My Impressions...

Drawings and Waterc...

By Ronnie Fitzgerald

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Universal Peace

OM Shanti Shanti Shanti

Universal Peace - The shanti is repeated three times. This chant is generally interpreted as meaning the Threefold Peace in body, speech an mind.

When I was making this box I collected several objects that relate to my experience of Buddhism. The carved Buddha (top left) was used by a group of friends in an informal study meditation group that I was part of. I attended a week of teachings by his Holiness the Dalai Lama on the nature of reality in Nottingham last year. The sketch book page has improvised wax seals added to the paper this represents the four seals. The dancer worked with me on a project where she used movement to represent the nature of water, underneath her is a dukar wheel from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in India. A dukar wheel is a parchment with a Buddhist prayer written by hand, folded and wrapped in color threads. The small painting is of a storm over a ruined castle and is a response to impermanence. The other objects are from my personal shrine.

All objects are seperate but connected.

The Tibetan word tendrel means interaction, interconnection, interrelation, interdependence, or interdependant factors. all things, all our experiences are tendrel which is to say that they are events that exist because of the relationship between interrelated factors.

The butterflies attaching themselves to everything represent emotional energy.In sanskrit the word for this type of energy is called Klesha. These strong emotions arise with the subtle tension inherent in dualistic perception. Their nature is insubstantial but can easily enslave us.

Welcome to the Journey of the Paper Buddha

The paper Buddha is made of wire and paper. He sits serenely at locations that I visit to paint or photograph. Often these are sites of religious significance such as holy wells or old abbeys, Sometimes the locations have historical relevance, or are places of incredible beauty and peace. " For me Buddhism has become a way of life and thought. It resonates through my work via the realm of meditation. Meditation insists on the cultivation of attention. When attention is cultivated it creates a new perspective on how the world looks. There is an altered understanding of time, the potency of silence, and a growing awareness of the relational nature of reality".