No Past, No Future
You may have on occasions wondered if underneath the laughter and cheer at a party is fear you hear. Or the congratulations and outward happiness people have for the successful is really jealousy even hatred disguised.
In the game of life, we all try to fit in. We are supposed to be successful, contented and celebrate achievements. But we know that is often the mask of life. How many of us can really say we are at peace with ourselves, that our inner soul relaxes and there is absolutely no stress?
Vietnamese American photographer Tri Huu Luu has an easy tendency to stand outside and observe. As a student and practicing Buddhist, Tri sees the surface but is more interested in what the surface hides. In his bold fifth exhibition with John Erdos Art, Tri goes to the core of the human psychic makeup to explore Buddhist central activity – meditation.
"All things happen because of your mind, when the mind is not disciplined, then you are always being controlled by it," says Tri. "Your mind is the master, and you are the slave. That is how you suffer, you have no control of yourself."
Meditation is his attempt to show how Buddhism through voiding the mind of any action, achieves a state of freedom and a chance of complete calm, even bliss. No Past, No Future is a series of powerful images where you literally see the emptiness of the mind; hear the quiet of being and how a human can spiritually be one with his surroundings.
"I have done four exhibitions with John Erdos, but this one goes to the very core of what Buddhism is. Studying Buddhism without learning meditation is like visiting Singapore without going to Orchard Road," he says joking. "In many ways, this exhibition represents the maturing of Tri's Buddhist journey with his craft," says John Erdos. "From daily even humorous activities of Buddhist life in temples at the beginning, we now have arresting and bold moments of truth captured through his creative lens."
Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present. - Buddha
Blissfulness is an experience, a state of mind. You cannot put a time frame on something, which has no time, no destination, and no sight. It is an experience, once your practice is ripe, it come on its own. – Tri Huu Luu on Meditation
