Information technological prayer wheel

 I recently made some wall-mounted prayer wheels out of Pringles cans:

Talking about these, I got to thinking of making a hand-held prayer wheel, like this offering from AliExpress. Well, as the saying goes, one thing led to another, and I had the thought of making a prayer wheel out of a CD. Here it is:

Now, the disc is 700 MB, and contains a single file, which has 21 588 329 repetitions of the phrase 

࿋ OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA ࿋

So, each time the disc completes a revolution, the spinner will have turned that many instances of this prayer through space and time! 

Skrolli Party 2025

 This Saturday, I took part in Skrolli Party 2025.

I entered this piece into the Wild compo, as a graphics entry:

Perfection of Wisdom

I made it with vvvv, Gimp, and a photo I took. It placed #4/4. Prints on RedBubble.

The title of the work is "Perfection of Wisdom". And what is wisdom? A disciple of the Buddha has these answers:

"Just as, your majesty, a barley-reaper takes a sheaf of barley in the left hand, takes a sickle in the right hand, and cuts the barley, even so, your majesty, does the spiritual aspirant take hold of the mind with attention, and cut off the defilements with wisdom. Indeed thus, your majesty, examination is the distinguishing characteristic of attention, and severing is the distinguishing characteristic of wisdom."
- Miln II.1.8 

 "Wisdom arising, your majesty, dispels the darkness of ignorance, produces the illumination of insight, brings forth the light of knowledge, and makes manifest the noble truths; and further, the spiritual practitioner sees with complete understanding impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and corelessness."
[...]
"Just as, your majesty, a person might bring a lamp into a dark house, and with the lamp lit dispel the darkness, produce illumination, show the light, and make manifest forms, so too, your majesty, wisdom arising dispels the darkness of ignorance, produces the illumination of insight, brings forth the light of knowledge, and makes manifest the noble truths; and further, the spiritual practitioner sees with complete understanding impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and corelessness."
- Miln II.1.14

This is why it is spoken of as "enlightenment": the light of wisdom is lit, and "produces illumination" in the mind; the forms it makes manifest are the contents of the mind, such as the defilements (sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt), which can then be let go of, relinquished, abandoned, uprooted. Through the development of wisdom (even unto perfection), one can be liberated: 

 “If one wishes: ‘May I, with the destruction of the taints, in this very life realize for myself with direct knowledge the taintless liberation of mind, liberation by wisdom, and having entered upon it, may I dwell in it,’ one is capable of realizing it, there being a suitable basis.”

- AN 5.23 Upakkilesasutta

By first recognizing the truth of what has come to be (the first noble truth, that there is suffering), one is revulsed by this very loathsome suffering, becomes dispassionate, disenchanted, and begins to deprive this very suffering of its nutriment, cutting it off at the source (the second noble truth: the cause of suffering). This eventually develops into the cessation of suffering (the 3rd noble truth), and thus, liberation:

"And how, O Lord, is one a comprehender of Dhamma? 'This has come to be' — that, O Lord, one sees with true wisdom, as it really is. And having seen with true wisdom, as it really is, that 'this has come to be,' then, through revulsion from what has come to be, through dispassion (concerning it) and the cessation (of it), one is liberated without any clinging.

- SN 12.31 Bhutamidam Sutta

Skrolli Party 2024

This Saturday, I took part in Skrolli Party 2024. I participated in the Wild compo with this graphics piece:

Galactic Liberation

I used a shot from the Milky Way Galaxy set by Jabi Sanz as the background, and had DALL-E3 generate the halo. The buddha is a photo I took. The editing and compositing is done in Gimp.

It placed #5/5. Prints on Redbubble.

I tell you, friend, that it is not possible by traveling to know or see or reach a far end of the cosmos where one does not take birth, age, die, pass away, or reappear. But at the same time, I tell you that there is no making an end of suffering & stress without reaching the end of the cosmos. Yet it is just within this fathom-long body, with its perception & intellect, that I declare that there is the cosmos, the origination of the cosmos, the cessation of the cosmos, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the cosmos.

                     - The Buddha in AN 4.45 Rohitassa Sutta

In the Diamond Sutra (Red Pine translation), we find: 

What do you think, Subhuti, is the space to the east easy to measure?”

Subhuti replied, “No, it is not, Bhagavan.”

