A PICTORIAL WAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT
By Rosalind: East Asia Correspondent
The idea of emptiness is reflected in the creation of the space.
The visual language of images is widely recognized in the artistic community, where works of art are created to convey nuanced thoughts and feelings that go beyond words. Without a doubt, words have the power to convey meanings and evoke emotions.
Nonetheless, the reader must possess some level of linguistic aptitude in order to comprehend a literary work in its entirety. However, a picture’s structure can be examined in great detail, but its fundamental significance can go unnoticed. Essentially, the image’s meaning leans towards sensuality rather than intellect.
Scenes like a man returning home, a lost cat in the rain, or a woman waiting at a train station evoke different narratives and stir up emotions on multiple levels. Nuanced facial expressions, like a woman’s flickering moment of despair, a young girl’s slightly tipped eye, or a boy’s pouted mouth demanding his teddy bear, are all perfect examples of these non-literal storytelling.
Nevertheless, pictures are not just reflections of reality; they have the potential to be abstract, surreal, and perplexing. As such, there are differences throughout individuals in the process of deciphering the myth of an image. With different backdrops, an image’s story can be retold.
The ‘no-mind’ approach to understanding an image
In contrast to literary works that support semantic investigation, an image’s ‘readability’ is highlighted through stimulating the ‘psychic work.’ Visual meaning is more about stirring one’s soul than about efficiently engaging the rational mind. Put differently, pictures communicate with the viewer’s true self.
They navigate past distracting thoughts and tap into the person’s imagination. This aligns with the core Zen Buddhist principle, which emphasizes the importance of achieving a state of no-mind to attain enlightenment. According to the Japanese Zen master Osho, the mind is the adversary.
The more informed one is, the more powerful, and the more informed, the more guarded. When the mind is absent, even for a brief moment, you have arrived home; a journey of a thousand miles is completed in an instant.
The state of no-mind entails creating the space, eradicating the intellectual understanding, and depleting the resources for a rational mind. That’s when a person returns to their true self. Many artists argue that the true essence of an image is found in what is hidden rather than what is revealed.
Rothko believed that a good painting should also be about nothing. For individuals such as Rothko, images serve as a means to connect with one’s inner self and bring about transformation. According to Williem de Kooning, the belief that nature is chaotic and artists bring order to it is absurd; all we can strive for is to bring some order within ourselves. An image is meant to stimulate the viewer’s aesthetic imagination, revealing the illuminated essence of one’s true self.
An image is essentially empty—the eastern way of interpreting the visual world.
The idea of emptiness is reflected in the creation of the space. According to the wisdom of the ancient sages, emptiness is not a mere void or absence, but rather a complex interplay between the visible and hidden elements within the vast cosmos.
The essence of the eastern ideological tradition is rooted in emptiness. It is considered the fundamental essence of the universe. According to the perspective from the east, everything, regardless of its solidity, is always on the brink of falling apart. Everything is fleeting, volatile and impermanent.
Many artists in the east delved into the deep complexity of emptiness. They believe that natural landscapes like water and the sky perfectly represent the transient nature of the universe. The natural world, much like the vast universe, is in a perpetual state of flux.
According to artists from the East, trying to replicate the world as we see it through a copy would always fall short. A static portrait cannot fully reflect the dynamism of the universe since the brush can only record one instance of the kaleidoscopic change. A specific structure will never be enough to fully grasp the depth of emptiness.
The landscape painting below dates back to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The image provides a unique view of bamboo growing alongside a stream. The painting captures the intricate details of leaves and stalks, with each brushstroke carefully portraying their textures and shapes.
Xia Chang created this painting with a wide and daring approach as a present for a friend who had surrounded his retirement villa with a bamboo grove. Xia Chang’s brush captures the essence of the objective world with a delicate touch of rice paper, creating an airy and ethereal picture.
Everything portrayed appears to lack a lasting presence; even the detailed bamboo in the foreground is depicted as translucent, seemingly about to blend into the expansive background.
Furthermore, despite appearing counter-intuitive, the shore where the bamboo is rooted conveys a feeling of instability, resembling a field of sand on the verge of being swept away by the wind. On the other hand, in stark contrast to the delicate strokes on the paper, the river remains unfinished, with multiple lines depicting the energetic movement of the water. The concept of emptiness in the painting reflects the essence of Eastern philosophy, focusing on undoing rather than doing to attain true reality.
Rosalind
As a practitioner in the realm of art over the years, I have wandered through the palaces of both Western and Eastern artistic traditions. These diverse art pieces serve as wellsprings for my writing, harmonizing with the profound thoughts of great thinkers from around the world throughout history. I am convinced that unlocking the mystery of art involves delving deep into the human psyche, turning the pursuit of art into a pilgrimage to one’s inner self…