Detail: “Amitabha: Red Buddha of Infinite Light”
Limited Edition Bronze Sculpture
I am starting with some assumptions about each of you. Ones I am committed to based on my beliefs about our world and how it works. Things that for me, hold true for every one of you.
- Each one of you matters.
- The love you bring to the world matters.
- You are equally a pure display of loving light, an expression of the Divine.
Of course these aren’t my original ideas. These ideas have circulated in my orbit for most of my life but they came into sharp focus during my intensive study of the Buddhist faith from the Tibetan perspective. The Buddha taught that we are all the same in our nature, that we each have within us the enlightened essence of Buddha mind in equal measure, we each are in truth, an expression of the Divine. The Buddha also taught that our ability to see the truth of this in ourselves and in others is limited, clouded by the habitual patterns of our mind and the negative emotions that arise from there. We see ourselves as separate from each other. Identifying and focusing on our differences, we judge and divide and separate ourselves into smaller and smaller bits. According to the Buddha, we are not separate in our nature, we are the same. In our mistaken view, we divide our self from our Self.
We also share another powerful common denominator: We each just want to be happy. If we can understand this truth we can begin to understand the most fundamental motivations of our fellow humans in this experience of life.
I love the phrase “Namaste.” Over used and often not understood, it means, “the Divine in me, sees the Divine in you.” So this is where we are. Namaste friends old and new. I invite you to start with this simple assumption and watch the change unfold in your life … Let the fun begin!
Detail of original sculpture: “Amitabha: Red Buddha of Infinite Light”
Commissioned for Amitabha Enlightment Stupa Sedona, AZ
Limited Edition Bronze sculpture available: