area.

17c. GALL BLADDER SPIRIT LUNG AU ALSO CALLED MAJESTIC AND BRIGHT is located in the middle of the liver.

17d. LIVER SPIRIT LUNG YIEN ALSO CALLED CONTAINING WISDOM represents the liver, the largest organ of the body as a forest. In Taoism we regard the liver as the controller of the Chi flow. Too much Chi in one place can cause stagnation or congestion, and too little causes weakness and depletion. Both conditions are results of a liver imbalance. The weaver maid (kidneys) also receives the water from the sexual energy, but also makes water which helps the wood (liver) to grow while the liver provides fuel for the heart fire. Each organ is interdependent to each other.

17e. SPLEEN SPIRIT CH�ANG TSAI ALSO CALLED SOUL PAVILION is located in the spleen area.

17f. KIDNEY SPIRIT HSUAN MING ALSO CALLED NOURISHING THE SEEDS. The kidneys store the constitution of inherited energy from our parents.

18. MIDDLE TAN TIEN (heart center) is surrounded by the pericardium�s ring of fire.

19. WEAVING MAIDEN CIRCULATES AND TURNS is yin (kidneys and water element) and the cowherder standing above her is yang. The weaving maid has the ability to store energy, and to go inward to maintain quietness. She weaves silk like garments out of moonlight (Moon Light and the Milky Way energies accumulated and stored in the lower Tan Tien) by using the mind with the gently, soft, long and deep breaths like spinning or pulling silk drawing in the cosmic force and weaving into an internal Chi Web or Network. The Chinese legend says that the cowherder and the weaving maid were lovers once, but they neglect their duties and were change into stars and put at the opposite ends of the sky. One night a year, celebrated as the lover�s day about September 15, the birds make a bridge (the milky way) across the sky to join them together. Likewise our heart (spirit, fire, compassion fire, love, and destiny) and the kidneys (earth nature, water, sexual energy, and physical body) are separate since the day we were born and never met again. By reuniting again the heart essence (love and compassion fire) and the kidney essence (sexual energy) we can form the immortal fetus giving birth to it and growing it.

20. KIDNEY CAVE (GV-4, Ming Men, or Door of Life) is know as the door of fire which is the gate where the sexual energy will pass and help to transform us.

21. CORRECT TAN TIEN (Real Tan Tien) is located in front and below the kidneys just behind the navel closer to the spine.

21a. YIN AND YANG TAN TIEN are the four yin yang symbols represent the Tan Tien area (field of the elixir) located slightly below the navel approximately 3 inches near the sexual center. This area is the first alchemical cauldron. Tai Chi (yin and yang) represents the moving force. By using the mind, eyes and abdominal breathing to move the Chi and accumulate the sexual energy you will start to cook and be transformed it into Chi (steam) flowing through the channels of the entire body to repair and energize the cells.

22. NORTH SEA WATER FLOWS IN REVERSE is located the sacral hiatus (GV-2). When the sexual energy is pumped up to the crown (reversing the flow) due to the Healing Tao practices of Testicle and Ovarian Breathing, Power Lock, and the Big Draw through the spine to fill the Lower Tan Tien (kidney and sexual centers) (lower reservoir), the Middle Tan Tien (solar plexus and heart center) (middle reservoir), and Upper Tan Tien (brain, and crystal room) (upper reservoir). During its passage through the spine into the brain center the sexual energy is transformed. After the upper reservoir is filled, then the energy flows down the palate through the tongue down the throat into the heart nourishing, cooling, and irrigating it.

