Samsara888

Hi,

today I am very happy to tell you that I passed successfully my martial arts exam in Muay Thai Boran. This is traditional Thai Boxing. Now I am level 3 of 8 . My style is called in Thai “Süa Lag Hang”, which means “The Crouching Tiger”. It was brought to Germany by my beloved Grandmaster Ajahn Lao Vongvilay. Whom I know now since 1995, and who has been teaching his sophisticated system of Martial Arts in Munich for over 30 years. My school is called “Kampfkunstschule Germering”, and my masters are Didier Hartmann and Ajahn Goran Pujic.      

On the attached picture they both sit in front of me.
   

If you want to check my skills please check the following URL: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCb9Nf…

In case you are interested, please check the following URLs. The website of Grandmaster Ajahn Lao Vongvilay is www.tiger-kungfu.de and the website of Kampfkunstschule Germering is www.kampfkunst-germering.de/ho…

Greetings Knut aka SAMSARA

Malen für den Frieden

Da ich praktizierender Buddhist und Schüler von S.H. Dalai Lama bin, ist es mir ein Herzensanliegen mit meiner Kunst die positive Botschaft von Seiner Heiligkeit in meiner Umwelt zu verbreiten.

Denn meiner Meinung nach setzt sich S.H. Dalai Lama wie kein Zweiter auf diesem Planeten für den Weltfrieden ein. Er ist der populärste Friedensnobelpreisträger, der noch lebt, und bereist unermüdlich die ganze Erde, um eine Ethik zu verbreiten, die nicht an Religionen gebunden ist. Diese Ethik, die er auch als menschliche Werte bezeichnet, beinhaltet Liebe und Mitgefühl für alle Wesen, Toleranz, Vergebung, Zufriedenheit mit dem was man hat, Selbstdisziplin und Gewaltlosigkeit.

Als Praktizierender einer Religion ist es S.H. Dalai Lama wichtig, die Förderung von religiöser Harmonie und Verständigung unter allen großen Weltreligionen voran zu treiben.

In meiner Kunst spiegeln sich diese Statements von S.H. Dalai Lama besonders in meiner klassischen buddhistischen Ikonographie wieder. Diese, auch Thangkamalerei genannt, ist innerhalb der buddhistischen Tradition von zentraler Bedeutung, da jeder Thangka für den übenden Buddhisten, eine Landkarte auf dem Weg zur Erleuchtung darstellt. Deswegen ist die Ikonometrie, die Wissenschaft der heiligen Proportionen, bei der Thangakmalerei von größter Wichtigkeit. Nur wenn ein Thangka sich in Proportionen und Farben präzise an die Ikonometrie hält, ist er verwendbar und gilt als gelungen.

Darüber hinaus sind auch meine Lotusstillleben buddhistischer Natur. Denn der Lotus gilt als eine heilige Pflanze im Buddhismus. Da er aus dem großem Dreck und Schlamm, Sinnbild für den Kreislauf des Leidens, auch Samsara genannt, zu größter Schönheit und Reinheit heranwächst . Dies symbolisiert die Erleuchtung, die Befreiung von allem Leid.

Aber auch die Bedeutung meine Vanitas-Stillleben ist vom Buddhismus geprägt. Denn ich habe diese Kunstform, die eigentlich aus der christlichen Malerei des Barock, zur Zeit des dreißigjährigen Krieges stammt, buddhistisch interpretiert.

Gemeinsam haben diese Bilder christlicher Meister mit meinen Kunstwerken, dass die Vergänglichkeit, die Natur allen Irdischen Daseins ist, und dass es aber möglich ist, sie durch die Mystik aller großen Weltreligionen zu transzendieren.

Außerdem ist mein Writername bei der Erstellung von Graffitischriftzügen, Samsara(der Ozean des Leidens.) Dieser verdeutlicht die erste noble Wahrheit von Buddha Shakyamuni, dass alles Leben Leiden ist. Allerdings symbolisiert dies auch die dritte noble Wahrheit, nämlich dass es einen Ausweg aus dem Leiden, und zwar Nirvana, gibt.

