I didn’t know about Alexander Calder till I saw his
exhibition at Musée Picasso in Paris, his art works were displayed together
with Picasso’s works. Alexander Calder is known for inventing wire sculptures
and the mobile, a type of kinetic art which relied on careful weighting to
achieve balance and suspension in the air. He didn't limit his art to
sculptures; he also created paintings, jewelry, theatre sets and costumes.
While residing in France between 1926 and 1933, he cleverly
constructed three-dimensional art works
using wires which give impression of
‘drawings in space’, he turned out charming representations of birds,
cows, elephants, horses, and other animals, including the extraordinary Romulus
and Remus of 1928 that depicts the mythical founders of Rome being nursed by a
she-wolf.
He also created intricate tableaus of circus
performers, but Alexander Calder particularly recommended himself with his sensational
full-body portraits of jazz-era dancer Josephine Baker and bust portraits of
many in his Parisian artistic circle, such as Miró, composer Edgard Varèse, and
socialite Kiki de Montparnasse.
Photo: Wikimedia
With seemingly inexhaustible energy, Alexander Calder
expanded the repertoire of forms in his mobiles from spheres to discs to
organic shapes adapted from plants and animals. The World War II years saw
shortages of sheet metal, and Calder turned toward bits of wood, shards of
glass and ceramics, tin cans, and other refuse he found on his Roxbury
property, creating a series dubbed Constellations and some of his most-beloved
works, including Finny Fish, 1948.
During the walkaround in Le Marais in noticed a street
direction to Musée Picasso….., wow the Picasso Museum of Paris is here ?! Certainly
not something to be missed. Hurriedly I followed the direction to the museum
thorough the cobblestone streets lined with chic cafés and galleries to reach
rue de Thorigny where the Hôtel Salé wherein the Picasso museum is located.
Set in the great 17th century Hôtel Salé, Picasso’s masterpieces
hang on the walls of bright, spacious exhibition rooms. It contains many of
Picasso’s paintings, drawings and sculptures. On the day I visited the
exhibitions were mixed with the works of Alexander Calder, which was also very interesting.
Pablo Picasso was famous a Spanish painter,
sculptor, regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He is known for co-founding the Cubism, a
revolutionary style of modern art in response to the changing modern world.
Some people say that Cubism is like looking in a cracked mirror everything
becomes disorientated. The artists used multiple points of view to fracture
images into geometric forms. Figures were depicted as dynamic arrangements of
volumes and planes where background and foreground merged. Picasso did not feel
that art should copy nature and did not like the more traditional artistic
techniques of perspective, he said: “If the subjects I have wanted to express
have suggested different ways of expression I have never hesitated to adopt
them.”
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon - Wikimedia
Women play an essential role in Picasso’s paintings
expressing emotion, psychological insight and the drama of human existence.
Known for being a playboy, he had two wives, six misstresses and hundreds of
lovers throughout his marriages. His romantic relationships provided
inspiration for countless paintings,
drawings and sculptures. Each lover he painted can be seen to correlate
with a different moment portraying a fascinating individual stories – sometimes
joyful, defiant, or tragic in their endings.
The most famous of his women included those of Fernande
Olivier, Olga Khoklova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot and
Jacqueline Roque.
While his lovers were such a valuable inspiration to his
art, they seldom emerged from their relationships happily. Jacqueline Roque,
his second wife, and Marie-Thérese Walter, mother of one of his daughter, committed
suicide, and Olga Koklova, his first wife, and Dora Maar, his private muse, became somewhat insane.
On the second day of
our free time from office, I and my colleagues went to Bastille and other parts
of Le Marais. We thought we would see the historical Bastille prison raided
during the French revolution on July 14, 1789, but there is such prison there. The
prison has been demolished and in place instead a column symbolizing peace was
erected on the site and still stands there today. The name of the Column is Colonne de Juillet,
the July Column. It measures 47 meters in height and comprises 21 cast bronze
drums that sits on a white marble base with ornamented bas reliefs, designed by
the architect Jean-Antoine Alavoine under the orders of King Louis Philippe.
The square is now
known as the Place de la Bastille and is an official historical monument of France.
On the south side of the place there is a large curved and reflective building,
it is the Opéra Bastille. It was built by the architect Carlo Ott, and was
unveiled by President Mitterrand for the 200th Anniversary of the French
Revolution on the eve of July 14th 1989, The Bastille Day.
Over the years this
district became one of the most famous places in Paris. The night-life here is
well-known, there are many bars and nightclubs laid between the Rue de Lappe,
the Rue de la Roquette and the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
Walking on the left
side of Boulevard Beaumarchias, going away from the Place de la Bastille, at the
second street we came to Rue du Pas de la Mule. After a left turn, in a few steps we noticed
the red-bricked buildings that make up the Place des Vosges. This mansion,
built in the early 1600s, is a square composed of 36 houses with an arcade that
runs the perimeter of the square. The park in the center of the Place des
Vosges is called Square Louis XIII. Often, the grassy areas are available for
use here.
Walking down an arcade
with columns and a vaulted ceiling of the Place des Vosges, it felt as if we
had just entered the 17th century. Directly ahead, past the fine cafés and art
galleries, at the corner of this arcade, is the house addressed 6 Place des
Vosges, Maison de Victor Hugo, the house once lived in by Victor Hugo. It is
now a museum, opens every day, except Mondays and holidays.
