Citation: Hsieh, Su-Lien (2010) Buddhist meditation as art practice: art practice as Buddhist meditation. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Buddhist Meditation as Art Practice:

Art Practice as Buddhist Meditation

Su-Lien Hsieh

PhD

2010

Buddhist Meditation as Art Practice:

Art Practice as Buddhist Meditation

Su-Lien Hsieh

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the

University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Research undertaken in the School of Fine Art

March 2010

I

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact of meditation on art practice. Its basic hypothesis is

that Buddhist meditation can expand creative capacity by enabling the practitioner to

transcend the limits of everyday sense experience and consciousness. Artists engaging in

meditation develop a closer, more aware relationship with their emptiness mind (kongxin),

freeing them from preconceptions and contexts that limit their artistic creation.

Because this practice-led research focuses on how to expand ones freedom as an

artist, I use two models to explore studio practice, then compare and contrast them with my

own prior approach. A year-by-year methodology is followed, as artistic practice develops

over time. The first model is studio practice in the UK, the second is Buddhist meditation

before artistic activity. The research took place over three years, each representing a

distinct area. Accordingly, in area 1 (the first year), I compared studio art practice in the UK

with post-meditation art practice; in area 2 (the second year), I compared studio art practice

in the UK with prostration practice at Bodh-gaya, India plus meditation before act activity; in

area 3 (the third year), I compared studio art practice in the UK with entering a month-long

meditation retreat in Taiwan before practicing art.

By Buddhist meditation I refer more specifically to insight meditation, which K. Sri

Dhammananda has described as follows:

Buddha offers four objects of meditation for consideration: body, feeling,

thoughts, and mental states. The basis of the Satipatthana (Pli, refers to a

foundation for a presence of mindfulness) practice is to use these four

objects for the development of concentration, mindfulness, and insight or

understanding of our-self and the world around you. Satipatthana offers the

most simple, direct, and effective method for training the mind to meet daily

tasks and problems and to achieve the highest aim: liberation. (K. Sri

II

Dhammananda 1987:59)

In my own current meditation practice before art practice, I sit in a lotus position and focus

on breathing in and breathing out, so that my mind achieves a state of emptiness and calm

and my body becomes relaxed yet fully energized and free. When embarking on artistic

activity after meditation, the practice of art then emerges automatically from this enhanced

body/mind awareness. For an artist from an Eastern culture, this post-meditation art seems

to differ from the practices of Western art, even those that seek to eliminate intention (e.g.

Pollock), in that the artists action seem to genuinely escape cogito: that is, break free of

the rational dimensions of creating art. In my training and development as a studio artist, I

applied cogito all the time, but this frequently generated body/mind conflict, which became

most apparent after leaving the studio at the end of the day: I always felt exhausted, and

what was worse, the art that I created was somehow limited. However, my experience was

that Buddhist meditation, when applied before undertaking art practice, establishes

body/mind harmony and empties the mind. For this artist at least, this discovery seemed to

free my art as it emerged from emptiness through the agency of my energized hand. It was

this, admittedly highly personal, experience that led me to undertake the research that

informs this thesis.

III

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my academic principal supervisor, Chris Dorsett for participating

in the group discussions on doctoral fine arts research for three years. I would also like to

thank my academic second supervisor Prof. Mary Mellor, for her enlightening guidance

throughout my doctoral study, for her professional and scholarly suggestions during our

discussions, and for her great patience in correcting and refining this dissertation.

I am deeply grateful to my Buddhist Master Chen-Huang Cheng () for his

compassion and enlightening instruction on many aspects of Buddhist meditation practice.

I wish to thank Thomas E. Smith, Ph.D. for proofreading this dissertation and

translating the text of the short exhibition article in the Appendix from Chinese to English.

I wish also to thank the monk Choge Tizeng Rinpoche (the Dalai Lamas Master), Prof.

Cheng-Hwa Tsang (), Sheng-Chin Lin (), Ph.D., and Mr. Guang-Hao Hang (

) ( for providing help and encouragement at crucial times during my study).

I received much assistance from the Jamchen Lhakhang Monastery in Nepal, The

Tibetan Monastery in India, and the Ci-Yun Monastery in Taiwan. For this beneficial

assistance, I am extremely grateful, since without it none of my experimental work would

have been realized.

Special thanks go to my colleagues, John Lavell, Andrew McNiven, Christina Kolaiti,

Jolande Bosch, Hiroho Oshima, Hadi Shobeirinejad, Michael Johnson, and all those who

studied with me, making my time enjoyable, and providing many valuable insights.

Special thanks go also to my friends Su-Shiang Lin (), Zhao-Xuan Zhou (

), Ta-Rong Shi () , Miao-Hua Lin (), Yi-Shann Shi () , Roang-Gui

Sha (), Da-Wei Xu (), Paoling Huang (), Mei-Lien Jin(,

Meng-Yao Ma (), Tan Ya-Ting (), Lucia Tang (), and Christopher

Medico for their support, assistance and encouragement during my student days.

I reserve my deepest thanks for my parents, brother and sister for their support during

this study. It is to them that I dedicate this dissertation.

IV

Buddhist Meditation as Art Practice:

Art Practice as Buddhist Meditation

Directory

Abstract ................................................................................................................ I

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... III

Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................. 1

Introduction to research motivation .................................................................. 1

1.1 Background, aim, and questions .............................................................................. 1

1.2 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 1

1.3 The plan of the present work .................................................................................... 6

Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................... 16

2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 16

2.2 The lotus ................................................................................................................. 16

2.3 The relationship between the lotus and the circle .................................................. 18

2.4 Day-to-day studio art practice ................................................................................ 23

2.5 The methodology of Buddhist meditation practice ................................................ 28

2.6 The physical aspect of Buddhist meditation .......................................................... 32

2.7 Meditation practice as art practice ......................................................................... 33

2.8 Overcoming intuition ............................................................................................. 34

2.9 Comparing with other artists: abstract expressionists, performance artists ........... 36

2.10 Comparing with other artists: Stuart Herring ....................................................... 46

V

2.11