23. YIN AND YANG MYSTERIOUS WATER WHEEL is located at the perineum. Sexual energy is the most vital life force that humans inherit from their parents. We need this energy ( orgasm force) to run our life each day. In the Human way this sexual energy is like water, which tends always to run down and out. Each day we lose this force through sexual desire, greed, or unnecessary worldly materialism. We need to reverse this process causing the sexual energy (water and earth nature) to flow inward and upward. The boy and girl represent the testicles and the ovaries connected to the kidneys and eyes working on the water treadmill step by step pumping the water (sexual energy) upward. This is the beginning of the Healing Love practice with the testicle and the ovarian breathing. By starting to roll the eyes like a ball down the front and up the back, we begin to become aware of the testicles and the ovaries feeling them start rolling together with the eyes. Through this process a sea of sexual energy in the lower Tan Tien will transform into a lighter force flowing upward through the spine to the brain, glands, and organs rejuvenating them. 24. AGAIN AND AGAIN, STEP BY STEP is the yin and yang mystery (the boy and the girl, the testicle and the ovaries, the mind and the eyes) continuously turning the great pumps (the coccyx and the sacrum) to make the water (arousal and orgasm sexual energy) rise to the East (the crown). Even in a lake of 10,000 fathoms (Hui Yin, where all the yin energy of the body meets at the perineum) we should penetrate to the bottom where a sweet spring flows upward to the top of the south mountains (Trusting Meridian starts from the perineum up to the crown, and spreads out from the crown like a spring fountain).

25. THE IRON BULL TILLS THE GROUND AND PLANTS THE GOLDEN COIN is located at the lower Tan Tien around the navel connected to the spleen, ground and the earth connection to the spleen. The spleen center is the seed of the spirit and the life force (Chi). Once we are able to reverse the flow of the sexual energy, we can irrigate the dry land allowing us to till the soil to plant the magical golden sprout producing the golden round fruit

26. THE GOLD COIN. Once the land is ready, the seed of long life and wisdom (the immortal fetus or the gold coin) can be planted. All the land and the plants (our soul, spirit, mind, organs and glands) only need sexual energy to grow. The stone carving child strings them together. In one grain of rice the world mystery is hiding as the human form is the microcosm of the universe) and once we learn to understand and control our mind and ourselves, we will understand the mystery of the universe. In a small pot (either the lower, middle, or upper Tan Tien) we can cook all the mountains and rivers forces (natural forces), stars, moon, and sun forces (universal forces) and the primordial forces (cosmic particles) and combine them within ourselves to transform them into the higher force to form the IMMORTAL FETUS.

http://www.universal-tao.com/tao/inner_alchemy.html

The Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus

Sak Yant

Hlwong Pi Pant Sak Yant

Sak Yant Tattoo Samnak Ajarn Noo

http://arjannoo.com/en_sample.html 

ON MIKSANG PHOTOGRAPHY

The Endless Knot

http://www.jetcityorange.com//Buddhism/Endless-Knot.html 

The Endless Knot is a symbolic knot used in Tibetan Buddhism. The Endless Knot is also known as dpal be’u in Tibetan or shrivatsa in Sanskrit. Other names include the Mystic Dragon, the Knot of Eternity, and the Lucky Diagram.

The Endless Knot is an intertwined knot without beginning or end, symbolizing the Buddha’s wisdom, infinite compassion and wisdom. It’s one of the 8 auspicious Buddhist symbols, known in as Sanskrit as Ashtamangala. The other 7 symbols are a lotus flower, two golden fish, a parasol, a treasure vase, a conch shell, victory banner, and eight spoked wheel.

The Endless Knot can be described mathmatically as 7₄, The Alternating Knot 7₄. Rob Scharein in Vancouver has a cool interactive plot of this knot online that you can play with (click and drag).

This site has a good overview reference about the Endless Knot, as does this site too.

Mani Wheels

http://www.jetcityorange.com/Buddhism/Tibetan-prayer-wheel.html

Tibetan prayer wheels contain mantras written on strips of paper. Spinning the prayer wheel is like saying the mantra repeatedly. Traditional prayer wheels contain hundreds, thousands, even millions of copies of the mantra “Om mani padme hum.” evoking Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of compassion (Avalokitesvara).

Smaller prayer wheels are turned by hand. Others are powered by water wheels, hot air raising from candles, or the wind. Prayer wheels are spun counterclockwise when looking down on them.

Turning a prayer wheel is like chanting the mantra “Om mani padme hum” (Jewel in the Lotus of the Heart). Reciting this powerful mantra builds positive karma.

