Painting is Like Music

Sometimes painting is like music: some are blues, some are jazz, some are magnificent symphonies, some are just little folk tunes with a solo flute or violin playing.

Artist Paul Klee used to believe that: "Polyphonic painting is superior to music in that there, the time element becomes a spatial element. The notion of simultaneity stands out even more richly." Here, the idea of "time" becomes a spatial element is really intriguing to me.

Black sumi ink on paper, mounted on paper. The size is 18 by 22 inches.

Wind God

Powerful wind god. When the phenomenal world reduces back to the elements: earth, water, fire, and wind, the pure force penetrates everything.

Drala, in Tibetan: above the enemy. From Trungpa Rinpoche "Shambhala - The Sacred Path of the Warrior": "The best and only way to invoke Drala is by creating an atmosphere of bravery."

"By invoking the external and internal drala principles, you raise a wind of energy and delight in your life. You begin to feel natural power and upliftedness manifesting in your existence. Then, having raised your windhorse, you can accommodate whatever arises in your state of mind. There is no problem or hesitation of any kind. So the fruition of invoking secret drala is that having raised windhorse, you experience a state of mind that is free from subconscious gossip, free from hesitation and disbelief. You experience the very moment of your state of mind."

Chinese calligraphy: Wind God 風神. Sumi ink on gold speckle textured rice paper, mounted on paper. The size is 24 by 9 in. The signature is: Chin's heart.

Sketches of Thacher Park

Thacher State Park in Albany is situated along the Helderberg Escarpment; it has six miles long of limestone cliffs, provides a marvelous panorama of the Hudson-Mohawk Valleys and the Adirondack and Green Mountains. The land is so old, and, it is rich in all kinds of fossils - when you stand on top of the cliffs, you can view the endless landscape of the Hudson River. Hawks family are flying over the sky and playing with the wind...

These are a few quick drawings of the view. No matter what season you go, the wonder of nature would always amaze you.

Watercolor and ink on paper. Each one is 6 by 9 inches. Click for a larger image.

Life and Death

Beautiful Saturday morning. Birds are singing happily. Wind is blowing. Every leaf is shining with goodness - an unusual spring day in the summer time.

Then we start hearing people's activities - painful yelling, arguing, creating noises from their discontentment... When the whole world wake up from the gentle breeze, we wake up from our troubled mind - how sad that is!

Life and death happen in each moment: if you open, you are alive; if you close your mind and heart, then you are not.

You can even open to the yelling and pain, since they are part of the flow, part of everything.

Chinese calligraphy: Life and Death 生死. The seals on the left are an image of a bird and an image of a lotus. The size is 24 by 13 inches. Sumi ink on rice paper, mounted on paper.

Dragon Playing

One dragon is playing with the wish-fulfilling jewel in the sky. The space has no boundary; the sky has no limits. The dragon is dignified; the dragon is having fun. The dragon just be itself, in the timeless moment. The question of loneliness doesn't apply any more.

Sumi ink and color on gold speckle textured rice paper, mounted on paper. The size is 13 by 19 in. The seals are "moon" in seal script at the top; and a red dot at the bottom.

Energy is a Powerful Teacher

This extract is from the book "Ocean of Dharma" by Chogyam Trungpa : Energy is a Powerful Teacher

The happenings of life are manifestations of energy. This energy in the situations of life is a very powerful teacher. If you go too far, in the sense of not being receptive enough to learn from the experience of life, if you ignore this experience and go too far with the extreme emotional excitement of ego, then sooner or later you are going to be pulled back. This might take the form of accident, illness, or disaster - any sort of chaos. Whereas if you are able to see the first signal that you have lost touch with the life situation as teacher, then you will be able to tune yourself back into it. That is "guru-as-environment".
- Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche

Two dragons are dancing together - Sumi ink on rice paper, mounted on paper. The size is 26 by 16 in. The seal is an image of a bird (which is part of my name.) The artwork is inspired by Trungpa Rinpoche's wisdom.

Today - Let's Dance with the Phenomenal World

Today - let's dance with the phenomenal world; let me be receptive, let me be sensitive. In the Buddhism saying, it is like being an empty glass - in order to accept new things, to see things in a new way, we have to empty ourselves first.

Today, let me open my mind, to receive all the sounds, the sunshine, the rain drops, people's words... receive them without too much of my own judgement. Let me be so, just for today. Let me dance with the phenomenal world. Let the mutual dance happen.

Chinese calligraphy: Today 今日. Sumi ink on rice paper, mounted on paper. The size is 13 by 16.5 in. The seal is: "Chin's heart."

Ebb and Flow

Ebb and flow. We cannot force things to happen. Sometimes we think we can, but that always brings lots of suffering and pain; and the final result may not be what we truly want.

We have to be patient, and observant. We see the situation, see ourselves clearly. Expectation is one thing, fear of failure is another. We need to know what we are doing.

In the ink paintings, or calligraphy works, the immediacy of the strokes is right there on the paper or on the silk surfaces; so you cannot force it to happen. If I am tired, it shows; if I am mindful, it shows. It is a natural process.

Ebb and flow. Chinese calligraphy: 潮 (waves). Sumi ink on rice paper, mounted on paper. The size is 13 by 13 inches. The seals are an image of a fish, and my name: Chin.

Sketch of Land and Mountains

Sketch of land and mountains, valleys, and fields.

Sumi ink on watercolor paper; the size is 15 by 22 inches.

Colorful World

Black and white are strong; but with a bit of colors, life can be very different.

Color brings harmony; color indicates emotions. No need for a lot of colors. Just enough will make everything interesting.

It is a colorful world with all kinds of people and all kinds of things, after all.

Sumi ink and colors on raw silk, mounted on stretched canvas. The size is 15 by 19 inches. The seal is an image of a fish.

Pure Land

Where is the Pure Land on earth? Where is the ultimate peaceful place? Where is our sanctuary?... Is it a physical location? Or is it just a status of mind?

Pure Land. Sumi ink on rice paper, mounted on paper. The size is 18 by 12 inches. The seals are: Tsai (my surname), and an image of a fish at the bottom.

Flying Clouds

Flying clouds speedily passed the mountain tops.

Sumi ink on gold speckle textured paper. Mounted on paper. The size is 16 by 20 inches.

Bottom right is a detailed (close-up) image.

Long Landscape

The rich, luxurious texture of silk is very hard to be seen from the web pages. But anyway, the image is here.

Long landscape. Sumi ink on silk, mounted on paper. The size is 38 by 10 inches (click to see larger image.)

Discipline and Freedom

Discipline and freedom go hand in hand. You have to have great discipline, and then you would have great freedom. The secret of dance is letting be, but it is not out of control. True joy comes from a sane, kind, light mind; not from a selfish, egoistic, heavy mind.

Landscape. Sumi ink on rice paper. The size is 18 by 23 inches. Seal reads: Chin (my name.)

Below are some wisdom words from Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche:
"I wish to urge students of the dharma who may have forsaken their creative impulse in favor of practice to realize there is no conflict between creativity and meditation. Creativity can be understood, in essence, to be the practice of our own nature and that nature's expression. You may find your way in to the nature through creativity; or you may come out from the nature to express creativity. Both have to be appreciated as the best of our mind's potential."

Landscape - Mountain and River

Landscape - Mountain and River. 山川. Even in the Chinese wording, the words themselves are like the shapes/ forms of mountain and river.

One dot, one mark; if I can maintain awareness throughout the whole process of painting, then the result will be satisfying. The empty space between marks is crucial for the work.

Sumi ink on rice paper. The size is 18 by 17 inches. Signature and seal: Chin's heart. Chinese wording: Mountain and River.