Heart Center Circle Hum by Thomas J. Greenbaum
Artwork Description
My artwork is a mashup of several wisdom teachings, sacred geometry and meditation exercises from a variety of sources including teachings from my blessed gurus.
It was my intention to create this artwork as a meditation device in order to begin with focused attention centered on my heart and expand healing, brilliant light outward to All Sentient Beings. In this way I creatively combine Sacred Geometry, Alchemical, Tibetan Buddhist and Zen teachings in one artwork.
Heart Center Circle Hum includes a hand-drawn black circle with a fine black dot in the center (ink on rice paper). This simple Circle and Center dot is supported by two Tibetan "Hung" symbols on either side (acrylic paint on mylar). The surrounding frame is art paper and vellum (27"x19").
Following are my inspirations for this artwork, each one a meditation in itself, together they form a unity of wisdom and skillful means.
Circle and Zero Point Center - Zen Teaching
The circle and center point is a simple sacred geometry, but it is highly charged with energy and meaning for me.
You are probably familiar with Zen masters drawing a circle with an ink brush in a demonstration of their self-realization, the art form known as Enso.
I was a student of Zen Master Philip Kapleau Roshi (Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Santa Fe) in the early 1980's. During the first teaching of Kapleau Roshi that I attended, I witnessed him draw a circle similar to Enso, but he did not use an ink brush, instead he used a black marker on a clearboard!
Kapleau Roshi was a creative thinker and added a black dot in the center of the circle. Enso paintings do not traditionally include a center point dot. Kapleau Roshi taught about two types of consciousness. The dot in the center represents inwardly focused attention. The circle represents expanded awareness of the universe we perceive 'outside' our selves). I will never forget this teaching. This artwork was primarily inspired by my memory of Roshi Kapleau. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Kapleau
Tibetan Buddhist Hung - Heart/Mind
The two Tibetan "Hung" symbols on either side. The meaning of hung (in Sanskrit hum) is Mind visualized at the Heart center of our ethereal body. The artistic form of the two hung symbols informed by Lama Anagarika Govinda Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism (page 189). Rider & Co. American edition 1969. https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Tibetan-Mysticism-Anagarika-Govinda/dp/0877280649
Symbolism of the Seed-Syllable HÚM as quintessence of the Five Wisdoms
The Demchog Tantra, therefore, says that HÚM represents the 'mind free from all thought-contents or concepts'. The five parts of which HÚM is composed in its visible form (in Indian as well as Tibetan script) correspond to the five Dhyãni-Buddhas and their Wisdoms.
The third phase, consists in the return to the human plane, on which all attainments are translated into life and deed. The place of this experience is the human heart, in which the 'Diamond Being', that is Vajrasattva, is realized and becomes an ever-present force in the seed-syllable HÚM.
Side note: Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism was one of my first books introducing me to Tibetan Buddhism. I started reading this book in college. Then following my studies with Kapleau Roshi my spiritual path led me to take refuge in the Buddhist Three Jewels entering formally into the Karma Kagyu Tibetan Buddhist lineage. My Buddhist name, Karma Lödro Gyaltsen was given to me by the Venerable Khenpo Kharthar Rinpoche. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khenpo_Karthar_Rinpoche
