Vaji Aung Soe - Poetry Without Words

Introduction to the Dhamma (Bhaṇa)

One day, during the second anniversary, Vaji Aung Soe brought me a collection of his ink paintings and asked me to write an introduction for them to be printed and distributed as a book. The title of the book to be published was “Wordless Poetry.”

After I accepted the assignment he gave me, I woke up one Sunday morning, took a shower, and looked through his paintings one by one. At that moment, my beloved wife was sitting next to me. After I looked, she picked up the paintings that I had placed next to her.

Both of them were not saying anything to each other, just concentrating on their own thoughts. Every time I glanced at my wife, I noticed that she was silent and smiling. It was only after I finished looking at the paintings that my wife started talking.

Wife.. Ko Aung Soe is doing something he doesn't like. He doesn't even say poetry, he doesn't write. It's just a trick to attract people's attention. Or, to use my granddaughter's words, I think Ko Aung Soe has "gone crazy."

I... No, you're also a poet who writes without words, but it's so deep and so vague.

Wife.. Come on, Ko Ko, if you love Ko Ko, whatever they do is good.

I... You're completely wrong. I only choose and love people who do good things, you know.

Wife.. Now, let me explain the beauty of these pictures. I don't know what half of these pictures are about. I just looked at them and was delighted. First, let me explain what wordless poetry is. These are paintings. They are not poems.

I.. The problem is that in our country, there are so many people like you that we can't grow. In our country, no matter what kind of science we pursue, we tend to only pursue the superficial technical aspects. It's rare to find someone who also studies science. In the art of painting, they still only pursue the technical aspects of art.

That's why, every time I hear the word "poetry," I can only imagine and hear the words "tay tay", "tha phay", "bawl lee", "myeon gyi", "myeon koy", and "yatu" (at least most of the rhymes called "kayyar" that are included in magazines these days).

Every work of art worthy of appreciation, whether it is a painting, a song, a building, a novel, a sculpture, or a design for a woman's underwear, contains the concept of poetry. This essence of poetry (in the world's language, Poetry in Pali is called Sobana Shara) is present throughout every good work of art without changing its meaning. The people who realize this principle are very right. Most artists do not realize this concept.

Wife: Please try to explain again that every work of art that is worthy of praise has that divine beauty.

I. . Let me give you an example. An earthen pot, an earthen bowl, an earthen bowl, an earthen bowl. An earthen bowl and an earthen bowl are not the same. What is not different is the earth, an earthen bowl and an earthen bowl are not the same. What is not different is the earth? A green earthen bowl and a red earthen bowl are not the same. What is not different is the earth. No matter how the shapes and colors change, the earth remains the same. The earth is another way of saying a pot, a bowl, an earthen bowl. John Ruskin (1819-1900), a world-famous Western writer on artistic aesthetics, also said this.

The statement that “ poetry” is a literary work composed of grammar, rhyme, and rhyme is very shallow and crude. A poem composed of words is just a recitation of poetry. Sculpture, stone carving, bronze casting, bronze sculpture, painting, and even music are also poetic works. Phidias with a lute, Raphael with a brush, and Beethoven with a piano are all poets, just like the great poet Milan and the great poet Gaya.

Ruskin's statement means that poetry is not only found in good literature, but also in good sculpture (not only in sculpture but also in commercial art such as posters, cartoons, advertising designs, and illustrations), good painting, good architecture, good music, good drama, good dance, and good architecture.

The truth of all the laws is hidden. Laws are impermanent, truth is impermanent.

Poetry is the essence of the art of beauty, so all true and good works of beauty are inextricably linked to the essence of beauty, in other words, the inner essence, the inner essence. This is how poetry, sculpture, painting, floral poetry, music, dance, architecture, etc., poetry is present in all the arts of beauty with an unbroken, unbroken, and unbroken essence.

Vaji Aung Soe calls his works “poetry without words” because he expresses the true beauty of poetry, which I just explained, not through words, but through painting. He says that the essence of poetry is expressed through the design of the painting.

If you think back to the six principles of the philosophy of happiness that I often recite and explain to my young artists who visit Lokanat's art and sculpture shop, you can understand the meaning of wordless poetry.

Wife: What about the six elements of the divine?

I... You guys, The Six Ultimate Principles of Art, have you forgotten?

Wife.. Oh, is it the letter that Ko Ko made me memorize, or is it the original great discovery that Ko Ko composed after reflecting on it and gaining insight? “The Six Noble Truths.”

I.. Oh... Let's just say it. Try reciting it. Have you forgotten it?

Wife.. Beauty is...

(1) In those who have a special capacity for the perception of beauty (concentration of mind), the beauty of poetry and the beauty of the mind arise.

(2) If there is a desire for something beautiful and noble (dhammachandhana), there is a close reason (paddhana).

(3) There is the matter of transforming the inner beauty of the name (sobanacitta) into the outer beauty of the form, the sound (bahiddharupa, saddhayona) (nimmanarasa).

(4) Beauty (a sign of virtue) is a natural characteristic.

(5) If there is an increase in happiness and beauty, such as joy and happiness (piti so manassa), then there is a state of mind (pasu padhana). (lokahitattathaya) If the spiritual and physical beauty of the world increases, there is a result.

(6) In the Sulim Moon-pointed Sukhumvit, all the underlying materials of literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and drama are gathered together under the umbrella of the supreme, pure, beautiful essence of poetry (sobhasara).

I.. Aye...... I have composed a poem of four words called "wordless poetry" to cover all six points. Now.... I will recite the opening of the next chapter. .

Wife.. A true work of art is not created by any person. From the great beauty field of Mahapala, Sunyata, the pure beauty waves of love and other elements of the essence are released and the desire to reveal those waves to the outside is so strong that it becomes the pure beauty of the inner self, the physical and verbal forms. The pure beauty of the inner form creates the external beauty of the external and the visual beauty of the external. The external beauty is created by the internal beauty. The internal beauty creates the external beauty. No person, no being, no one, no one, no one is included in that. A person who has a special capacity for the perception of beauty (mind concentration) is

I... I'm sorry, if you keep saying this, I'll be late for dinner.

Wife.. So what's wrong with some of these pictures? I can't see it.

I... Where can I find it? You don't know how to look.

Wife.. (laughing) Please explain so that I can see..

I.. When I read a poem, a song, a piece of music, I read every sentence, every paragraph, not just to the end, but the whole paragraph, the whole piece, to the end. I listen. The reader and listener must also have the appropriate level of education..

When it comes to enjoying a painting, you can't just look at it in passing. Like poetry and music, you need to look at it from beginning to end. Painting is a three-dimensional thing : form, emotion, and symbolism . If it's a painting with poetry, you don't see it just by looking. You don't know it just by seeing. You don't touch it just by knowing it. You can only feel the poetry in the painting by touching it. From looking, you see, from seeing, you know, from knowing, you touch it, and then you think. Then, you touch it again. Only in this way can you fully experience the beauty of painting.

Wife... After cleaning up, the mess got even worse.

I... Wait, please keep listening.

Painting is not just something to be seen with the eyes, something to be remembered. It is also something to be felt with the mind, something to be experienced with the mind, something to be enjoyed with the intellect.

In the case of a painting, the artist uses all three of the aforementioned perspectives: visual perception (sight), emotional perception (feeling), and intellectual perception (comprehension). Out of these three perspectives, depending on his or her interests and mood at the time, he or she often prioritizes one of them and leaves the other two as secondary.

I will explain. Listen carefully. Appearance