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Myanmar Beliefs& Customs Buddhism |
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TRDITIONAL BUDDHISM INFLUENCE ON MY WORKS
By Thar Gyi Mg Zeya(Artist)
Translated by Myint Aung
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I believe that I can create works of art by using whatever small things I can find around me.
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When I was in Mogoke, also known as the Ruby land of Myanmar, there were no paint brushes, paint nor canvases available for painting. Such things were not just rare. In fact, they are non-existent.
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That was when I started to create my works by using pieces of colored stones I could easily find in brooks and streams.
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It's not that I have high aspirations or great expectations but only the fact that, I just want to, that I just have to create.
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I have heard of Lord Buddha's teachings on Sila, Samadhi and Pannya, meaning the five, eight and ten precepts or morals, concentration of mind or integrity, and knowledge or learning.
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Whenever, I create my works, I bear in mind these teachings of Lord Buddha. I refrain from going against the precepts or committing any sing. In this way, I follow Sila. Next., I concentrate on what I am doing and focus all my mental energy into it. This is the Samadhi Stage. The more I practice Samadhi, the more I notice that my power of concentration is developing. The next stage is the attainment of knowledge.
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Since the materials I use for my works are colored stones, I had to spend a considerable amount of time in learning to apply the basic rules I learned from my art instructors and mentors of point, line, shape , form and perspective to my materials. As I experimented, I learned, and as I learned I started creating my works to the point of actually earning an income by selling them. Although the meager earning was not my major factor, it was an impetus for me to go on experimenting and learning how to use coloured stones to create works of art. In this way, I gradually pushed my way forward.
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At a time when the economic situation of my social environment was in a decline, I was able to share my self-laugh knowledge of creating works of art with easily available coloured stones, with young people who were waiting patiently to attend colleges and universities or who suddenly found themselves out of employment. Moreover I also made these young people more aware of Buddha's teachings with the happy result that we were bale t see things in a different light which helped to overcome to a certain extent the darkness and the negative aspects implanted in our beings.
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However, we still faced highly- challenging difficulties.
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The good thing was that we learned what Lord Buddha taught about Samaajiva or the right way of living, in other words, a way of living that is not unpurified by unrighteous thoughts or deeds.
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Just as bees imbibe nectar from flower without destroying the beauty of the flowers, we came to understand that we can lean to survive and add beauty to the would that we live in.
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I realize that I have come to understand more fully about pointillism as I create my works with each piece of coloured stone. BaGi Aung Soe, one of my art master, once told me that this world is just a little speck in the whole wide universe, that our country, Myanmar, is just a little speck in the world, and that we are just a little speck in our country.
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As I place each little speck of colored stone in its place while I create my work, I cannot but rationalize my minuteness in this whole world, and this rationalization, this understanding, makes me shed my pride and vanity. At the same time, being conscious of the fact that by placing each and every little piece of stone in its appropriate space, on can create a beautiful and powerful work of art, this gives me a lot of strength and vitality.
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Once, when I was separated from community, I was fortunate enough to befriend a person who taught me vipassana, or meditation. As I learned to practice meditation , I also, Learned how to concentrate and how and where to place my mind. This practice of vipassana has also helped me enormously in the way I create my works.
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I'm very keen to learn more from artists from various countries and I would also be very happy to share what I can and what I have.
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Just like the great Ayeyarwaddy river in our country, I pray that we can serve the common good, and that as different rivers flow into the great ocean of art, I hope that we can alive the common goal of making our would a more peaceful and beautiful place.
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