Buddhism: Reconnecting

“My heart is like an old house whose windows have not been opened for years.”

A temporary museum housing more than 100 large-scale photographic works and three accompanying 35mm films by artist Gregory Colbert opened January 14, 2006, transforming an area adjacent to Santa Monica’s historic pier into a timeless realm in which animals co-exist with humans.

My sister told me about this beautiful art exhibition soon after it opened and she first saw it. She’s seen it again three times. She had been somewhat depressed and somehow, when she was there, things were ok. So today, feeling a bit out of sorts myself, I finally took her advice and looked up the exhibition’s website (www.ashesandsnow.org).

I entered the enhanced experience version of the site and found myself immediately entranced and calmed as I watched a boy, apparently asleep, leaning on the back of his father as they floated silently on a handmade boat between two bathing elephants. My heartbeat slowed, my mind eased, I clicked the Experience button. As the images which were to follow loaded, an angelic, almost eerie music began drifting toward me. Then came these words, in a whisper:

If you come to me this moment,
your minutes will become hours,
your hours will become days,

and your days will become a lifetime.

And perhaps the most beautiful image I have seen in years: a child in white robes kneeling on flat desert sand. In his hands a thin book. Three feet in front of him an elephant, also kneeling, down on his front elbows with his trunk resting on his front feet. A child, a great beast, and holy words: together, at peace.

It flooded over me, warmly, slowly. I smiled my day away, slowly blinked and sighed, and clicked on the next image.