Basic background material can be found on this site. This is a detailed overview of the tradition. Lama Zopa Rinpoche speaks on “Advice on the Benefits of Prayer Wheels”.

An interesting concept is an Internet prayer wheel setup as a memorial to internet pioneer Jon Postel. This web server has a built-in prayer wheel and they even This server “spin” as prayer wheels too. No you know why I scatter the prayer wheel animation throughout JetCityOrange! sdbennett@comcast.net You can build your own.

HHDL says that having “Om mani padme hum” in a file on your hard drive makes it a prayer wheel. To that end you can download this file which has one million iterations of “Om mani padme hum.”

Speaking of digital prayer wheels, the Sakya Monestary here in Seattle claims to make the world’s most powerful prayer wheels. They contain 1.3 trillion (with a “t”) mantras and sutras on a set of DVD’s. This article has background on the Sakya Monesatary prayer wheels as does this piece from Earth Sanctuary. The Nyingma Institute in Berkeley makes more tradional prayer wheels in a modern manner. Others are build prayer wheels full of microfilm

Being a nerd, I make prayer wheels out of empty round Altoids tins.

Exploring Tantric Buddhism Association

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/tantra/quotes_and_images

Home Schedule of Events Introduction to Buddhism What is Tantra? Quotes and Images Recommended Reading Notable Links What’s New