The Buddha said, “Likewise, is the space to the south, to the west, to the north, in between, above, below, or in any of the ten directions easy to measure?”

Subhuti replied, “No, it is not, Bhagavan.”

Space can be thought of as limitless (as in "the dimension of infinite space", one of the meditative states spoken of by the Buddha), because its nature is non-obstruction. Therefore, it does not obstruct any added yardsticks, no matter how far we measure.

 The end of the cosmos is to be found within, in Nibbana:

There is that dimension where there is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor wind; neither dimension of the infinitude of space, nor dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, nor dimension of nothingness, nor dimension of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world, nor the next world, nor sun, nor moon. And there, I say, there is neither coming, nor going, nor stasis; neither passing away nor arising: without stance, without foundation, without support [mental object]. This, just this, is the end of stress.

                     - Ud 8.1 Nibbāna Sutta

I also made this animation, partly at the party (and partly in a parking garage while waiting for the museum I visited before the party to open!):

It was made with Processing, and converted for the Web with processing-p5-convert.

Assembly 2024

 This weekend, I took part in the Assembly 2024 event. "Took part", as in I was there, and entered a graphics piece into the Freestyle GFX compo. Once again, as many times before, it was not qualified to be shown. Here it is, anyway:

Primitive art

I went for a kind of naivistic, rudimentary look, with allusion to times when digital art was in its baby shoes. I was also inspired by "outsider art", which is fitting, as these constant rejections have led to me feeling like an outsider even in the already rather niche context of the demoscene.

The piece is a composite of a photograph, a screenshot, and a scan of a mandala from a mandala coloring set by Agni K. Editing in Gimp. Prints on RedBubble.

ATK-Lohja 2024

Last year, I remotely participated in ATK-Lohja. This year, I wanted to actually be present. However, I was barred from attending due to grievances I've time and again tried to reconcile, and hatred I've done all I know to placate. I've offered apologies for any offense; they say "time heals all wounds", well, that's not true in the case that the wound keeps getting picked on, as must be the case here, for without further input on my part, with time, the fires of hate have not died down, they've gotten stronger and more vicious and also been spread further afield. I've offered my bucket of water, that is, forgiveness, but it hasn't been accepted. I don't like to see people in the thrall of hate, anger, and vitriol, but I don't know how else to remedy these. Powder extinguisher? Seems forced. Of course, one shouldn't try to, and ultimately, can't, force forgiveness. Hey, have you ever noticed that the word for "patience, forbearance, forgiveness" is "kshanti", while the word for "peace" is shanti?

This is definitely the first demoparty I know of with an exclusionary, blacklist-enforced policy of admission. I was not given a chance to plead my case (so I'm doing it here); the say-so of a member of the "in-group" was enough for the ban to be levied unconditionally with no chance for appeal. Ah well, I'm not blaming the party organizers - in-group preference is a very strong, natural trait in human beings - this, combined with "acting on orders", and what we have is a quite understandable response. But, it's at least slightly bitter-tasting to receive this treatment from a party whose stated theme is "Koodia ja Empatiaa", that is, "Code and Empathy". Empathy! What more is there to say?

How pitiful beings are we! How small, how petty! 

It is said in the canon: 

"And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.  

Abandoning divisive speech he abstains from divisive speech. What he has heard here he does not tell there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he does not tell here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus reconciling those who have broken apart or cementing those who are united, he loves concord, delights in concord, enjoys concord, speaks things that create concord."

Here, divisive talebearing brought about a ban on my participation, while my own attempts at words of concord (such as admitting I am sorry, and begging for forgiveness) did not manage to set things right. A curiously selective power in words! By the way, not accepting a plea for forgiveness is one of the 18 root downfalls.

What wretched lives people lead! Incessantly pulling in the pleasant and pushing away the hated - in this case, me - even though this has never worked to create happiness since beginningless time. A wheel of suffering with no end in sight - may we all be swiftly released from this cycle! 

I didn't want to enter these works remotely, as I figure I won't send my work where I'm not welcome myself, but I am releasing them here, just the same.

I would've taken part in two compos: AI Graphics, and the regular Graphics. Here is the AI image:

New Black Polished Chrome

The title is a reference to Emmanuel Top - Turkish Bazar, which in turn samples The Doors. It is made with the mage.space text-to-image AI and outpainting by RunwayML. Prints on Redbubble.