That day Oriana came out of her room wearing a violet
pantsuit, greeted me and sat on a chair in front of a window, resting one of
her foot over the thigh of the other. In her right hand she held a Virginia
Slims cigarette and smoked continuously. Although she is tiny, perhaps five
feet one and around 90 pounds, her posture gave the impression of a confident,
self-assured, and assertive woman. Her interviews with famous leaders of the
world confirmed it all. This is the woman who dares to ask political leaders “brutal
questions” in her interviews. This is the woman who dared to remove her veil
while interviewing Khomeini, dared to ask Nguyen Van Thieu “How corrupt are
you?”, and dared to accuse to Yasir Arafat “You don’t at all want the peace
that everyone is hoping for.”
Her most popular book “Interview with History” compiled interviews
with 14 political leaders, with a cover inserting Rolling Stone magazine quotation
“the greatest political interviewer of modern times.” During my student time I
read a few of her interviews that made her famous, with Henry Kissinger,
Khomeini, Yasir Arafat and I was fascinated. Only recently I found this book
and was even more fascinated by interviews with the less popular Shah Iran,
King Hussein, General Giap and even a rather “not well known” Alexandros
Panagoulis. Before reading them, I had no idea how interesting the interviews were,
they gave fresh views and opened up windows to the personality of these
politicians.
So, I came to her apartment in Florence through the famous
Ponte Vecchio and sat with this vivacious woman to talk about this book. She
answered the questions with a husky voice, Italian accented, and with a lot of
arm movements. Despite her temperamental reputation she seemed to me a caring and sweet person.
Then I shot the first question:
“Generally speaking, journalism emphasizes on objectivity in
the writings in order to portray issues and events in a neutral and unbiased
manner, regardless of the journalist opinion or personal beliefs.
While you are internationally renowned for your impassioned,
confrontational approach. You became a celebrity because of your interrogative
interviews, the imposing questions that made Shah Iran shared his religious
view, made General Giap to disclose his military game plan for defeating the
Americans in Vietnam, and made Nguyen Van Thieu sometimes had tears in his
eyes. “
Oriana:
“I do not feel myself to be, nor will I ever succeed in
feeling like, a cold recorder of what I see and hear. On every professional
experience I leave shreds of my heart and soul: and I participate in what I see
or hear as though the matter concerned me personally and were one on in which I
ought to take a stand.
So I did not go to these fourteen people with the detachment
of the anatomist or the imperturbable reporter. I went with a thousand feelings
of rage, a thousand questions that assailing them were assailing me, and with
the hope of understanding in what way, by being in power or opposing it, those
people determine our destiny.”
I said:
“In your interview with Shah Iran you indeed assailed him,
it was like boxing, you threw punches to him, he defended himself and even
threw uppercuts to you. “
Oriana:
“He is a character in which most paradoxical conflicts merge
to reward you for your pains with an enigma. He believes in prophetic dreams,
in visions, in a childish mysticism, and then goes on to discuss oil like an
expert, which he is. He governs like an absolute monarch, and then refers to
his people in the tone of one who believes in them and loves them, by leading a
White Revolution that would seem to be making effort to combat illiteracy and
the feudal system. He considers women as simply graceful ornaments incapable of
thinking like a man, and then strives to give them complete equality of rights
and duties. Indeed, in a society where women still wear the veil, he even
orders girls to perform military service.”
I said:
“Did you ask him whether he is a dictator?”
Oriana:
“He said he wouldn’t deny it, because in a certain sense he
is. Then: ‘But look, to carry through reforms, one can’t help but be authoritarian.
Especially when the reforms take place in a country like Iran, where only
twenty-five percent of the inhabitants know how to read and write. You mustn’t
forget the illiteracy is drastic here- it’ll take at least ten years to
eliminate it.
Believe me when three-quarter of a nation doesn’t know how
to read or write, you can provide reforms only by the strictest authoritarianism
- otherwise you get nowhere. If I hadn’t be harsh, I wouldn’t even been able to
carry out agrarian reform, it would have been stalemated. Once that had
happened, the extreme left would have liquidated the extreme right within a few
hours, and it’s not only the White Revolution that would have been finished. I
had to do what I did. For instance, order my troops to open fire on anyone
opposing the distribution of land.”
I said:
“You said in the book that he was cold during the interview,
stiff, his lips were as sealed as a locked door, his eyes as icy as a winter
wind, stared at you rigidly and remote.
Yet he was so different when he talked about oil. He lighted up, vibrated,
focused, he become another man.”
Oriana:
“He thought he knows everything there is to know about oil,
everything. He said: ‘It’s really my
speciality. And I tell you as a specialist that the price of oil will have to
go up. There’s no other solution. But it’s a solution you Westerners have
brought on yourselves. Or, if you like, a solution brought on by your
overcivilized industrial society. You’ve increased the price of wheat by three
hundred percent, and the same for sugar and cement. You’ve sent the price of
petrochemicals skyrocketing. You buy crude oil from us and then sell it back to
us, refined into petrochemicals, at a hundred times what you paid for it. You
make us pay more for everything, scandalously more, and it’s only fair that
from now on you should pay more for oil. Let’s say…. ten times more.’
