Sculpture and Achalanatha

Last week I had occasion to venture into "The smoke" (London) for a technical seminar. The seminar was excellent and, for those interested in such things, was on Ajax. However, at least as interesting as the seminar itself is what stood inthe middle of Clerkenwell Green. This wonderful sculpture. It takes a little whiel to figure out what it's about. It quickly becomes obvious that it is harnessing varous forms of green energy, wind, solar and even rain. What wasn't immediately obvious to me was what it was doing with all this energy. That is, until I noticed the seats arranged round the central column of the structure. You sit in one of these seats and it plays music at you and shows you images on a series of small screens. It was quite a pleasant exxperience, once I got over the disconcerting feeling of being stared at by passers-by as I sat in the middle of this large sculpture.

Yesterday evening I went to the Priory for the festival of Achalanatha. This ferocious looking figure has his own altar in the Priory as well as in most o the OBC temples. He represent a number of things but mainly, for me, he represents a certain aspect of compassion. He traditionally sits to the left of the main altar while Avalokitesvara sits to the right. They both represent compassion. Avalokitesvara is seen to be pourng the waters of compassion on a troubled sea and he/she represents a reasonably straightforward view of compassion (He who hears the cries of the world). Achalanatha, on the other hand, is pictured chained to a rock amidst the fires of hell, wielding a sword and with a ferocious look on his face. He represents the determination to do what really needs to be done. Mainly this is the determination to continue training and that is certainly relevant for me but I feel it is in every aspect of life, not just sitting in meditation.

In some Tibetan traditions, someone who is training is often assigned a deity, maybe that represents some aspect of their training that they need to concentrate on. As far as I know, there is no equivalent in Zen. If there was, Achanatha would be my particular deity (or boddhisatva). He has come up time and time again through my years of training in many different situations. If you read my post below about fatherhood, you will see that this is yet another aspect of Achalanatha. To wake up and do what is right. On the face of it this sounds quite straightforward, but still, small voice that is ever present is easily drowned out by the thousand voices that tell you to do what seems to make your life comfortable or entertains a bored mind. However, asI say, it's always there and when I sit in meditation I can usually hear it. And the more I meditate the more I hear it in everyday life. I just need the determination of Achalanatha to sit still and hear the voice.