And here is the entry for the Graphics Compo:

Duality of Kamma

I made it using vvvv, a photo I took, and Inkscape. Prints on Redbubble.

“Mendicants, I declare these four kinds of deeds, having realized them with my own insight. What four?

1. There are dark deeds with dark results;
2. bright deeds with bright results;
3. dark and bright deeds with dark and bright results; and
4. neither dark nor bright deeds with neither dark nor bright results, which lead to the ending of deeds.

                         - AN 4.233 Vitthārasutta: Deeds in Detail 

The story I made up after the fact is that, the three Buddhas are like the first three instances on this list, which are still stuck in black and white. There's a whole matrix of kamma (the background), strongly interconnected, and you may radiate as much "good" as you can and want (the halos), but that's still just "bright deeds with bright results", at best. However, there is the transcendent intentional action of the Arahants and maybe other actualized beings, which are "neither dark nor bright deeds with neither dark nor bright results, which lead to the ending of deeds". 

The quartet of kamma types is a prime example of a Catuskoti, or Tetralemma. I find that often in Western thinking, the "both" and "neither" cases are left out, even where they would be possible. This is an unfortunate oversight stemming from too tight, Boolean logic. We need at least two bits, people!

As for the results of actions, I suppose I am currently facing mine, as we all must. But, I must point out what the Vipaka Sutta says:

"Divisive tale-bearing — when indulged in, developed, & pursued — is something that leads to hell, leads to rebirth as a common animal, leads to the realm of the hungry shades. The slightest of all the results coming from divisive tale-bearing is that, when one becomes a human being, it leads to the breaking of one's friendships.

It seems that these friendships have, indeed, been broken, and seemingly for good as there has been "no quarter given" in the way of apologizing or even accepting apologies, but may these people nonetheless be spared the other, harsh consequences of their actions! May this be my final word in the matter: clemency.

Instanssi 2024

This weekend, I attended the Instanssi 2024 demoparty. I participated in the Graphics Compo with this work:

Cosmic Serenity

It's made using Amberlight, a photo of a Buddha statue I made, DALL-E3 through Bing Copilot (for the halo), Inkscape, and Gimp. It placed #9/13. Prints on RedBubble.

"Monks, whatever in the cosmos — with its devas, Maras, & Brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives & brahmans royalty & common people — is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect: That do I know. Whatever in the cosmos — with its devas, Maras, & Brahmas, its generations with their contemplatives & brahmans, their royalty & common people — is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect: That I directly know. That has been realized by the Tathagata, but in the Tathagata it has not been established.
- AN 4.24 Kalaka Sutta

 Thanissaro Bhikkhu explains "in the Tathagata it has not been established" like this: "the Tathagata hasn't taken a stance on it.". The Middle Way philosopher Nagarjuna has said: "If I had any thesis, I would be at fault. But since I have no thesis, I am not at fault". In the western logical tradition, too, the maker of a positive claim (ie. an affirmation, not a negation) has the burden of proof. So, by avoiding positive positions, and instead taking a negating "Neti neti" (not this, not this) approach, we are spared much unnecessary hardship and strife that would be involved in the necessary defense of our claims, if we had an affirming stance on something. In emptiness, there is no nail to hang your hat on.

I also participated in the Summamutikka (Wild) compo with a music video for a track by our band, Valmet Children:

The name of the song, and thus, the music video for it, is "low frequency". It placed #12/19. 

When he encountered some confounding situation, my grandfather would say something that translates roughly as "Now I am completely in the shortwave!" ("Nyt minä olen aivan ulalla!"). Indeed, when trying to figure out some perplexing thing, it makes sense for our minds to "throttle" themselves into an "overclocked" state - that's exactly what modern CPUs do. So, as clock frequency increases, wavelength (being inversely proportional) shortens, leading us to "the shortwave". Several thinkers, perhaps most notably Nikola Tesla, have likened the brain to a radio transmitter-receiver: our link between the body, which is right here, and the mind, which is "out there" (actually, Bodhidharma said that the mind is neither inner nor outer, but let's leave that for now). So, if a frantic search for understanding of the immediate situation at hand can lead to increased operational frequency ("ultra-short waves"), perhaps the state of "low frequency" is the opposite: a deep, unurgent state of rest and relaxation; stressless, only occasionally rippling with thought, if that; a mind like the pool of water in the Samaññaphala Sutta: "clear, limpid, and unsullied". 