Auch wenn meine künstlerischen Fähigkeiten gering sind und ich mich in meiner Malerei noch als Anfänger sehe, so ist es mir doch von größter Wichtigkeit, dass die Thematiken und Konzepte meiner Bilder die Botschaft von S.H. Dalai Lama wieder spiegeln. Denn S.H. Dalai Lama persönlich 1995 zu begegnen gehört für mich immer noch zu den wichtigsten und weitreichendsten Ereignissen in meinem Leben.

We are all suffering, one way or another, no matter how much we like to believe otherwise. Before light comes through there has to be a darkness. The darkness has to be accepted before the light comes through. In this spirit we have to accept we are suffering and all the confusion, embarrassment, and weakness that comes with it.

We have to think and see how we can fundamentally change our education system so that we can train people to develop warm-heartedness early on in order to create a healthier society. I don't mean we need to change the whole system, just improve it. We need to encourage an understanding that inner peace comes from relying on human values like, love, compassion, tolerance and honesty, and that peace in the world relies on individuals finding inner peace.

This quote is from H.H. Dalai Lama, a beloved master of mine. For me he is a living Buddha. On facebook in the meantime 4.8 million people "follow" him. And he is the worlds most popular still living nobel peace prize laureate. For me meeting him in 1995 changed my live significantly to the better. Here he speaks about developing compassion, one of the core teachings of Buddhism.

Developing compassion
Some of my friends have told me that, while love and compassion are marvelous and good, they are not really very relevant. Our world, they say, is not a place where such beliefs have much influence or power. They claim that anger and hatred are so much a part of human nature that humanity will always be dominated by them. I do not agree.
 
We humans have existed in our present form for about a hundred-thousand years. I believe that if during this time the human mind had been primarily controlled by anger and hatred, our overall population would have decreased. But today, despite all our wars, we find that the human population is greater than ever. This clearly indicates to me that love and compassion predominate in the world. And this is why unpleasant events are news, compassionate activities are so much part of daily life that they are taken for granted and, therefore, largely ignored.
 
So far I have been discussing mainly the mental benefits of compassion, but it contributes to good physical health as well, According to my personal experience, mental stability and physical well-being are directly related. Without question, anger and agitation make us more susceptible to illness. On the other hand, if the mind is tranquil and occupied with positive thoughts, the body will not easily fall prey to disease.
 
But of course it is also true that we all have an innate self-centeredness that inhibits our love for others. So, since we desire the true happiness that is brought about by only a calm mind, and since such peace of mind is brought about by only a compassionate attitude, how can we develop this? Obviously, it is not enough for us simply to think about how nice compassion is! We need to make a concerted effort to develop it; we must use all the events of our daily life to transform our thoughts and behavior.
 First of all, we must be clear about what we mean by compassion. Many forms of compassionate feeling are mixed with desire and attachment. For instance, the love parents feel of their child is often strongly associated with their own emotional needs, so it is not fully compassionate. Again, in marriage, the love between husband and wife -  particularly at the beginning, when each partner still may not know the other's deeper character very well - depends more on attachment than genuine love. Our desire can be so strong that the person to whom we are attached appears to be good, when in fact he or she is very negative. In addition, we have a tendency to exaggerate small positive qualities. Thus when one partner's attitude changes, the other partner is often disappointed and his or her attitude changes too. This is an indication that love has been motivated more by personal need than by genuine care for the other individual.
 
True compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Therefore, a truly compassionate attitude towards others does not change even if they behave negatively.
 
Of course, developing this kind of compassion is not at all easy! As a start, let us consider the following facts:
Whether people are beautiful and friendly or unattractive and disruptive, ultimately they are human beings, just like oneself. Like oneself, they want happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, their right to overcome suffering and be happy is equal to one's own. Now, when you recognize that all beings are equal in both their desire for happiness and their right to obtain it, you automatically feel empathy and closeness for them. Through accustoming your mind to this sense of universal altruism, you develop a feeling of responsibility for others: the wish to help them actively overcome their problems. Nor is this wish selective; it applies equally to all. As long as they are human beings experiencing pleasure and pain just as you do, there is no logical basis to discriminate between them or to alter your concern for them if they behave negatively.
(www.dalailama.com)