Thus Have I Seen: Art and Images as Guides on the Path to Awakening

Instructor(s): Mu Soeng and William Edelglass

Program Description:

The figure of the Buddha, in literature and visual art, has been a source of inspiration and teaching for all Buddhist traditions. As an inscription on an eighth-century Chinese statue of the Buddha Amitābha states, “while highest truth is devoid of any image, without images there would be nothing to make visible its [being the] truth.” Indeed, visual culture has always played a significant role in Buddhist thought and practice. One of the most inspiring visual models of practice is the oxherding pictures series, which originated in China as part of the early Chan tradition and became more prominent in medieval Japanese Zen. Today, the oxherding pictures continue to inspire contemporary Buddhist practitioners in the West and resonate with a psychological understanding of how Buddhist thought and practice addresses conditioning and leads to awakening. In this program, we will explore the role of visual aids on the path to awakening in several Buddhist traditions and experiment with contemplating and making images as forms of practice. We will be particularly attentive to the oxherding pictures and how these images express the dharma. 

Note: This program is for graduates of the Nalanda program.

Prerequisites:

This program is for graduates of the Nalanda program.

About the Instructor(s):
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  Mu Soeng

  Mu Soeng is Scholar Emeritus at BCBS. He trained in the (Korean) Zen tradition and was a monk for eleven years. He is the author of Thousand Peaks: Korean Zen (Tradition and Teachers); The Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive the World; Trust in Mind: The Rebellion of Chinese Zen; The Heart of the Universe: Exploring the Heart Sutra, and co-author of Older and Wiser: Classical Buddhist Teachings on Aging, Sickness, and Death.

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  William Edelglass

  William Edelglass is Director of Studies at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.  He also teaches at Smith College, where he is the Director of the Five College Tibetan Studies Program in India, and is adjunct professor at the Central University for Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India.  His scholarship explores questions in Buddhist studies, environmental humanities, and philosophy.  William has practiced in several different Buddhist traditions and has taught widely in dharma centers, academia, as a wilderness guide, and in several Tibetan academic institutions in India.  William’s most recent book is The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy.