The Painter's Mind

The painter

lays down many colors

and the illusion takes form

but the elements are indistinguishable

 

The elements are formless

 within the elements there is no form

yet without the elements

no form could exist

 

There is no mind within the painting

and no painting within the mind

yet the painting cannot be found

without the presence of mind

 

This mind never ceases

to manifest many forms

unlimited, infinite

unknown, one from the other

 

The painter

cannot know the nature of his own mind

and yet with it he paints

So is the nature of all things

-Tich Nhat Hanh-

 

I translated this poem as it was written in French in the book "L'Esprit d'amour".  I came across this poem by Thay the other day and fell instantly in love.  I almost don't want to comment on it because it says so much on its own and could be interpreted in so many different ways.  What grabbed me about the poem was how it made a profound message accessible through an analogy of a painter.  The painter paints the contents of his mind without fully understanding the true nature of that mind.  He layers paints and slowly an image emerges.  This image is a representation of what was in the painter's mind but it does not actually contain within itself the mind.  The painting is not the painter's mind and the painter's mind is not the painting.  Yet this image constructed from a mix of other elements is the closest thing we have to the contents of the painter's mind.  Look closely enough and all you will see are lines of color and pick those lines apart and you will find nothing but pigment and water.  Yet when the mind gets involved, those lines become a concept and that concept is a representation of the contents of the painter's mind.  So is the truth of life.  Our minds work with the material they are given labeling all phenomena based on rules that society has taught them.  Yet pick apart any piece of reality and you will find nothing but elements that within themselves do not contain any form.  Without the mind, form would not exist.  Yet no mind is present within the forms.  I cannot say more than that.  I leave you to ponder these ideas on your own.