China

Whatever you do - do it perfectly
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 23 December 2013 at 11:17 AM No comments

Sometimes looking hi-resolution TV or pictures of nature I think about perfection. Perfect beauty of nature is so penetrative, so clear and so powerful then we can recharge ourselves just observing it. The way rocks curving around waterfalls, the way shells became pink inside…

If you are a cat owner you can see how perfect  whiskers moves… Little things. Perfection of nature means our possibility to touch it and became fresh, gain new levels of personality and achievements. We have our possibility to syncronize, to be resonant with it. This is the way to growth our roots in sacred place of immortality. One step to resonant it, the second to mirror it. then everything becomes new, refreshed, powerful, full of true energy.

I am standing near creation one world wide process now.

China Adventure: TianTai Buddhist Temple-4
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 18 November 2013 at 06:30 PM No comments

Our memory is strange thing. Once it can be as clear as a good film. Another time it`s like a shadow of past. Then it seems like an index in file catalog marked with day and month. The same is with my memory about TianTai.

It was just 2 months ago but so many things happened so I realized the memory drown. It isn`t good because it save important things so I start to observe the best picture which remind me feelings so fresh. This is one of them. I feel it through the screen so it seems correct to write about in present tense.

This is stone garder as I prefer to call it. This is the place full of green trembling in air. It seems as strange jade colour of light rayes fron the stones. Each side of the stones bleeds with green magic, with the same density as green waters of mountings. Each edge of the stones cut that vibrations into sections so the structure of thet plase is moving and stable in one time. So strange, so bright, so alien, so acquainted. I experienced the same feeling when I saw one Japanese movie "Mononoke hime" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononoke_hime by H.Miyadzaki.

This time I need to refresh my mind and feelings. Too many dayes I spent thinking about Stable point in LifeCycle curve and how to improve technigues to the film so my feelings becomes  devocalized. The winter`s coming, no sun for many days and my body tryes to sleep more then work. I don`t like it even if it is natural. So I should to renew my internal media to gain things I love, to develop things I plan, to share things I invented. So I wish to awake.

Divine beauty
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 28 October 2013 at 09:19 PM No comments

Nature represents divine beauty  much more then anybody else. As long as natural places remains pure and safe we can see how math and ohysics represents by gentle curves and  shapes and rules… see divine rules by own eyes. It`s amazing.

Water in TianTai mountings changes it`s colour from transparent to cloudy, then to light jade and than to bright jade colour, the same as bamboo stems. It was so amazing to see it so I barely breath that time. I should stay here more. I want meditate here for ages.  How streams of the waterfall becomes small river and then becomes a small river and then… could you imagine it?

I love modern possibilities to create images by camera. I love such things of technical progress which allow us to keep in touch with divine places being in thousands kilometers far away. But as I desired to fix my own presence here I draw it as a kind of auto-portret. SO I am here, I am drinking divinity by my eyes.

Fall in love with Green-Green
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 21 October 2013 at 12:07 AM No comments

Love is feeling associates with people. Butit makes broad minding as a main character so love could be with everything surrounds you. I fall in love with green, green bamboo and jade waters of TianTai mauntains. Such a divine beauty, so elegant, so perfect.

I could spent ages just starring how bamboo growth, how it rustles playing wth winds and how waterfalls caress my eyes with streams comed down making it`s journey.. From mountains to sea it flows, this is the greatest symbol of life itself and about mind and spirit in search.

May be that is the reason I love mauntains with waterfalls and sea? On that picture you can see one of the TianTai buddhist monasteries. If I could to stay here I would do it. But everyone has own duty and place for activity. I dreamed about such places during my childhood and yourth but not I completely accepted my role. I stay in social life and do my best with all of my ossibilities to make progress. May be after all… May be I will be free when I finish it? If I  be lucky it will be.

That time I had no possibilities to stay here for a long time. I was with my idea to shoot a film, fith my camera, doing duty, thinking how to direct the film best and what position I must take for it. Too much for one person so no really free time to feel the plece, divine music so gentle you can`t listen without total silence.

But when I had returned home I realized myself with the desire to feel things I had passed.

Then I started a small magic which can overcome space and time.