Bodhi Leaf Cards

 In continuation of robotic Buddha drawings (1, 2), I used my AxiDraw to draw these Bodhi Leaf cards:

Bodhi & Wisdom cards

I used them to participate in the 4th Demoscene Card Exchange and the Plot Party 2023 card exchange. I like sending and receiving stuff in the mail, so if you want to send me something (that I won't get in
trouble for), let me know your email address and I will send you my mailing address! 

The original image looks like this, and is made by DALL-E3 through Bing Chat:

Bodhi Leaf by DALL-E3

Comparade 2023

 This past weekend, the Comparade 2023 party was held. I remotely entered the following graphics piece:

Pink Enlightenment

I made it using the Fluid app, DALL-E3 for the Mandelbox halo, a photo of a concrete Buddha statue by me, and Gimp.

Unfortunately, the video stream from the party, described by the web page as "highly unstable", proved worthy of that description, and I did not see the compo or the prize giving, but it placed #6/6.

Prints on RedBubble.

More Robotically Drawn Buddhas

 I previously wrote about having a robot draw Buddhas for me. Well, I wanted to give my AxiDraw some more work, so I used frosting.ai to generate a monochrome Buddha face, which I then edited in Gimp and RunwayML. Then I used the CutRocket halftone generator, which conveniently has output directly as SVG. I edited the SVG further in Inkscape and plotted it from there with the AxiDraw. 

The AI-generated face after editing

Much like in the previous piece, my motivation was to play with the limits of when we still recognize something as "Buddha".

The face after halftone treatment

The first "training print" was done with a Baoke brush pen from AliExpress

The "trial run"

My plan all along was to render it in silver on black. Browsing, I found the Plot Party event, which was set to happen in a week, and had "black paper" as one of the prompts. So, I entered!

The final entry

I ran out of ink in my silver pen, so the final rendition was in gold. Prints available on Etsy.

Skrolli Party 2023

 This weekend, I attended Skrolli Party 2023. Like last time, I participated in the Wild Compo with a graphics work, shown here:

Nature of Buddha

It features a Buddha statue made by me and some computer graphics and photo elements. The title, "Nature of Buddha", refers to "Buddha Nature", a concept that seems easily misunderstood. Buddhism teaches "emptiness of inherent existence", and this should not be replaced with an idea of "Buddha nature as the inherent character of existence", as pointed out in the article "Freedom from Buddha Nature". Buddhism is concerned with freedom, especially freedom from suffering, and this should not be allowed to be replaced with a rigid self-definition of "Self as Buddha". 

"I have Buddha Nature", or, in other words, "I am of the nature of Buddha", is simply a special case of "the conceit 'I am'". From the Alagaddupama Sutta:

And how is a monk a noble one with banner lowered, burden placed down, unfettered? There is the case where a monk's conceit 'I am' is abandoned, its root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. This is how a monk is a noble one with banner lowered, burden placed down, unfettered.

The means of gaining enlightenment are sometimes classified as Jiriki and Tariki, or self-power and other-power, respectively. But, both are mistaken: we think we must get something either through our own power, or with outside help. However, even the earlier expression "gaining enlightenment" is wrong, according to the Heart Sutra, which says "no attainment, with nothing to attain". 

Even resting in a state of inaction (wu wei) can become despoiled by the sneaking in of the idea of striving towards some ideal through this inaction; a mental apprehension of natural, effortless inaction as the factual striving towards a goal. 

So, the emptiness of self (ātmaśūnyatā) is not non-existence of self, yet not existence of self, even self as Buddha, either. 

By construing for ourselves an essential nature, and therefore a being, as Buddha or as anything else, is to fall from the peaceful resting beyond being and non-being. Creating a mental object to represent oneself is to move away from the serene emptiness of "No color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind". As it says in the Yavalakapi Sutta: 

Anyone who construes is bound by Mara. Anyone who doesn't construe is freed from the Evil One.

So, let us be liberated through lack of construing! 

Prints on RedBubble. I placed #5/7.

Assembly 2023: Nirvana Patterns

 This weekend, I went to Assembly 2023. I had a piece to enter into the Freestyle Graphics Competition, but, for the third time in a row, it was not qualified to be shown. 