I will never forget him curtly raising his forefinger, while
his eyes glared with hatred, to impress on me that the price of oil would go
up, up, up ten-fold. I felt nauseated before the gaze and that finger….”
I said:
“Many of the political leaders you interviewed in this book
had socialism view, Golda Meir, Willy Brandt, Indira Gandhi, Pietro Nenni to
Helder Camara. But their socialism has many different colors, from mild to
liberal. Are you a socialist Oriana?”
Oriana:
“No, I am not. Socialism as
it’s been applied until now hasn’t worked. Capitalism doesn’t work too. I
better quote what Indira Gandhi said in the interview:
‘I don’t see the world as something divided between right
and left. Even though we use them, even though I use them myself, these
expressions have lost all meanings. I’m not interested in one label or the
other--- I’m only interested in solving certain problems, in getting where I
want to go. I have certain objectives. They are the same objectives that my
father had: to give people a higher standard of living, to do away with cancer
of poverty, to eliminate the consequences of economic backwardness. I want to
succeed. And I want to succeed in the best way possible, without caring whether
people call my actions leftist or rightist.
It’s the same story as when we nationalized the banks. I’m
not for nationalization because of the rhetoric of nationalization, or because
I see in nationalization the cure-all for every injustice. I’m for
nationalization in cases where it’s necessary.
We realized that the banks had not done any good, the money still ended
up in the hands of rich industrialists or friends of the bankers. And we did
nationalize the banks, without considering it a socialist gesture or an
antisocialist gesture, just a necessary one. Anyone who nationalizes only so as
to be considered on the left to me is a fool.
The word socialism now has so
many meanings and interpretations. The Russians call themselves socialists, the
Swedes call themselves socialists. And let’s not forget that in Germany there
was also a national socialism. Socialism to me means justice. It means trying
to work in a more egalitarian society.”
I said:
“One of your remarkable interviews is with General Giap, the
North Vietnam General during the Vietnam war. He was famous for his cruelty,
the French had fallen into his traps full of poisonous bees, his pits full of
snakes, or they were blown-up by booby traps hidden corpses abandoned by the
wayside, and in 1954 he defeated French at Dien Bien Phu. He was also feared by
the Americans, for his courage Ho Chi Minh used to call him Kui or Devil.
When you met him, did you find him to be a frightening
person?
Oriana:
“I was astonished first of all at how short he was, less
than 5 feet, and his body was fat. His face was swollen and covered with little
blue veins that made him look purple. No, it was not an extremely likable face.
Perhaps of the purple color, perhaps because of those uncertain outlines, it
cost you some effort to keep looking at him, where the things you found were
scarcely interesting. The huge mouth full of tiny teeth, the flattened nose
enlarged by two huge nostrils, the forehead that stopped at the middle of his
skull in a mop of black hair…. “
I said:
“Did he boast about his fighting strategy?”
Oriana:
“He said that the Americans underestimated the spirit of the
people that knows how to fight for a just cause, to save its homeland from the
invader. The war in Vietnam is not a question of numbers and well-equipped
soldiers, that all doesn’t solve the problem. When a whole people rebels,
there’s nothing you can do, and there’s no wealth in the world that can
liquidate it. Their enemies aren’t good soldiers, because they don’t believe in
what they’re doing and therefore they lack any combat spirit.
Oh, this
isn’t a war that you resolve in a few years. In a war against the United States,
you need time, time….. The Americans will be defeated in time, by getting
tired. And in order to tire them, we have to go on, to last…. For a long time: ten,
fifteen, twenty, fifty years. Until we achieve total victory, as our president,
Ho Chi Minh, said. Yes! Even twenty even fifty years! We’re not in a hurry,
we’re not afraid.”
I said:
“Your interview with General Giap caught Henry Kissinger’s
attention, thus he invited you for an interview. Very rarely does he grant personal
interviews, he speaks only at press conferences arranged by the administration.
What did he say about the Giap’s interview?”
Oriana:
“He didn’t speak about General Giap, instead he asked me
about Giap, Thieu and other Vietnamese generals. He even asked me: ‘What do I
think will happen in Vietnam with the cease-fire?’ On Vietnam he could not tell
me anything much, and I am amazed that he said: that whether the war to end or
go on did not depend only on him, and he could not allow himself the luxury of
compromising everything by an unnecessary word. He said: ‘Don’t ask me that. I
have to keep to what I said publicly ten days ago… I cannot, I must not consider an
hypothesis that I do not think will happen, an hypothesis that should not
happen. I can only tell you that we are determined to have this peace, and that
in any case we will have it, in the shortest time possible after my next
meeting with Le Duc Tho.”
I said:
“Did Henry Kissinger say whether the Vietnam war was a
useless war?”
Oriana:
“He said he agreed: ‘But let’s not forget that the reason
why we entered this war was to keep the South from being gobbled up by the
North, it was to permit the South to remain the South. Of course, by that I
don’t mean that this was our only objective…. It was also something more…. But today
I am not in the position to judge whether the war in Vietnam has been just or
not, whether our getting into it was useful or useless.