“My compassion will never change or fade – to see me as gone is an eternalist viewpoint. I have not died, I have not gone anywhere. Pray to me – even if I do not appear in person, I will give the desired siddhis to those with one-pointed devotion.” – Khandroma Yeshé Tsogyal “Devotion and compassion are at the heart of the Tantric path. Traditionally, it is said that one should have devotion towards enlightened beings and compassion for unenlightened beings. These are like the wings of a bird and together, both allow us to fly into the sky of natural wisdom. Often people will attempt to use the Secret Mantra methods but will have no success – even after years of diligent application of the techniques. Why is this? It is because techniques cannot liberate. If we reduce the path to the mechanics of methods then we have very narrow commercial mind where enlightenment is a thing which can be obtained by buying techniques. Really, the techniques are a magnifying glass through which we focus the wisdom rays of devotion and compassion.” – Traktung Rinpoche “What the warrior renounces is anything in his experience that is a barrier between himself and others. In other words, renunciation is making yourself more available, more gentle and open to others.” – Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Shambhala, The Sacred Path of the Warrior “One way to understand moods is that they are just the habit patterns of our mind continually playing themselves out in different scenarios. According to the view of dharma, we don’t need to understand them or consider them so much as we need to replace them with new habits. This is where practice comes in. When we practice, we involve our body, emotions and mind in a new habit which is much more “real” in the sense that it is in line with the reality of enlightenment. This is the definition of purification. The problem with paying much attention at all to emotional states is that we must on some level believe that they are real if we are considering them at all. We reinforce our sense of egoic reality by examing and exploring them, much in the way Narcissis was enamored of his reflection. When we come to practice from that place, we create extra obstacles and encounter even greater resistance.” – A’dzom Rinpoche “If we have the vast intention to be sublime yogis, to create the limitless uncreated wisdom mandala, then we must escape from complaining ordinary women to join with the desireless great bliss qualities of the fullbodied wishfulfilling Dakini. Then drunk with wisdom wine, we can sing realization’s song and awaken wandering beings from heavy elements’ ignorance to the light of their natural mind with the sound of the drum and bell.” – Dungsé Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, Magic Dance “If enlightenment comes first, before thinking, before practice, your thinking and your practice will not be self-centered. By enlightenment I mean believing in nothing, believing in something which has no form or no color, which is ready to take form or color. This enlightenment is the immutable truth. It is on this orginal truth that our activity, our thinking, and our practice should be based.” – Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind “Instead of being hopeful, you develop another attitude, which is that of the warrior. If a warrior lives within hope, that makes him a very weak warrior. He is still concerned with his success. If the warrior no longer has the hope of achieving success, he has nothing to lose. Therefore enemies find it very difficult to attack him. The warrior will also regard a defeat as a victory, since he has nothing to lose. This approach is called “luring an enemy into your territory.” You lure enemies into your territory by giving in to defeat constantly. The enemies finally find that there is nothing to attack, and they feel they have been fooled. They keep on conquering more territory, but their opponent places no value on the territory and does not put up a struggle. This eventually causes the enemies to lose heart.” – Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Lion’s Roar “If you want to sin, sin wholeheartedly and openly. Sins too have their lessons to teach the earnest sinner, as virtues the earnest saint. It is the mixing up of the two that is so disastrous. Nothing can block you so effectively as compromise, for it shows lack of earnestness, without which nothing can be done.” – The Wisdom of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj “Remember the example of the old cow: She’s content to sleep in a barn. You have to eat, sleep and shit – that’s the unavoidable – anything beyond that is none of your business. Do what you have to do and keep yourself to yourself.” – Patrul Rinpoche “In horror of death, I took to the mountains – again and again I meditated on the uncertainty of the hour of death, capturing the fortress of the deathless unending nature of mind. Now all fear of death is over and done.” – Milarepa “The beauty of practicing refuge is that it requires us to put our moods and feelings in a less central place in our lives than practice. We practice every day, regardless of how we are feeling. On days when no obstacles are obvious, we practice because we understand that they are there nonetheless. We know that they will reappear in their illusory fashion because we are not yet free of delusion. The essence of refuge is that we put the practices in a central place in our lives and move all of our delusion to the periphery. We know it is there-we still see it- but we are more attracted to the bliss and joy of the Yidams than by the tedious, repetitive and destructive habits of our deluded emotions.” – A’dzom Rinpoche “Why is it that whatever we touch we turn into a problem? We have made love a problem, we have made relationship, living, a problem, and we have made sex a problem. Why? Why is everything we do a problem, a horror? Why are we suffering? Why has sex become a problem? Why do we submit to living with problems; why do we not put an end to them? Why do we not die to our problems instead of carrying them day after day, year after year? – Krishnamurti, On Love and Lonliness “Emotions come from frustration. The meaning of emotion is frustration in the sense that we are or might be unable to fulfill what we want. We discover our possible failure as something pathetic, and so we develop our tentacles or sharpen our claws to the extreme. The emotion is a way of competing with the projection. That is the mechanism of emotion. The whole point is that the projections have been our own manifestations