A contemplative mandala with the feeling of ideas arranged into order. Variation is measured and intentional, creating a mind-clearing cadence—complex enough to engage, calm enough to settle.
Ink on paper.
Artist Statement
Inspired by a Buddhist teaching that encourages us to detach from our own suffering so that we may help others also be free of their suffering. Each of the eight pedals on this flower represent one of the eight thoughts described in the ancient Buddhist text.
The “eight thoughts of a great being” originate from the Buddhist text, the Anuruddhamahāvitakkasutta, and describe the mindset required for spiritual practice, contrasting characteristics of a great being with their opposites. The eight thoughts are that the Dhamma (teaching) is for those with few desires, who are contented, solitary, energetic, mindful, concentrated, and wise, not their opposites. The eighth thought, added by the Buddha, is that the teaching is for those who delight in non-proliferation, not those who enjoy proliferating.
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Below is a modern version of the ancient text.
The Eight Thoughts of a Great Being
- Through the power of the compassionate truth of the Supreme Refuges, and through the root of virtuous action, and through pure noble motivation, may I alone, by my own efforts, dispel the sufferings of all beings who pervade space.
- Through the excellence of virtuous activity in this world and beyond it, may I fulfill the hopes and desires of beings just as they conceive them.
- May my body, flesh, blood, skin and all the rest of me benefit all sentient beings in appropriate ways.
- May the sufferings of beings, my old mothers, dissolve into me and may my happiness and virtue be obtained by them.
- As long as the world remains, may there not arise in my mind, even for an instant, the thought of harming others.
- May I exert myself diligently in benefiting beings, not letting up for even a moment because of sadness or fatigue or anything similar.
- May I be able to give effortlessly whatever enjoyment is desired by all beings who are thirsty, hungry, needy, or poor.
- May I take upon myself the great burdens, the difficult-to-endure sufferings of beings in hell and the other realms, and may they be liberated.