After all, my role, our role, has been to reduce more and
more the degree to which America was involved in the war, so as then to the end
the war. And it must be ended in accordance with some principle.
In the final analysis, history will say who did more: those
who operated by criticizing and nothing else, or we who tried to reduce the war
and then ended it. Yes, the verdict is up to history.”
I said:
“Now, the last part of your book is an interview with
Alexandros Panagoulis, a Greek politician and poet, who actively participated
against the Greek military junta, also known as the Regime of the Colonels. He became
famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on 13
August 1968, but also for the torture to which he was subjected during his
detention.
Reading this interview, the readers couldn’t help but to
notice that you highly admired him, even an amorous way.”
Oriana:
“That day and night in Athens, just two days after a general
political amnesty had resurrected Alexandros Panagoulis from prison, I met him
for this interview and fell in love with him. “
I said:
“Panagoulis was the real thing: A hero who had been
condemned to death for attempting to assassinate a dictator. He only regretted
having failed. Do you see him as a hero?”
Oriana:
“He said:’ I'm not a hero and I don't feel like a symbol . .
. I'm so afraid of disappointing all of you who see so many things in me! Oh,
if only you could succeed in seeing in me only a man!’
I said:
“And you asked him: ’Alekos, what does it mean to be a man?”
Oriana:
“He said: ’It means to have courage, to have dignity. It
means to love without allowing love to become an anchor. It means to struggle
and to win. . . . And for you, what is a man?’
I answered him: ‘I would say that a man is what you are,
Alekos."
And so did the interview end. Arrivederci Oriana….
THE END
This is an imaginary interview
in memory of Oriana Fallaci.
I and a few colleagues used our free day after a business meeting in
Paris to go Le Marais district. Coming out from the Hotel de Ville metro
station, we were struck by the huge Hotel de Ville directly in front of the
metro station. I was wondering how
expensive it would be to stay in such a grand Hotel. But actually, it is not a
hotel, it is a Municipal Building. After some googling I found that in French ‘hotel’
could mean home, building, residence, so it does not always mean hotel as the
place to rent rooms to stay for tourists. Nowadays, in addition to its city administrative
function, Hotel de Ville is also a place of art and culture. There are many
interesting exhibitions inside the building and the at the square in front of
the building.
Hotel de Ville, the largest Municipal Building in Europe, is located on the
banks of the Seine river and the edge of Le Marais district. The streets lead
us to the fashionable district, full of lovely shops, cafes and art galleries. Today,
Le Marais is one of the best districts in Paris, a mix of medieval architecture,
trendy shops, cultural sights and lifestyle that is unique. A district of
narrow streets on the right bank of the Seine river, where you can enjoy this
historic place, the aesthetic buildings and the French culinary.
Eight hundred years ago, Le Marais was a swamp. The French word ‘marais’
literally translates to ‘swamp’ in English, thus this place was called Le
Marais because of the swampy quality of the land on the banks of the Seine. To
provide new agricultural space, the swampy areas were turned into commercial
gardening. For a long time, this area fell in and out of style due to changes
in the fertility of the land and the difficulty of building on the swampy area.
In the 16th century, king Henry IV dried Le Marais and the place became
the favourite area to build prestigious mansions, where most of the greatest
aristocratic French families lived. The golden age of Le Marais continued till
the 17th century, making
it a center of artistic and cultural life. The nobles built their
mansions (in French: ‘hotel particulier’) such as Hotel de Sens, Hotel de
Sully, Hotel de Beauvais, Hotel Carnavalet, Hotel de Guénégaud and Hotel de
Soubise. The mansions were decorated magnificently, with refined furniture and
some luxury items from this golden period.
Following the up and down of the Bourbon monarchy, the economic
depression, the French revolution, the restoration of Paris, Le Marais also
went up and down. It was raised in the 16th century, destroyed
during revolution and wars, reserved by André Malraux in 1962, then renewed by
the municipal council in 1969.
Strolling through Le Marais today we can appreciate the aesthetics of
the area as it became a popular commercial area, and hosting one of Paris’ main
Jewish communities. It also became a fashionable district, most of the mansions
turned to museum, libraries and schools, surrounded by the best clothes and food
shops, and modern art galleries.
Bangkok is one of
those places where at the moment the day slowly progresses to the night you
still have enough to see as long as you are not tired. The scenic spots, the
palaces and temples, are best visited during the day, but at night, Bangkok takes
on a whole different face. Parties, night markets, nightclubs, street food and unique
shows come to life luring the visitors to experience the night in the city.
Street shopping by day
is exciting despite the heat of the sun in this city, but as the day cools down
in the evening, the night markets opened up like blooming night flowers
offering so much more than the day markets, clothes, shoes, handicrafts, fake
designer goods, accessories, beachwear, souvenirs and of course snack and
drink. In the narrow alleyway brightly lighted with portable neon, you can see
row upon row of stalls lining the street markets. Colorful goods are displayed
on the stalls as attractive as possible, and energic vendors raise their voices
to promote their goods. When buying, don’t forget to bargain, generally you can
get a merchandise somewhere between 25% and 50% cheaper than the first price offered
by the vendor. So don’t hesitate to bargain and bring home some memorable
souvenirs from here.