all along.” – Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Lion’s Roar “When Lord Buddha spoke about suffering, he wasn’t referring simply to superficial problems like illness and injury, but to the fact that the dissatisfied nature of the mind itself is suffering. No matter how much of something you get, it never satisfies your desire for better or more. This unceasing desire is suffering; its nature is emotional frustration.” – Lama Yeshé “Tantra is the hot blood of spiritual practice. It smashes the taboo against unreasonable happiness; a thunderbolt path, swift, joyful, and fierce. There is no authentic Tantra without profound commitment, discipline, courage, and a sense of wild, foolhardy, fearless abandon.” – Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche “I manifested in a dreamlike way to dreamlike beings and gave a dreamlike Dharma, but in reality I never taught and never actually came.” – Shakyamuni Buddha “Some people think only one tradition of Buddhism is right and others are wrong. This kind of sectarianism, which depreciates other Buddhist traditions, shows that wisdom has not been realized. If mind is not used to create wisdom, strong dualistic ego obsessively rejects and accepts, causing hatred toward others who are different and attachment to one’s own way, which is the basis of sectarianism. Of course, it is good to have loyalty and faith in one’s own tradition, but only without devaluing and having hatred toward other traditions that are suitable for those with different phenomena.” – Dungsé Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, White Sail “Awareness is the uncontrived, unattached recognition of the experience of movement – the movement of the arising and dissolving of thoughts in the continuum of Mind, the appearance and disappearance of phenomena in the vastness of intrinsic space. There is only the sheer exquisiteness of this movement. This is what we actually are.” – Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, – Spectrum of Ecstasy “The true man or woman of religion is a rebellion, a profound revolution, a whirlwind in the midst of all that tends toward stagnation, fixity, deadness. The true force of spirituality is a cool breeze blowing down from the mountain heights bringing new and fresh air into the world of mediocrity. It awakens, enlivens, and makes the heart bold and courageous. The awakened heart intervenes in affairs of ordinary men and women provoking one and all with an invitation. Only the one swooned in the Vajra Heart Essence of wisdom and compassion has a deathless joy that can truly afford courage.” – Traktung Rinpoche “Each of you should examine your own mind, to see how you have squandered your lives on your needs and desires. Thoughtless maidens, get hold of your minds!” – Princess Mandarava “O love, O pure love, be here, be now. Be all. Worlds dissolve into your stainless endless radiance. Frail living leaves burn with your brighter than cold stars. Make me your servant, your breath, your love.” – Rumi “Increase and widen your desires till nothing but reality can fulfill them. It is not desire that is wrong, but its narrowness and smallness. Desire is devotion. By all means be devoted to the real, the infinite, the eternal heart of being. Transform desire into love. All you want is to be happy. All your desires, whatever they may be are expressions of your longing for happiness.” – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj “The way of cowardice is to embed ourselves in a cocoon, in which we perpetuate our habitual patterns. When we are constantly recreating our basic patterns of habits and thought, we never have to leap into fresh air or onto fresh ground.” – Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior “Happiness is sorrow; sorrow is happiness. There is happiness in difficulty; difficulty in happiness. Even though the ways we feel are different, they are not really different; in essense they are the same. This is the true understanding transmitted from Buddha to us.” – Shunryu Suzuki Roshi “Wisdom teachers can assume any aspect that will benefit, appearing to us in whatever way will open us to our inherent wisdom qualities. For example, sometimes wisdom teachers may appear to criticize and disagree with their students while revealing the wisdom of discernment, and sometimes wisdom teachers may appear to accept and agree with their students while revealing the wisdom of equanimity. We can never judge sublime teachers with dualistic mind, since their activity is beyond ordinary understanding.” – Dungsé Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, White Sail “When you sip a glass of Brunelo; savor a piece of chocolate; wash the dishes; vacuum the carpet; take a shower; call on a friend; flirt with a new and tantalizing person; cook food; make love; go shopping for a suede shirt or silk underwear; or, hit your thumb with a hammer – enlightenment is there. We are never separated from it. There is no need to look for enlightenment in any place other than where we are.” – Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen “When you arrive at the extinction of reality There is nothing but the spontaneity of pure potential There is no other way to dance in the sky.” – Khandroma Yeshé Tsogyel “Discipline, courage, hard work and intelligence are required because that is what any quest of the heart demands. Tantra, which molds the power of creation and ego into skillful means cutting through delusion, requires careful preparation. We don’t expect someone who just wants to play around now and then on a keyboard to become a concert pianist. We don’t expect someone to be able to get up off the couch one day and run a four minute mile. Great tasks require great effort.” – Traktung Rinpoche “Love is reckless; not reason. Reason seeks a profit. Loves comes on strong, consuming herself unabashed. Yet in the midst of suffering love proceeds like a millstone, hard surfaced and straight forward. Having died to self interest, she risks everything and asks for nothing. Love gambles away every gift God bestows. Without cause God gave us Being; without cause give it back again. Gambling yourself away is beyond any religion. Religion seeks grace and favor, but those who gamble these away are God’s favorites, for they neither put God to the test nor knock at the door of gain and loss.” – Rumi “Suffering in hopefullness is the eternalist. Suffering in hopelessness is the nihilist. Beyond both hopefulness and hopelessness is the Buddhist.” – Dungsé Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, Magic Dance

