I've been trying to come up with a way to display the larger mandalas. I don't really like them under glass, I want people to be able to touch them. I made a free-standing frame and hung this one. The pictures are not great because it was cold and windy outside, the poor thing was just flapping around and I was freezing. Finally I laid it down on a piece of cardboard, snapped a few hasty pictures and ran back inside.
I'm not too excited by this one, but my son likes it. It's close to 5 inches in diameter.
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!
A Parable
Buddha told a parable in a sutra:
A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!
From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings. Complied by Paul Reps.
The picture is great. We are much too critical of ourselves sometimes. Love the mandala.
ReplyDeleteYou do such gorgeous work and love the shadow box frame for it.
ReplyDeleteOK-we can be our own worst critic! This is so beautiful and the work involved! Wow!! I love it. I am trying to understand the parable and can only gleam that he is quite dumb:) The mice are going to edge him towards death and all he can think about is the strawberry. You must explain this one to me:) I am feeling rather dumb myself:)
ReplyDeleteHi Birgit!
DeleteMy interpretation is that under normal circumstances we would not think much of a strawberry. When faced with death, the sweetness of that strawberry was enhanced a thousand fold. He lived completely in the moment. I don't know if that makes any sense, or if my interpretation is appropriate. You should see some of the stories I leave out, they completely confuse me. I found a couple of funny ones, maybe I'll use one of those next week. Thanks for stopping by! I always enjoy your comments :-)
-Liz
Wonderful work!!!!! We all make choices don't we!
ReplyDeleteReally beautiful colors in your amazing beadwork! I think I'd want that one inside and not 'flapping in the wind' :)
ReplyDeleteStunning colors and amazing symmetry work with every petal having exactly the same bead arrangement. Such a work of Art and the display becomes such an integral part....I wonder how a Plexiglas box would work?
ReplyDeleteI read the parable four times yesterday and twice today and am not sure I understand yet. I will read it a few more times over the next day and see if it dawns on me. It is ok, I know I am not going to "get" them all :-)
ReplyDeleteI really like this mandala. The close up had me thinking, "Interesting color choices" but the pix of it in the frame ~ there I saw all the beauty and how, taken as a whole, all the colors work together. It really is a beautiful mandala. And I love the chain and frame ~ great idea!
I have no words, I just love this mandala, i sound like a broken record, but they are one more beautiful than the previous one, i also think it's genious that you used a frame to display your work.
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