Many of busiest night
markets are located alongside the popular red-light district, such as the Silom
Night market. It is in the middle of the Patpong district, a famous red light featured
in the movie The Deer Hunter and in James Bond Goldfinger movie. Patpong is two
parallel side streets, between Silom and Surawongse Roads, occupied with shady strip
bars offering adult shows and pole dancing. As the evening turns into night
those bars come alive with the start of loud dancing music. You can see through
the open doors the girls started gyrating at the poles and dancing, under
violet neon lights. The loud voices of the street vendors are replaced with the
whispering touts offering everything from “ping pong show” to “massage”.
Undoubtedly the face
of this Patpong contributes to the name of Bangkok as the Sin City. Prostitution
may take place in many places in Bangkok, massage parlours, restaurants,
saunas, karaoke, go-go bars or beer bars. The names to the bars are so bold,
such as Pussy Collection, Super Pussy, Pink Pussy… hard to miss. The original “discreet”
or “underground” nightlife in Patpong doesn’t seem to exists anymore. The go-go
bars at the backdrop of the night market even became a tourist attraction.
So what happened to
the face of Bangkok which name means City of Angels, where orange robed monks
wander the streets in the early mornings with a bowl in their
hands, where mothers since more
than 2,500 years ago have been cooking meals to give to the monks, where there are thousands of temples inside the
city, and there are altars in every crowded corner of the city to placate the
spirits….?
Does Thai Buddhism tolerate
such widely spread prostitution by not correcting the attitudes toward women
whom are regarded as inferior and even dangerous to men, or does the religion
contribute to the view that women are viewed as inherently impure and therefore
not eligible for enlightenment, and are thus locked into degraded positions
ranging from sex trade laborers to nuns as a means to generate merit for
themselves and their family?
Although Buddhism has
played a significant role in shaping law, cultural frameworks and social life
in the kingdom of Thailand, I think many factors contribute to the wide spread
prostitution, let’s say the World War 2, the Vietnam War, the poverty in the
country where prostitutes can get 10 times more than the minimum wage, and not
to mention the corruptions, the lack of law enforcement, and the Mafia that is also involved in the political parties.
Despite the wide
spread prostitution here, it is actually prohibited under Thai law. But karaoke
bars, go-go bars and massage parlours can be registered as normal, legal
businesses. Police usually treat the prostitution at such premises as an
exchange between the prostitute and the client, an exchange to which the owner
of the business was not a party. So in
practice it is tolerated, sometimes because local officials have financial
interests in the prostitution. Some corrupt Thai authorities may turn a blind
eye on this USD 6 billion industry, involving some 2 million women in Thailand.
What more to say about
the Grand Palace of Bangkok, there are so many things to see and photograph, statues
of animal-like humans, sparkling golden tiled walls and roofs, gardens, paintings,
soaring spires, golden stupas, the endless row of gold Garudas, and not to
mention the highly venerated Emerald Buddha. No wonder that the Grand Palace
has been the center of Thai art and culture for centuries and regarded as the
model of every branch of Thai art. The palace is considered the reflection of the
Thai identity.
When King Rama I
ordered the move of the capital to the Phra Nakhon District in 1782, he
established the Grand Palace as the new center of the kingdom. He drew
inspiration from the palace in Ayutthaya , the former capital of Siam, destroyed
by the Burmese in the 1767. The Grand Palace was strategically placed next to
the Chao Phraya River to emulate the palace of Ayutthaya. The layout of the
Grand Palace, which covers 213,677 square metre space, also emulates the old
palace in Ayutthaya with separate courts, walls, gates and forts. These
different zones within the palace complex include the Outer Court, the Central
Court, the Inner Court and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. In order to find
the necessary material for the construction of the Grand Palace, King Rama I instructed
his people to go to the destroyed Ayutthaya, to dismantle and remove of bricks
and stones which were painstakingly towed downriver to form the new palace.
Part of the Grand
Palace complex, Wat Phra Kaeo (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) is the holiest
Buddhist temple in Thailand and home to the Emerald Buddha. Chaophraya Chakri, who
became King Rama I, brought the Emerald Buddha from Vientiane when he captured
the city in 1778. He built the temple and enshrined the Emerald Buddha there as
a symbol of Siam's regained nationhood.
The mythical and
historical past of the statue created an important belief surrounding the
Emerald Buddha. It is believed that it protected a monarch, their city or
capital. If a king was dethroned or defeated in battle, the Emerald Buddha was
taken as a hostage and kept in the capital of the victor. It is thought to have
spiritual power and is an extremely important icon to the Thai people.
But I was surprised to
see the legendary Emerald Buddha looked so tiny, 66 centimetres in height, perched
high on a nine-metre pedestal that reaches almost to the ceiling of the temple.
The Emerald Buddha, carved from a single piece of grey-green jade, is elevated
above the heads of visitors as a sign of respect. You also must sit with your
feet pointing away from the Emerald Buddha as a sign of respect.
I found the most
breathtaking aspect of the Emerald Buddha Temple is its decorated outer walls.
