Purity of Mind

Water dipper, Torei, 1721-1792, Ink on paper

After entering through the torii gates onto the temple grounds, the first thing one might see are the purification stone water basins, or tsukubai. This literally means 'stooping basin'. Many religions, including Shinto and Buddhism, require the ritual cleansing before one is allowed into a holy sanctuary. In Japan, this usually means pausing at a water basin and using a bamboo dipper to rinse the hands and mouth--to purify one's self before entering. These basins can take many forms, from a highly crafted bronze basin to an unworked boulder with a natural depression.

If a man's mind becomes pure, his surroundings will also become pure.
---Buddha

I also saw many of these stone water basins at the entrances to small homes and restaurants.
There seemed to be a quiet calmness- a pocket of serenity-- in these small areas. The basins were usually set in with large and small rocks, plants and sometimes moss.

Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.
Only in quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.
----Hans Margolius

Like water, we are truest to our nature in repose.
----Cyril Connolly

If you want inner peace find it in solitude, not speed, and if you would find yourself, look to the land from which you come and to which you go.
-----Stuart L. Udall

These small stone basins at the entrance of a home or restaurant represent the ritual of "clearing the dust of the world".
This symbolic act of cleaning thus enables one to sense the pure and sacred essence of things, man and nature. This purity, through the simple act of cleaning, is part of my search for myself in my art -- the act of clearing out the "old" ways to explore and experiment with new experiences, and feelings.