Buddhist-inspired graffiti and street art

The Horse’s ongoing gallery of Buddhist-inspired graffiti and street art. http://theworsthorse.net/dharmaglyphs1/dharmaglyphs1.html

This one’s from Kelli Bickman: “Buddha and mary make an appearance on 25th st in chelsea, nyc.” Thanks, Kelli.  Vajrayogini makes a rare appearance in San Francisco’s Mission District. Thanks to Sarah.  Just added: words from the elusive Dolla Lama! Click here to jump. An inspired twist on the infamous OBEY/Giant campaign. This sticker gets around. Thanks to Way.  Photo by Peter Stuckings Whoa. That’ll stop you in your tracks. Note the way that his chin seems to come over the little ledge there. Nice. Photo by eddiemalone This one’s called “Buddha Bow.” Good to see Shirts and Robes chilling together. Photo by therealalex Look closely. This Urban Dharma scene, while kinda cool, isn’t just the work of some lone-wolf graffiti-writer. It’s a mural-style ad, for “Penang Affair,” the restaurant you’d find on the other side of this wall. Buddha meets Warhol via graf, in Chicago.   Photo by bindifry   Photo by evanosherow    Now, this is interesting: it’s like a cartoon thangka (Tibetan deity scroll). And it’s not in some urban setting. This is just about as rural as it gets. The photographer comments: “Strange  art is beginning to appear in Bowie [Arizona]. This is actually on a friend’s storage shed.” An ancient Buddhist mudra (for warding off evil) on a modern city wall. Photographer’s note: “paste-up graffiti, Plateau Montreal – by shithead (?), Montr�al, Qu�bec”  Photo by greynotgrey   Photo by Lunaryuna A nice visual for ones’ commute. Details on Lunaryuna’s page. Photo by Rusty Haskell We originally asked: Was this a one-hit, or has the ”Dolla Lama” appeared with other messages on his vinyl forehead? Then we got this answer: “I am a street artist in Orlando FL. I go by DOLLA, aka DOLLA LAMA. to answer your question: Yes, I have done other words of wisdom from the DALAI LAMA. [ . . . ] BIG UPS on the site. I enjoyed checking it out much love. DOLL4″ Stay tuned for a full Dharmaglyphs gallery of just the Dolla Lama’s work. It’s some beautiful stuff.‘ Apparently “Elbowtoe” has done at least a little time on the cushion. Photo by Gregory Palmer Thanks to all the photographers for their generosity and their good eyes. Click on the linked credits to see more of their work. You’ll see some good stuff.

Know something about these Dharmaglyphs? Got a photo of one of your own? Email us: Thanks, as always, from the Horse.

DOLLA LAMA

http://theworsthorse.net/dolla/dolla.html

“Going over the haters”
Art and answers from the one and only DOLLA.

A couple months ago, we got an email out of the blue from someone who seemed to be calling himself the “DOLLA LAMA.” He humbly introduced himself and asked that we check out his art. We did, and it was love at first sight: this was not just bold, iconic street-art. It was bold, iconic street-art with an undeniable Dharma-angle to it.

“DOLLA LAMA,” it turns out, is the handle given to a particular “campaign” of art, by a multifacted artist and designer who goes by the tag of “DOLLA.” Here, DOLLA sits down with the Horse to share and explain his art and a little bit more about the man behind the moniker. Dig it. (And if you really dig it, follow the link at the end of this article to download and print your own DOLLA LAMA stencils.)

How did you get started in street art?

I got bit by the hip hop bug at an early age. I started tagging around age 12 or 13.

i’ve messed around with graffiti on and off for most of my life. it wasn’t until about 6 or 7 years ago that i started getting into street art. I started out making hand-drawn stickers with braggadocio-style sayings on them, then focused on drawing character stickers. a friend taught me how to screen print and i moved on to making vinyls.

It seems like most of your art is “displayed” via stickers and paste-ups. Is that right?
yeah, I put up stickers daily. I always have a stack on me, where ever i go i’m leaving my mark. My favorite is definitely poster bombing. nothin like seein a huge poster at a busy intersection. high-traffic areas are mostly what i shoot for. I like the idea of getting thousands of people seeing my art a day. I’m a sticker junkie, but they are usually too small to see if you are driving. My smallest posters are 3′ tall and get as big as 9′ (no problem seeing them at all).

Obviously, the Dalai Lama himself is a recurring symbol / motif / icon of your work, especially your “Dolla Lama” campaign. How did that come about?
well, about 4 years ago I was doing a lot of DOLLA stickers. I was making all hand made stickers at the time. a lot of people were starting beef with me and dissing my stickers. I kinda started taking it personal. it sounds silly to me now but I was spending a lot of time on these stickers and I would get heated when people wrote on ‘em or added a penis to my characters.