The walls are covered with 178 colorful mural panels painted during the reign
of Rama I showing scenes from the Ramakien, which is Thailand’s version of the
Hindu epic, Ramayana. In the Ramakien, names, dress, customs, weapons and even
the topography all relate to the Thai kingdom. Rama being incarnated from the
Hindu god Vishnu, in Ramakien he is a reincarnation of the Buddha. His kingdom Ayodhya
in the Ramayana epic is changed to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand.
Along the
roads of Bangkok, we can see that this city is a heaven for consumerism. Billboards
are everywhere, huge and bright, advertising big companies from Samsung to
Toyota. Even high-rise buildings are
also stuck with huge billboards. In a way it looks awesome.
Also at the sky
metro train stations, you cannot be bored waiting for the trains as there are
many colorful billboard screens with happy pretty artists offering cosmetics,
fruit juices, and, of course, all kind of clothes.It seems that these ’influencers’ are
following us everywhere like street vendors offering their goods, and chasing
you if you don’t pay attention to them, starting from the time you wait for the
sky trains till you reach your destination. And yes, even inside the trains there are many
tv screens showing advertisements. They are the virtual street vendors, but
with broad smiles and white teeth, dancing and jumping dynamically that follow
you everywhere, in contrast with the real street vendors with rugged clothing,
sunburnt face, sadly offering their goods as if begging.
As the
sky-train arrived at the Siam station interchange station, let’s forget about
the street vendors, as we are arriving to the Siam Paragon shopping mall, the
paragon of shopping malls. Occupying one of the busiest transit intersections
in the city, the shopping mall takes advantage of its prominent location by
serving as a critical link to the surrounding district. According to Arcadis,
the architect company of this shopping mall, the design reflects the level of
luxury envisioned by the Arcadis team with a dramatic glass atrium that serves
as the mall’s grand entrance. Perhaps the designer’s greatest accomplishment - and
challenge-is the way it addresses issues of circulation and layout of this
shopping mall.
Inside, it
is a wonderland of high-end boutiques lining up at the lobby from Louis
Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel, followed by Fendi, Bottega Venetta. The shop windows
are nicely decorated with the boutique’s latest fashion, clothes, bags, shoes,
etc. displayed to suit the season, this time the theme is ‘The year of the
Dog’.Dogs are displayed playing with
bags, shoes, wallets inside the windows. We can say that the shop windows are quite
a creative work by itself, they are really enticing our consumeristic instinct.
We can see some Chinese tourists lining up obediently in front of the Louis
Vuitton’s door.
Luxurious is
an understatement for this shopping mall, as it not only has high-end
boutiques, but also show rooms for very expensive and exclusive cars, Rolls
Royce, Aston Martin, Bentley, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ducati and Porsche. The
cars look so impeccable, but inside the glass cased show-rooms they look like
toys in large scale inside glass box. And the shop attendants seemed bored by
themselves as nobody came inside the show-rooms.
But that is
not all…., there is an Ocean Aquarium in the basement, multiplex cinemas with
15 large screens, Thai Art Gallery, the KidZania for kids to learn and play, the
Japanese chain Kinokuniya bookstore, the Paragon department store, a super
market and not to mention the high-end restaurants. And it even has an Opera
Theatre on the 5th floor!
On the way
down the escalators I could hear a background music by REM in ‘Shiny Happy
People’:
Recently I followed the Japanese TV
drama “Aibou” (Partners), a detective drama series on internet. The drama is
quite interesting, like many Japanese detective movies this drama series has a
very complicated plot, so complicated that it is hard to swallow. It seems that
the story writer made it complicated in an attempt to enhance mystery, to make
it harder to guess ‘who done it’. Other than that, the stories sometimes reflect
the unique Japanese culture and tradition, like the sense of perfection,
honesty, pride in profession, honour and sacrifice for the community, which intertwined
with the criminal deed in the drama.
However, as I reached episode 9 and 10 of
Season 11 my jaw dropped watching it, as the underlying tradition of the story
was so peculiar and appalling. I could not imagine how somebody could this mysterious
practice in real life. But knowing that this drama series often include
Japanese tradition in the story, the practice must be a reality, not a fiction.
The crime took place in a remote
mountain area covered with dense forest, a place so serene and peaceful such
that it is hard to imagine a crime could take place here. The crime was
compelled by an 11th century ancient practice called Sokushinbutsu,
an act of self-mummification of a Buddhist monk to be “a Buddha in this very
body”. In Sokushinbutsu practice the monk intentionally died to preserve his
own body to become a mummy, in the quest for nirvana.
I was curious to find-out what drove
this religious tradition, how could it happen this way? So I contacted Haruki,
a Buddhist monk I know, living in the Churenji Temple in Dewa Sanzan, Yamagata
prefecture. I took a 4 hours ride on Shinkansen and express train from Tokyo to
the closest station in Tsuruoka. The travel passed through one of the most serene
places in the country, viewing the country side of Japan, mountains, marked
with temples and shrines hidden in dense forest. After arriving at the Tsuroka I
took a bus to Churenji Temple to meet Haruki, but as the temple is not open for
public that day, we went to a small tea house near there to chat.
I started the chat:
“This serene place in Yamagata prefecture
is said to be one of the most beautiful places to travel in the country. I am fortunate to see the beauty of this place
surrounded by mountains covered with tall cedar trees forming a dense forest, which
made us feel like the trees reaching over us to give us a shelter and
protection from the storms. The towering mountains are regarded as hostile,
dangerous places for human beings to venture, while the forest gives us an
overwhelming peaceful feeling.
