Buddha Mountain Calls (and the Secret Gateway of Symmetry)
Buddha Mountain Calls (and the Secret Gateway of Symmetry)
ENLIGHTENMENT PROMPT #7
REPORTAGE HAIKU
Buddha mountain calls:
below peaks, above valleys-
sit in timeless ice.
I took a photo flying over the Alps yesterday. Then I copied it four times over, flipped and mirrored them until I had a totally new composition—a mountain mandala. A meditating figure appeared in the centre by chance, a byproduct of the process. By copying and mirroring an identical image symmetry is revealed. Why is the symmetrical so attractive to us? It is another signpost of the world beyond the world. In this way, everything reflects a divine beauty just by existing. When you walk about, no matter where you are, try to see with mirror eyes—observe the hidden symmetry that lies behind the fragmented world. Then, when you have a quiet moment, look within. Seek the experience of inner symmetry that that outer world alludes to.
If you practice bodywork, like tai chi, qigong, yoga, or even sitting meditation, try imagining your posture reflected in the space around you, become a living mandala— if you move or stretch forward, imagine an overlapped mirror image of yourself moving backwards as well as to the left and right sides. Contracting to a single point as you breathe in, expanding out into the universe, reflected in every direction as you breathe out.
As above, so below, as without, so within.