I tryed to fix it by simplified laguage.
 
That sketch I did by memory 12 days after I was in the temple.
I have a vision about seria of paintings I want to do, I want it as fast as it possible but it will be not today, not tomorrow too… one day it will be.
China Adventure: TianTai Buddhist Temple-3
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 08 October 2013 at 10:52 AM No comments

TianTai Buddhist temple was one of the most impressive places I`ve ever seen. So fine shadows of green, gray, and shining of waters! I wished to stay here for a month, without any technical devices, just with my brushes.

That visit I dedicated to work, to shoot film and fotos, so I had no really meditative time being alone. Hopes it will be possible once in future! But I forced my mind to fix all features in strange archivation mood I developed in my past. It allows to suck in information without loosing time to feel it. I developed that style as a tool in dark times when books are forbidden or unawailable, so when I was lucky to borrow one to one night I must read it at all in order return for tomorrow. Not a plrasant thing but a good tool to pack information quickly and unpack it later whereever I want.

So I do it now observing my pictires. Let`s go!

Persons who invented the structure and architecture of Buddhists temples was genious. So fine harmony and balance represents their spirit and balance. Such environment support such feelings in other people who could see it not only by eyes.

Just feel it rhytm.

Sharp: leaves of the trees in it`s motion. Sharp: ends of roofs as silhouettes on clear sky.

Stream of lines goes down: columns slightly scratched by time, tile slightly touched by moss. It`s general lines drain down to the temple`s yard.

Square straight lines of the yard  are softened by bindweeds like a smooth waterfall washes from walls. Round stone seats stands in seeming disorder creates new rhytm, dancing of stable stone shapes and moving shadows of trees. Just try to feel it, stability and constant movement, and when it happens you will feel the rest, true rest in eye of storm.

This is the essence of meditation.

That`s why people comes here from big citis to meditate.

On the top of the complex I founded stone garden. This is no common points with math regularity of Japanese Stone gardens. Everything in TianTai temple looks so natural so seems accidentally dropped stones for untrained eyes. You hardly find a system in it when you try to found similarity. It was done by feeling rhytm.

Look to the picture: round shape of artificial well (it is only 50 cm depth) underlines sharp stones. Horizontal edges of stones accompany vertical shapes. All stones looks a pieces of rocks dragged by snows or waterflood in ancient times. But it was placed here by human hands. This is the high level of feelings being in resonance with vibrations of everything.

Unreal athmosphere of that place produced by games of sun light and how it was filtered by green leaves. So everything drowned in mystic jelly of green light. Rounded shapes of stones and moss on it`s surface, moss on the bottom of walls, and green grass about it. It represents temporary things dancing on the background of Ethernity.

Well, this is just my shadow on the corner of walls, not less and not more.

Thank you for being with me! I will show you more in next posts!

China Adventure: TianTai Buddhist Temple-2
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 04 October 2013 at 11:30 AM No comments

TianTai Buddhist Temple forms a village around it includes hotels, fields and houses. I was told that temple and monastery has a considerable influence to the Chinese society because of it`s history and buddhist`s school. So it is a lot of piligrims in special days.

The picture above shows the central chancel: Buddha in the centre represents by two statues. The big gold represents the Enlighting One in his classical posture of meditation and two devotees guard him. The white small statue represents the Compassion to the world and Buddha`s oath to help every person who needs is. The whole altar group designed the way people could feel both the high will and attention to the particular person.

We was lucky to visit thet place 2 days before the Middle Autumn Festival so we had our space to think and saw in quiet. That seria of pictures show what`s inside the temple. There are several pavilions on the territory of the temlpe rounds by wall. Every pavilion dedicate for different purposes with special environment inside.

You can see statues of Buddha`s students here on the picture. Every figure has an individual features such as posture, hand`s gestures, face expressions. Although all figures has the same sitting position (the same as Buddha) they seems lively and different from each others. All statues is bigger then human size. A big gold-yellow  construction seems the same as China Emperior`s baldachin.

That Boddhisattva sits on a lion and holds a rod with the same fitures (top, angles) as Chinese traditional Wish Fulfilment staff.

Chinese "lions" is one of the most interesting thing in sculptures. They looks so lively and funny, with so unaffected expression on faces so represents a contrast to classical expression of saints. During thet Chinese Adventure period I catched a thought that we, europeans, could have very different understanding of chinese lion`s (also tigers and others predators) expression. May be they represents straight, sometimes aggression (tigers) of they are a guardians. But I stuck with association with pekines,  small funny brave dogs, which has the same faces and same expressions sometimes.

With all respect that one lion represents on the picture in my mind sounds the voice of the Wolf in "Shrek-I" animation.

8-)

This is Guan In - the First Buddha Avalokiteshvara feminized in China into beautiful image.

I was lucky to saw monks of thet temple. You can see a high rank buddhists prist with his uniform.

Next post I will publish pictures about environment of the Temple, so peaceful and beautiful.

Thank you for being with me!

China Adventure: TianTai Buddhist Temple-1
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 29 September 2013 at 09:10 PM No comments

My visit to China started TianTai mountings, one of the place Chinese Buddhism started. The first day of our visit we spent in the temple.

TianTai Temple is the beautiful complex with several buildings, from plases to rituals to places to pray and meditate, also it includes place monks live and garden. All buildings rounds by wall with small river along the front part of it. When we entered into the temple it was a big old tree here.

Now I feel how it is difficult to describe such places. It needs to be felt by human senses more then by words or pictures… but how could I present it for you without it? Just try to imagine how clear the air is, with so small number of people around… with trees more then 100 years old devoted to Buddha.

HEre you can see a monk trying to take care of oblational place. There was a lot of ash from aroma sticks burned. When the monk started to move the ash it was so much smoke so I worried about my camera`s lenses and made steps back.

That place people made candles to prove their vowes and support their prayes. Long threads of molten wax made me feel hot even staying far from it.

This is the figure of Heaven Defender in the temple. It origined from Lokapalas, the Heaven Guards in Hinduism, adopted by Chinese mythology and incorporated in Buddhists temples.

I did a lot of pictures of the Temple and mountings. Also I spent my time shooting raw matherials to my future films so it was a kind of work, physically hard, but spiritually enlighting.

It will be films in nearest future, I hope!

Next post I will show next seria of pics of the Temple, so see you soon!

Shanghai and Middle Autumn Festival
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 23 September 2013 at 01:48 PM No comments

Good day, friends, after about 10 days of silence I have to reveal what exactly happened in that period. First of all it was the full moon festival traditional for Asian countries names "The Middle-Autumn". It is special cakes for that day.

According to chinese legend Moon Fairy Chan-E lives on Moon with White  Rabbit who cook the Essense of longevity. So beautifully designed images of the rabbit and the fairy decorate many objects from big sculptures to candy boxes.

Chinese supermarkets decorate with big red lantens a week before the celebration:

This is the view of Carenfor, one of the big supermarkets in Shanghai situates just near the place I live. All seems joyful and beautiful inside.

This is the long line of different types of Moon Cakes - special food to Moon festival. The stuffing of the cakes is different so I was able to found several vegetarian moon cakes here:

Tonight I and my friends set on the big balcony and feasted round full moon eating cakes, desired our wishes, listening traditional Chinese Music in harmony and then we went to see an interesting film about anthropology "Incredible Human Journey".

It was the first Moon festival I celebrate here, in China, with friends in taditional asian manner. It was exciting, Moon cakes was tasty and the full moon was so beautiful then I believed all of our wishes stated to come true.

Next post I will tell you about my trip to Tian Tai mountain, one of the eldest centre of Chinese Buddhism and so beautiful place that I hardly believe it is real.

Thank you for being with me, come back to my blog because I am back and will be here for you as usual.

Hello from Shanghai!
Author: ANNAmain • Date: 16 September 2013 at 02:39 PM No comments

Hello friends, I am in Shanghai now, preparing to move to TianTai mountains tomorrow morning. The weather is so sweet then it is pleasant to shoot the film.

I am trying to be good with my camera, keep in mind screenplay of future film and bless my friends help me to be in wonderful places here.

The easiest way to post pictues is Instagram, it could publish it on my Facebook page although Facebook unavaliable in China. If you like to read news and see photos immideately you are welcome to my Facebook page.

See you soon!

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