One person in particular was trying to get fame by dissing everything i put up. I wasted a lot of time and energy going tit for tat with this guy. I was getting consumed by the feeling of hatred and wanting to get revenge. I finally switched it around and started 2 sticker campaigns. the first was the “you love to hate” campaign. I started printing vinyl stickers of famous people that were getting hated on. like pee wee herman, paris hilton, etc. with “you love to hate dolla” printed on em.

the second was the DOLLA LAMA campaign. I drew a picture of the dalai lama and started putting quotes or words of wisdom on his forehead and printing them. I originally used these stickers to go over the haters, It made me feel better. Soon I was starting to get some positive feedback from the messages i was putting out there with the lama stickers, i just kept doin more and more, and still make them today.

 

You seem to have latched onto something which is actually quite traditional in Buddhism: the use of aspirational slogans. But the way you use them in your work is very non-traditional. Do you ever get a hard time for that?
Its weird, some people love the message and some see what i do as a cheap gimmick. Some people got very offended by my Obey/Giant-like sticker with the dollar sign on the dalai lama’s head. I heard a story about this girl who tore down one of my stickers and set it on fire. Man the last thing I’m trying to do is piss people off with these stickers and posters. I guess I can see where they are coming from, but angering people is not my intention for this campaign. First and foremost I am spreading the wisdom of the dalai lama.

 

How do you pick your slogans?
as far as picking the slogans: I have a book of 365 quotes “words of wisdom” by the dalai lama. one for every day of the year. i use what strikes a chord with me at the time.

And the significance of changing “Dalai” to “DOLLA”?
DOLLA is my tag. It’s just a play on words.

 

Do you consider yourself a Buddhist? Do you meditate or try to keep up any other kind of practice?

 

I was raised roman catholic, but i haven’t practiced religion for about 15 years or so. I find Buddhism very interesting and the things that i have read make me strive to be a better person. I would like to try meditation. My only practice (now) is trying to maintain a balance.

What are you working on now?
I am in the middle of a few projects. I am working on 3 new freight train benches. All the welding has just been completed. Now I am finishing up the wood work.

Then i will begin painting them I am designing 2 murals for local shops that i will have done by next month. What i have been focused on lately is getting ready for a stencil show in Lauderhill FL at the bear and bird gallery that opens June 16th (2007). I will have 4 new paintings in the show.

You also do commercial work, right?
For my 9 to 5 job i manage a display company. I am the head designer and fabricator. I do a lot of work for Disney and other tourist attractions around the world. I have only been getting a few commercial jobs a year. my most recent job was designing 5 characters for a hip hop website.

Culturally, where do you find inspiration or enjoyment?
I am into going to art shows when i break away from the lab. Its always good to see people’s new works.

I listen to a lot of diff. music. but the majority of my collection is rap. some of my favorite artists are Wu-Tang, Gravediggaz, MF Doom, Madlib, Kool Keith, A Tribe Called Quest. I still listen to a lot of old school stuff like UTFO, Newcleus, etc. And I’m a pretty big movie watcher. my all time favorite flick is The Warriors. Some others are GUMMO, Julian Donkey Boy, Freaks, Boondock Saints, Ghost Dog, Twilight Zone, Reservoir Dogs, Blood in Blood Out, Carlitos Way. I also like silly comedies.

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What’s your dream project?
I would definitely like to get my own TV show off the ground; a puppet show or a cartoon. I recently signed on as a designer for Secret Legion Productions, which is an animation company at Universal Studios. We just did a pitch for a big network, but they passed on the project. If we got it, it would have been a dream come true for sure.

 

ALL ART AND ANSWERS BY DOLLA. ART USED BY PERMISSION.
You can see more of DOLLA’s stuff at his website (in development), or at his MySpace page. Check it all out.

Click HERE for printable, useable DOLLA LAMA stencils, brought to you by Dolla and the Horse.