So I think, we can understand that in
the remote past the old Shinto (Koshinto) worshipped the nature, known as
animism in the Western world. The beauty and serenity of this place is so
overwhelming that they consider every element of nature as divine. Mountains,
seas and rivers are all divine spirits or god (kami in Japanese), as are the
sun, the moon, and the North Star. The wind and thunder are also kami. In
short, Koshinto holds that nothing in this world or this cosmos is devoid of
divine energy; the kami are present everywhere.
This mount Yudono where the Churenji
Temple is located, is also considered as one of the sacred mountain of the 3
mountains Dewa Sanzan. Can you elaborate about this please.”
Haruki:
“Mountains
have played a prominent role in Japanese religion since ancient times. Tall mountains
were regarded as hostile and dangerous, but they were worshiped as the source
of the life-giving rivers that nourished the farms and villages below. Soaring
into the heavens and often hidden in clouds, such mountains were viewed as heaven
and treated with awe and respect. Without being a Shinto, all human being could
have the same image of the mountains like these.
Mount Yudono is one of the centers of
mountain worship in Dewa Sanzan ("three mountains of Dewa") in
Yamagata Prefecture. The 3 mountains are Haguro-san, Gas-san and Yudono-san;
Haguro-san represents birth, Gas-san represents death and Yudono-san represents
rebirth, the mountains are usually visited in that order.
Dewa Sanzan is a center of Shugendo, a religion
based on mountain worship, blending Buddhist and Shinto traditions. Shugendo
practitioners, perform deeds of sacrifice as a way of transcending the physical
world. Training includes such tasks as long pilgrimages and severe meditations.”
I said:
“So how is this mountain and the worship
became the center of Sokushinbutsu, a practice of self-mummification of a monk?”
Haruki:
“Sokushinbutsu is a severe ascetic
practice of Shugendo, monks tried preserve their own bodies as mummies through
extreme diet and meditation. The monks believed that enlightenment could be
reached in the current world, and they believed that leaving behind a trace of
Buddha in this realm in the form of a Sokushinbutsu, they could provide
salvation to the townspeople even after their death.”
I said:
“How did they do self-mummification?”
Haruki:
“The ritual of self-mummification is
very long and very painful. It is not a simple sacrifice and the monk put an
end to his life following a long process of mortification with a last stage
lasted about 1.000 days. The monk’s diet was limited to only to those that can
be found on the mountain, such as nuts, buds, berries, tree bark and pine
needles. This diet was called
mokujikigyo, which literally means “tree-eating training”. When the monk was
not searching for food he spent his time in meditation on the mountain. This
diet was intended to toughen the spirit and from a biological point of view,
the severe diet intended to remove fat, muscle and moisture. The expected effect
was to avoid decomposition of the body after death. The monk also drank a toxic
tea made from tree bark (toxicodendron verniculum) which was expected to
hastened death and made the body even less hospitable to the bacteria and
parasites that would decompose his body after death. The tree bark contains the same toxic compound
that makes poison ivy so poisonous.
After this, the monk would cut out all
food, drink a limited amount of salinized water for a hundred days. At the
completion this cycle, the monk was considered spiritually ready to enter ‘nyujo’
or meditative stillness. When the monk felt death approaching, his disciples
would lower him into a pine box at the bottom of a pit 3 meters deep with its
walls lined with stone, a tomb just big enough him to sit in the lotus position.
Empty space would be filled with charcoal to remove humidity.
Once the pit was secured shut, two
bamboo tubes would be inserted to funnel down drinking water and act as air
vents. Bells would be attached on both ends of one of the tubes, a device used
by the monk to signal that he was still alive. Once the ringing stopped for
good, the bamboo tubes would be pulled out to seal the pit.
For the next three years and three
months, the corpse would be left in the underground cell. On the final day, the
body would be unearthed. If no decay was found, the body was determined to be a
true Sokushinbutsu and enshrined.”
I said:
“Wasn’t the process considered as a
suicide?”
Haruki:
“Although it resembled as suicide on the
surface, the Buddhist considered it as "abandonment of the body".
Having already extinguished in himself any desire, the monk could in all
clearness pass into nirvana by the process of death. The death was the
sacrifice of himself out of compassion for the benefit all living being, for
instance during an era of serious epidemic. But anyway this practice was
outlawed by the Meiji Restoration, when Shinto was separated from Buddhism and
declared the official religion of Japan”.
I said:
“How did this Sokushinbutsu practice
started?”
Haruki:
“It appeared in China during the 4th
century and in Japan in the beginning of the 9th century.According to Japanese legend, the monk Kukai,
also known as Kobo Daishi after his death, entered in deep meditation, or
‘Samadhi’, at the end of his life till he died, at mount Koya in the south of
Osaka. Monk Kukai was the founder of Shingon, the exoteric school of Buddhism.Some 70 years after his death, another high
level monk went up on imperial order to the top of mount Koya to open the
burial and found the body was intact. Legend has it that Kukai had not died but
entered into an eternal meditation and is still alive on Mount Koya, awaiting
the appearance of Maitreya, the future Buddha.”
