At the beginning of Covid, and for the last two years, I took to writing regular haikus, at first a daily practice and then a regular one. You can read more about my journey into haiku in my earlier post: Three Lines, One Breath.
Recently, as a result of following the Dharma Advent Calender produced by Red Ladder Studio I came across Miksang.
Miksang means ‘Good Eye’ in Tibetan. This is the ability to see the world in a pure way, without overlays of meaning and value, pleasure, dislike, or disinterest.
When we can see with our ‘Good Eye’ the world is always fresh, because everything we see is as if for the first time.
Miksang is the name of a school of contemplative photography inspired by the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa who believed in art as a dharma practice.
Miksang asks us to see our world in a new way. I like to think of it as a form of visual haiku.
This is a direct, non-conceptual experience of the world. Of seeing what is there rather than what we think is there. It is characterised by clarity and vividness; a flash of insight and awareness.
The key to the practice of contemplative photography is to recognize that seeing and thinking are very different. Thinking relates to the world through ideas and mental images. Seeing perceives things directly, just as they are.
— from The Practice in a Nutshell, by Andy Karr & Michael Wood
Coming back to direct experience
What usually happens is that our seeing and thinking process happens so fast.
We see
Within millisecond we ‘know’ and label - ‘a table’.
And within the next moment we like or dislike.
This relates to the Nidana Chain in Buddhism. The Twelve Nidānas describe how our inner world and the outer world mutually influence each other, together creating the reality.
The first link in the Nidana chain is Contact between our sense organs and a stimulus - in this case seeing. Contact is happening to us all the time – we experience a constant succession of stimuli, from the world around us, from other people, and from our own minds.
Conditioned by the stream of stimuli that register on our senses and come up in our mind, we experience a continuous flow of responses, or feelings. This is called Vedanā and translated as feeling, but it does not mean emotion – it is simply our response of like or dislike or neither.
Conditioned by our feelings of like or dislike, we either grasp at things and events and thoughts, trying to perpetuate them and make them ours, or else we push them away, trying to make them stop. Both of these responses are covered by the shorthand term, ‘craving’.
Conditioned by our patterns of grasping and pushing away, we develop attachment.
Conditioned by our likes and dislikes and opinions, we behave in certain well- worn patterns.
This process goes on automatically. But there is one place in the sequence where we can make choices, and stop the process in its tracks. This is the so-called ‘Gap’ between feeling and craving – the ‘Point of Freedom’. To open this door we need to pay close attention to the way we respond to the feelings, or vedanās, that stimuli produce in us. We have a choice about how we respond to these feelings.
The approach of contemplative photography is to stay with, or to come back to and re-discover, the first moment of seeing - our contact with the world.
The three stages of Miksang practice
1. Flash of Perception
First we learn to recognize naturally occurring glimpses of seeing and the contemplative mind - the flash of perception - something that strikes us and makes us stop. The flash of perception has a quality of cutting through our thoughts.
2. Visual Discernment
When this flash of perception happens, we allow ourself to be stopped. We deepen our connection by looking further, not rushing to capture it, relaxing, noticing more, trusting what stopped us was enough.
3. Forming the equivalent
Finally, from that open and curious state of mind we can take our photograph and capture as directly as possibly that flash of insight and experience.
Seeing is a state of mind
It is challenging to learn to trust our direct experience. It will take practice to see the visual world with stillness of mind, openness, and receptivity.
To undertake this journey means cultivating a deeper, visual experience, relaxing the thinking, describing mind, and developing an open, receptive, and still mind so that the mind can become a clear mirror, simply reflecting direct experience of seeing.
This involves synchronising eye and mind through colour and texture, seeing with the mind of simplicity. To do this means seeing from awareness, allowing the body and mind’s eye to settle and land so it can recognise direct perception and pay deep attention.
And so meditation is vital to cultivating this sense of open awareness.I have a daily meditation practice, but now I need to nurture more that’s awareness off the meditation cushion. Make more time to slow down and notice.
This year I thought I would practice Miksang rather than Haiku to capture my experiences. I will share them with you here each week along with other thoughts and inspirations relating to wabi sabi life. They’ll be the header photograph for all my posts in 2023.
You can find out more about Miksang Institute and there are various other practitioners and guides for Miksang.
What has inspired you to take a new approach this year? Or to see things differently?
Threadable - Wabi Sabi Life Reading Group
Did you know we now have a reading group? We have one book a month to explore read and discuss. They are all related to Japanese culture and other themes explored here on this column. Meet me on Threadable! Use this invite code: 45281. Threadable is a new social reading platform. You can download the app for iPhone.
Lastly, as ever, thank you for reading. If you like my posts you can buy me a coffee!
I’m looking forward to your Miksang Haiku! 😁