Nirvana Patterns

I used MandelBrowser, Gimp, and photos in making this. I also had ChatGPT come up with the name.

Prints on RedBubble.

Bodhi Cyber Systems

 This weekend, I remotely participated in the graphics competition of ATK-Lohja with this work:

Bodhi Cyber Systems

It placed #2/3. Prints on RedBubble.

I used Apophysis, photographs from a kaleidoscope and a Buddha statue at the Goa Restaurant in Tallinn, the mage.space text-to-image AI (for coloring), and a screenshot of a Windows 10 screensaver.

The theme is "Buddha in Cyberspace". What kind of operating system would a fully awakened being use to surf the Web? Maybe Bodhi Linux, although I think it's more likely that they would not need the intermediary of a computer to do so - direct mind access to the WWW. After all, a buddha supposedly "knows the awareness of other beings, other individuals, having encompassed it with his own awareness", so why should he not be able to encompass the collective mind of the Internet with that very same awareness? 

Instanssi 2023

 This weekend, I attended the Instanssi 2023 demoparty. I entered the Graphics Competition with this work:

Sambhogakaya

Sambhogakaya is one of the three bodies of the Trikaya of a buddha. It is the "reward", "enjoyment", or "bliss body". The host of the competition commented that "it looks like there's been achieved either Nirvana or a brain hemorrhage". It placed #11/13.

I made it using AmberLight, vvvv, a photo, and Gimp.

Prints on RedBubble.

Assembly 2022: Sky Mind

This weekend, I took part in the Assembly 2022 party. 

Sky Mind

I made this image using vvvv and Gimp. The halo is made using a faceted crystal ball. Here's the link to prints. I entered it into the Graphics Competition, but it did not qualify to be shown.

There is the comparison that the mind is like the sky (and, of course, it's a big sky!), and the thoughts like clouds.
While searching for the term used as the title of this image, I found this song. The lyrics are quite close to what I had in mind with this image.

The real sky is (knowing) that samsara and nirvana are merely an illusory display.

            — Mipham Rinpoche, Quintessential Instructions of Mind, p. 117

the mind of the past has ceased and perished. The mind of the future is unborn and unarisen. The mind of the present is very difficult to examine because it is colourless and shapeless like the sky
        - Atisha 

Meditating on the perfection of wisdom awareness is like meditating on the sky. The sky is without conceptual thought; the perfection of wisdom awareness is without conceptual thought.

        - 8000 Stanza Perfection of Wisdom Sutra  

Thus, the self-nature is like the sky. I have obtained the self-nature which is permanently free.

        - Arisal of the View of Supreme Happiness

Now, this last one should come with the warning that as it talks of "self-nature", it could bring about association or identification with the mind - and, as the Assutavā Sutta states:

It would be better for the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person to hold to the body composed of the four great elements, rather than the mind, as the self. Why is that? Because this body composed of the four great elements is seen standing for a year, two years, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred years or more. But what’s called ‘mind,’ ‘intellect,’ or ‘consciousness’ by day and by night arises as one thing and ceases as another. Just as a monkey, swinging through a forest wilderness, grabs a branch. Letting go of that, it grabs another branch. Letting go of that, it grabs another one. Letting go of that, it grabs another one. In the same way, what’s called ‘mind,’ ‘intellect,’ or ‘consciousness’ by day and by night arises as one thing and ceases as another.

 As for the nature of the mind:

Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements.

                  - Pabhassara Sutta: Luminous

The mind can also be described as spacious, of the nature of space, nowhere to be found (there was a text that said "Wherever you are looking for the mind, that is the wrong place"!), unsupported, unestablished. The mind is not internal to the body; nor is it to be found existing externally. For the first of these points, the Shurangama Sutta makes it like this:

If you cannot perceive your internal organs, how could you perceive what is external to you?
"Therefore you should know that declaring that the aware and knowing mind is inside the body is an impossible statement."

A typical division is between the ignorant and the enlightened mind. Vatthupama Sutta describes the mind of a monk who is virtuous, developed in concentration and wise as "grown great, lofty, boundless and free from enmity and ill will". 

The biggest thing in the world is the sky. Whatever has form cannot be called great. The sky alone has no form, thus is it called great. All natures have their limits and cannot be called great. Our buddha nature alone has no limits, thus is it called great. The sky has no quarters. If you see its quarters, you are focusing on a perception. By the same token, our buddha nature is free of the four perceptions of self, being, life, and soul.

                - Hui Neng 

The unenlightened mind is merely a sky-mind covered in clouds of ignorance, but its nature of spaciousness and unobstruction does not change even when it clears and becomes "enlightened":

when a cloud covers the sun, the sky’s spaciousness is not affected by the cloud, nor by whether the sun is visible or not. Chan methods and teachings point to the realization
that who we truly are can never be covered by the clouds of vexations and afflictions. The point is that we should not get bogged down by the clouds, but instead we should see the big picture—the sky

        - Guo Gu: The Essence of Chan 

Instanssi/Revision 2022

This weekend, I took part in a Revision 2022 satellite party, hosted by the Instanssi organizers. I participated in the "Modern Graphics" competition with this work:

Samatha

This work is titled Samatha, meaning a mind abiding in calmness. I made it using Ultra Fractal, Gimp, Inkscape, and a photograph taken at Aurinko (=Sun) shop with my Ixus 170, like my previous Buddha images. Prints on RedBubble.
It is a basic reclining Buddha, bathed in golden light. The rays emanating from the head are arrayed according to "nautical lines", that is, they are 1/32th of a circle, or 11.25°, apart.
Regarding "calm abiding", here is an excerpt from Saṃyutta Nikāya 35.116:

"Monks, that dimension should be experienced where the eye [vision] stops and the perception [label] of form fades. That dimension should be experienced where the ear stops and the perception of sound fades... where the nose stops and the perception of aroma fades... where the tongue stops and the perception of flavor fades... where the body stops and the perception of tactile sensation fades... where the intellect stops and the perception of idea/phenomenon fades: That dimension should be experienced."

The picture did not make it into the compo. I am unsurprised. One of my earlier works elicited the comment "when you have no talent, you have to intentionally do shit". Well, I'll admit that I've previously done semi-intentionally bad prods as a self-deprecating gesture, but, even when I try, I am reminded of the saying "shit has its maker" - and, dear reader, it is I. 

I also took part in the Animated Gif competition with this work:

Scroll of Happiness

Unsurprisingly, it was disqualified as well. In fact, since the organizers of the party are german, and you can find a swastika in there, I think it might've even been illegal if they'd shown it publicly.

These days, overly strict rules and rigid adherence thereto are colloquially called "nazi". So, it's ironically funny that this ageless symbol is the subject of this kind of "nazi" regulation. As a buddhist, I will continue to try and take back the Swastika. After all, the "nazis" were a mere blip in the history of the Swastika, the NSDAP no longer exists, so I see no reason for the continued demonization of this ancient symbol. Furthermore, since the Swastika is a sacred, holy symbol in several world religions, banning it is religious persecution - inadvertently, perhaps.

So, in the spirit of reclaiming this symbol, here's another Swastika animation. This was done in Processing:

Assembly Creative Tech 2021

I went to Assembly Creative Tech 2021, an event held in lieu of Assembly Summer this year. I took part in the Freestyle Graphics competition with this picture:

Buddha field

“If a disciple were to speak as follows, ‘I have to create a serene and beautiful Buddha field’, that person is not yet truly a disciple. Why? What the Buddha calls a ‘serene and beautiful Buddha field’ is not in fact a serene and beautiful Buddha field. And that is why it is called a serene and beautiful Buddha field. Subhuti, only a disciple who is wholly devoid of any conception of separate selfhood is worthy of being called a disciple.” - Diamond Sutra 

For this picture, I took a photo of this miniature Buddha in my light box. The listing identifies the Buddha as Maitreya, the coming fifth of the Buddhas of our kalpa; so, it is fitting that there are more than one Buddha pictured. It is said in the Vimalakirti Sutra that our kalpa is to have 1000 buddhas in total; thus, it is called "the worthy kalpa".

The software I used are Inkscape, Gimp and a program called Inspirit. The image layout is based on a vision I had once.

Prints are available on RedBubble.

It placed 11/12 in the compo. Here it is being shown on the main screen:

Metta Sutta

 I ran across a collection of 20 translations into English of the Metta Sutta, so I ventured to adapt my own version in Finnish. Note that this is a translation-of-a-translation (or, translation of many translations) as I do not know Pali.

Buddhan opetus rakastavasta kiltteydestä

Näin tulisi toimia hyvässä taidokkaan

ollakseen Rauhan tilassa.

Olkoon hän kyvykäs, pysty ja suora,

nöyrä ja hellä eikä ylpeä.

Tyytyväinen, helposti ylläpidettävissä,

kiireetön, eläen kevyesti,

hillityin aistein, hienovarainen,

vaatimaton eikä ahne.

Hänen ei tulisi tehdä pienintäkään alhaista tekoa,

josta viisaat voisivat häntä nuhdella.

Ajatelkoon hän: "Olkoon kaikki olennot onnellisia ja turvassa,

olkoon jokainen olento onnellinen sisimmässään".

Mitä kaikkia olentoja onkaan,

ilman poikkeusta,

heikot ja vahvat,

pienet, suuret ja keskikokoiset,

hienot tai karkeat,

näkyvät ja näkymättömät,

läheiset ja kaukaiset,

ne, jotka ovat syntyneet, ja ne, jotka ovat syntyviä:

olkoon ne kaikki onnellisia sisimmässään.

Älköön yksikään petkuttako toista,

tai hyljeksikö ketään missään,

tai toivoko toiselle pahaa vihan tai ärtymyksen vuoksi.

Aivan kuin äiti suojelisi hengellään lastaan,

ainoaa lastaan,

juuri niin kaikkia olentoja kohtaan

tulisi kehittää rajatonta rakkautta.

Hyvästä tahdosta koko kosmosta kohtaan,

kehitä rajatonta sydäntä:

yllä, alla, ja kauttaaltaan, esteetön,

vihaton ja vihollisuudeton.

Olipa sitten jalkeilla, kävelemässä, istumassa,

makaamassa, tai koska vain hereillä ollessa,

tulisi kehittää tätä mielentilaa;

tätä kutsutaan yleväksi olotilaksi tässä ja nyt.

Vailla uskomuksia,

mutta hyveellinen ja näkemyksellinen,

poistaen kiinnittymisen aistihaluihin,

hän ei enää tule uuteen syntymään.

Here is a video of a reading by me:

Robotically drawn Buddhas

I got an Axidraw plotter/drawing machine for Christmas, and I've finally made something with it. The process was very interesting, because what was on the screen did not always translate to paper quite the same. All through this process, the Freenode #inkscape user tinystoat was extremely helpful - I probably would not have figured these things out on my own, at least not without severe head-banging!
Here are the first two revisions:

Version 1

In this version, I had the lines surrounding the Buddha outline clipped. The plotter extension, however, ignored the clipping.

Version 2

In this version, the lines were cut, but they had been converted from strokes to paths in the process! The result was these box shapes.

Version 3: The Golden Buddha

This is the final version: in metallic gold color on black cardboard.
I gave the first revisions to friends, but I am willing to sell this final version. 
Here it is framed on my wall:

Instanssi 2020

Uggaha nimitta

The title of the work means "spontaneous vision arising in meditation". It was made with Gimp,  Apophysis and Google Earth Pro. Several Buddha images have arisen to me in closed-eye meditation, although this particular image was not one of them, but was inspired by one of them. So, it would be better termed a "Paribhaga nimitta" - an image that has been subjected to mental manipulation. The photo was taken at the Aurinko shop.
Prints are available on RedBubble.
I took part in the Graphics compo at Instanssi 2020 with it. It placed #11/16.
The idea of the image is that everything, including the world, is mental.

Mind precedes all knowables,
mind's their chief, mind-made are they. 

- Dhammapada verse 1 

This is succintly put in Sabba Sutta:

"What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All.

I also participated in the "Summamutikka" or "Wild" compo with this work, Golden Frog:


It is made to a track by the same name by shroomi.
It placed #13/14.
I also took a couple of photos to try out my lens ball.

Jumalan 2020

Om Svaha

This piece is titled Om Svaha. It was made with vvvv, Processing, Gimp and a photograph I took at the Aurinko shop. Prints are available on RedBubble.
It is about the fundamental and universal nature of sound or, more generally, waves. Wave-particle duality and the interchangability of mass and energy mean that basically, the All can be thought of as a wave field. Within this field there are special forms, such as the sine waves emanating from the Buddha's third eye, and the "divine" sound of Om.
I've dealt with waves before.
The picture participated in the Graphics competition at JumaLAN '20. It placed #7/8.