I said:
“So where is Kobo Daishi’s body kept? Is
it displayed to the public?”
Haruki:
“The mausoleum of Kobo Daishi is located
in Mt. Koya and is the most sacred place in the mountain. The door of the
mausoleum was not reopened except every fifty years by the Archbishop of mount Koya
to cut the nails and the hair and to change his clothes for him which will then
be used to manufacture amulets for the faithful. Kobo Daishi is known to be in
meditation in his mausoleum but his body is absolutely not displayed or
visible. The body must be considered closer to the relics which represent the
pure "Essence of the Buddhas” who are in reliquaries like the stupa.“
I said:
“But in Churenji temple visitors can see
the body of Tetsumonkai, although taking photograph is not allowed.”
Haruki:
“Yes, the famous body of Tetsumonkai is
displayed in this temple where it sits in its own altar. With his cupped palms
facing upward, he is set up for perpetual meditation, just as he intended as he
was dying nearly two centuries ago. His dead body with a grinning like skull is
clothed in orange robe, purple and saffron scarf and a golden hood, like a
high-ranking monk cloth. It offers a proof of someone who succeeded in his
effort to become a respected mummy.”
I said:
“Who was Tetsumonkai?”
Haruki:
“Tetsumonkai, is the most famous of all
Sokushinbutsu. Born Sunada Tetsu in 1759, he was a river worker who dug wells
and floated lumber, and was known for his stormy temperament. One day,
according to one story, he pierced the leg of an official in charge of river
construction as he was angered by his arrogance. Another story describes him
killing a samurai during a fight over a favorite prostitute. In any case, Tetsu
fled to escape his pursuers and joined the seminary at Churenji in his 20s to a
life of austerity and named as Tetsumonkai.
During his live as a monk, records
indicate that Tetsumonkai was a widely traveled and respected holy man with
numerous legends to his name. Once when he was visiting Edo, he witnessed the
outbreak of an eye disease that caused great suffering. He proceeded to gorge
his left eye out and offered it to the Sumida River in prayer for a cure. Later
research found that his left eye in the mummy is indeed missing, which in a way
confirmed the story.
Tetsumonkai’s missionary work centered
on the Shonai region, but the monuments show it extended from the Kanto region
up through Hokkaido. He is remembered for gathering 10,000 volunteer workers to
build a new road through a mountain connecting Kamo Port to Tsuruoka, to
facilitate trade. He left an enduring impact on many people of that time. Till
now, there are festivals based on Tetsumonkai’s teachings.
However, the most compelling of his
legends may be another one involving self-mutilation. At one point, Tetsumonkai
is said to have been visited by a prostitute, possibly the same one he fought with
the samurai for. The woman tried to convince Tetsumonkai to come back to the
city with her, but he refused. To prove his resolution and dedication to a life
of austerity, he disappeared and shortly returned with a small package for her.
Inside were his bloody testicles. He had sliced them off.
The object is said to have made its way
around prostitutes of the local pleasure quarters as a good luck charm, and was
eventually sent to Nangakuji Temple in Tsuruoka, where it was preserved as a
relic. Adding weight to the legend, the genitals are missing from Tetsumonkai’s
mummified body.
I said:
“ Was the temple really in possession of
Tetsumonkai’s testicles? “
Haruki:
“Yes, but they’re not for public
viewing. Tetsumonkai’s blood group is B, which was also the blood group of the
testicles found in Nangakuji, according to past scientific research. Academics
at the time concluded that it was highly likely that the dried testicles
belonged to a man who endured extreme physical abuse in the name of meditation
training before being entombed at the age of 71.”
I said:
“Are the Sokushinbutsu mummies the same
as the Egyptian mummies?”
Haruki:
“The body of the Pharaohs was embalmed
in ancient Egypt. The internal organs were entirely withdrawn and replaced by
medicinal herbs. The body was thus reduced to nothing an envelope of dried
flesh and bone.
Contrary to the Egyptian mummies, those
of the Sokushinbutsu mummies preserved their internal organs because the
process of mummification began while they were alive and the internal organs
were regarded as centres of vital energy. The bodies of certain mummies of the
Yudono mount, in order to preserve them perfectly, are sometimes also coated
with dried lacquer. So the vitality of the worship implied that the Buddhist
mummies are not simply perceived as "remains", or "empty
shells", they are animated, full with vitality; they exist simultaneously
in this world and in the plenitude of Nirvana.
I said:
“It’s easy to dismiss the Sokushinbutsu
phenomenon as an obscure ritual that died out as the nation marched toward
modernization in the late 19th century. But can you elaborate the meaning of
death in Buddhism?”
Haruki:
“The Sokushinbutsu mummies provide a
fascinating window into the culture of pre-modern Japan through their practice
of passion, hardships, sacrifice and intense religious fervor culminating in
the attainment of Buddha-hood in the flesh. The Western concept of death is an
immediate and severe termination of life, while for Eastern concept death is of
a gradual process.
The Sokushinbutsu worship keeps the
saint alive and offers a unique perspective of humankind struggle in the quest
for Nirvana, before and after the death. “
THE END
This is an imaginary interview about Sokushinbutsu
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