WP

[Gerard]

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Edited September 16, 2013 by Gerard

[strawdog65]

 

Let's see your spiritual/philosophical view of what the artist is trying to convey. There are many interpretations for sure and all correct.

 

 

Note: If you can read Chinese refrain from doing so, as it will influence your personal view.

 

 

The Sage is standing in the dragons mouth

[mYTHmAKER]

The Sage is standing in the dragons mouth

 

He sure is

[Starjumper]

Nonono I didn't even see that little feller down there at first. He's not the sage. There is someone else in the picture, who I saw first. The sage is the silly looking feller higher up with the rock hat on, much bigger, gazing up at the stars and the writing.

 

edit, I didn't see the little feller until I read the other posts and went back and looked at the picture again, and if I'm looking at the proportions right, the little feller could be a stand in for a falick symbol, a popular motif in some Taoist art. Like the tree of a thousand vaginas* which the wind blows through and makes music.

 

Whoever can find that picture gets a big prize.

 

* all the knot holes are quite suggestive, particularly to someone like myself.

 

edited for spelling

Edited December 29, 2010 by Starjumper7

[NeiChuan]

 

Let's see your spiritual/philosophical view of what the artist is trying to convey. There are many interpretations for sure and all correct.

 

 

Note: If you can read Chinese refrain from doing so, as it will influence your personal view.

 

Root of all paths to the Mountain Top.

[Aetherous]

.

Edited February 24, 2011 by center

[Junbao]

It's not deep or anything but I see a really cool looking spot that I would love to have as like a secret get-away refuge. Like go explore around for a while and then find some place quiet to just sit and listen to the water and relax.

 

I would hope that guy in the picture wasn't there though because he keeps looking over the edge like that, like he is going to jump in the water or something, and I am not the best swimmer so IDK if I could save him.

But then again maybe he would teach me Flying Kung Fu and we would ascend to the top of the falls to explore further.

 

Fun picture!

[Ninpo-me-this-ninjutsu-me-that]

I see dead people.

[sifusufi]

Nice

I need to study on that for a while...

but it did remind me of the cover to the fourth Led Zeppelin album.

 

Edited December 29, 2010 by sifusufi

[Vajrahridaya]

I see dead people.

:lol:

[Vajrahridaya]

The heavens of clear waters rushing down to the valley of the people.

 

There's that whole metaphor thingy with the Tao being compared to water, ya know.

[Taomeow]

I see dead people.

 

:lol:

[Taomeow]

I see a very traditional Chinese landscape, I have one of these in my living-room. The artist may have painted himself into the picture as part of what is actually there at the moment of observation. He paints what he sees -- including himself in the process of contemplating painting what he's looking at. This is consistent with the classic taoist view that does not allow for an "observer" being positioned anywhere outside of the "observed," or for any "pure awareness" distilled out of some disposable container. An artist ain't no such thing! All he is matters -- not just his "awareness." So he has no reason to exclude himself and pretend he's not there. He's not a liar. He's there, and it shows, and he shows it.

 

In order to paint a landscape, you enter it. Once you enter it, you are part of the landscape you're painting. You are the observer and the observed wrapped into one. It doesn't matter if you're painting what you've been looking at recently or a long time ago, what you have never seen and only imagined, what you plan to see one day, or what you're looking at right now: as long as you truly see it, the method whereby you see it doesn't matter. The landscape is realistic (there's many here-now places in China that still look like that) and metaphorical (richly metaphorical, resonating with scores of core taoist concepts and ideas) and majestic (nature is worshipped and venerated in such paintings, not merely "depicted"), and poetic, and many things on top of that and on the bottom of that. I love this style. I've tried my hand at painting in this fashion and discovered something amazing...

 

...you can paint with water, a hint of ink to cloud it a bit is all you need, water itself will decide how to go about creating a landscape -- your main role is to try not to interfere too much with what it wants to do.

 

I would recommend trying to copy one of these paintings as a very illuminating practice.

[Everything]

 

Let's see your spiritual/philosophical view of what the artist is trying to convey. There are many interpretations for sure and all correct.

 

 

Note: If you can read Chinese refrain from doing so, as it will influence your personal view.

 

Hmm, I can't read chinese. Let me guess...

The river is obviously the center point of this picture, and the most important. The rocks and stones are being won over by the river, and these have been painted with great detail aswell. The guy looks up to the falling river, so it is about the relationship with men and this great power that is obviously bigger then him. He's looking up, nothing less nothing more.

 

The river carves out the valley by flowing beneath it.

Thereby the river is the master of the valley.

And in relation to the river, perhaps this guy looks up and is a patient student of this river.

[3bob]

The mote who knows himself is no less than the mountain.

[Moonbar]

Reminds me of this...

 

 

I think the bridge at the bottom is the most interesting part.

 

 

Yes, reminded me of this picture also

[Birch]

Reminds me of another (couple) of images that map out the human internal energy system with 3 dantiens and a free-flowing MCO.

[Gerard]

...I would recommend trying to copy one of these paintings as a very illuminating practice.

 

Indeed, same asa doing Traditional Chinese calligraphy. You enter a very special state. Didn't BKF experienced something mystical when his Bagua teacher Liu Hung Chieh was writing calligraphy in a meditative state while he was walking the circle. Basically Bruce was subjected to Liu's full spiritual force as a result of his spontaneous movement, what Daoists call: when the dragon comes out of its cave.

[gendao]

The neidan adept observes how the raging, chaotic "10,000" things all emanate from the same pure, serene source - yang qi from Heaven and beyond... It is essentially a landscape depiction of this flow chart:

So, he seeks to return to this prenatal fountainhead and contemplates on how to ascend there.

Edited December 30, 2010 by vortex

[RiverSnake]

I see a simple sage looking up in awe at the infiniteness of the Tao.

[Everything]

Ye lol, I see pixels and my screen wit luts of light HAHA

 

lol I see keyboard while I type this. So awsum...

 

Are we getting the answer to what is really the point of the picture?

 

I wanna know who got the most close to the answer.

[Andrei]

It's an immortal trapped in a 2D world.

 

If you watch this movie you'll understand the idea:

 

The Taoist Wizard (Korea 2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMuhRLXEBFA

[NeiChuan]

It's an immortal trapped in a 2D world.

 

If you watch this movie you'll understand the idea:

 

The Taoist Wizard (Korea 2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMuhRLXEBFA

 

Haha I loved that movie.

 

Most interesting part to me was probably was the fight between both masters in the beginning.

Edited December 30, 2010 by NeiChuan

[sinno]

Chuck Norris

[Gerard]

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