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INTRODUCTION

When visiting the old temples of Japan as a tourist, I had many questions.

My friends in Japan could not answer. Returning to New York City, where I live, I decided to find a Zen temple, do meditation and find out for myself. I discovered a nearby Zen group and started learning to meditate. I attended lectures then a week long retreat. Gradually the big Buddha statues started to speak. The Zen monks sitting facing the wall did not seem so strange.

Then I began to experiment making artwork based on what I was learning and discovering. This book is the result. I’ll start with a little introduction to the Dharma as I understand it:

The Buddha Dharma

“The Dharma” often refers to the teachings of the great Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha of India who lived more than 2500 years ago. His teachings range from simple poems and stories to epic philosophical dialogues that challenge all assumptions about the nature of time and space. Cool! Very basically he taught:

The Four Noble Truths

1. Right View

2. Right Thoughts

3. Right Speech

4. Right Action

5. Right Livelihood

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Concentration

Shakyamuni taught this path in amazing ways for forty years. His teachings were memorized and written by his followers, and then Collected into big and small books called sutras. The sutras are still being studied and translated, and the wondrous Buddha Dharma keeps spreading and clearing a way to end suffering.

The Buddha turns the Dharma wheel, and reality is shown in all its many forms!

The 24/7 Dharma

Shakyamuni started the Buddha Dharma - but there are many more Dharmas than that. Dharmas were happening before him and after him too, including NOW! There are billions and billions of Dharmas happening all the time, and every one of them can give us the opportunity to look, listen and reflect. For example:

So the Dharmas appear every where if we are awake to them. Some Dharmas are very difficult and require hardship and long hours of practice. Often the most challenging teachings are the ones that offer the most insight and unexpected gateways to FREEDOM.

The Dharmas are BOUNDLESS, I vow to master them.

Dharma Delight

We all experience delight now a now then.

Sometimes there are great delights:

Sometimes there are small delights: