A monk sips morning tea,
it's quiet,
the chrysanthemum's flowering.
—Basho
Artha is the desire for those things in life that give you the support or the means to fulfill your personal Dharma: money, health, security, food, a home, transportation, and, in my case, a really good winter coat! Artha can be understood as the reservoir or the foundation without which it is difficult or challenging to successfully embody dharma.
We can refer to the Buddha’s begging bowl as a symbol of Artha. The myths tell the story of the Buddha meditating beneath the Bodhi tree, practicing austerities and eating very little. A woman saw him and gave him a golden bowl of milk-rice. He was reluctant to take such a precious gift, however he knew well that the final steps towards enlightenment required more strength. We could argue that the Buddha’s personal dharma was to pass on the teachings — he needed food to attain enlightenment, in order to share those gifts. Legends say that he portioned the rice into 49 equal parts, one for each day until he reached enlightenment.
The next two days we will work on our third collage mandala: Artha. By now you should have the hang of it!
Enjoy the process & Aim your creative force towards wealth (in all forms)!
Chanti
Artha Exploratory Questions
- What does success look like materially?
- What are the external necessities or the means necessary to support your personal Dharma?
- How do you define material success?
- What does optimal health look like?
- What makes you feel safe and supported?
- How do you envision wealth?
Get all your supplies ready, or at least what you anticipate you will need. The basics are:
- Paper, poster board or cardboard
- Scissors, X-ACTO blade
- Glue
- Magazines, images, old cards
- Embellishments, glitter, string, cord, etc.
- Compass or bowl to make your mandala.
- Take some time to answer the artha questions (following) for yourself. You can write them down or sit with them for a bit to activate the feelings of artha within before you start your collage.
- In your sacred space, close the eyes and turn inward. Remember the answers and feelings thatthe questions have brought to the surface.
- Scan through the magazines and pull out the images that you are attracted to, without thinking about how they will fit together or if they make any sense. Let the images speak to you.
- Cut out your circular mandala from the paper or cardboard to know the size of what you are looking for and how to bring the reverential quality within the circle.
- Look through the images. Decide which ones are most important and take you to the feelings artha.
- Make fine cuts on the images you have chosen.
- Arrange them inside your mandala to tell the story of what artha means to you. Essentially you are creating an image definition of artha.
- Glue the images within your mandala.
- Write any thoughts, ideas, other images, or references that came up throughout the process. Like I mentioned in the tutorial, I like to keep my journal next to me while I am creating for two reasons: firstly, to jot down anything that comes up, and secondly, to write things down that will distract me or pull me away from creating. Sometimes I remember I have to finish the laundry or call someone If it’s going to distract me and it’s not urgent, I write it down to do later.
- Give thanks for the time in your sacred creative space, and add the collage to your altar.