Alex Quito's Rubin Museum Project

Amanda Neuman's Rubin Museum of Art Project

The Rubin Museum is a museum that displays many different works of Buddhist and Hindu art. Each piece tells its own story and depicts a different doctrine and belief in the Buddhist and Hindu religions.  The walls are covered with various paintings and embroideries of gods and goddesses as well as demons and spirits. One such work of art is called “The Wheel of Life (Existence)”. This piece actually depicts a few different Buddhist doctrines but the main focus of the wheel is to explain the cycle of ‘samsara’, similar to the symbol of Buddhism itself, the wheel of a boat.

Samsara describes the cycle of birth and death, or existence. In Buddhism there is the concept of the three root afflictions. The three afflictions are greed, hate, and delusion. These ideas are portrayed in the center of the painting. According to Buddhist teachings, these three afflictions are the cause of dissatisfaction or dukkha. It is only through actively working on the opposite practices that one can escape the cycle of rebirth thereby achieving liberation or nirvana. The wheel of life, also called the bhavacakra, actually depicts multiple doctrines within it. The center hub contains the three root afflictions, as mentioned. The second layer holds the portrayal of karma, through a sense of cause and effect. The next one shows the six realms of samsara, or existence. The six realms are as follows: gods’ realm /heaven (pleasantness), humans, demi-god/ asuras (fighting), animal realm, hungry ghosts, and the hell realm.

This work of art stood out to me from the rest because of its embodiment of multiple Buddhist doctrines. In one painting it explains and ties together several different facets of Buddhist ideologies. While Buddhism can be a difficult philosophy to grasp having not been taught its psychology as a child this depictions provides clearer insight into its intertwining connections and relationships. A large portion of Buddhist teaching revolves around the fact that everything is connected. Everything happens because of something else. This concept is called Karma.

The doctrine of samsara is a facet of the Hindu religion, but they differ in a big way. The concept of the cycle of life in Hinduism focuses on the idea of permanence. The soul is eternal and the cycle is eternal. In Buddhism the idea of samsara focuses heavily on the idea of impermanence. There is no soul, just cause and effect. There is no immortal self. A human being is a result of “interdependent physical, emotional, and cognitive components” (Course Reader 74). Only once a person realizes that nothing is permanent can he experience liberation, or nirvana.

Buddhism is unique from the Abrahamic religions in that it does not worship a central deity. While Buddhists believe in the existence of supernatural beings they are not worshipped and prayed to in the same way they are in the other religions. There is no central god-figure that created mankind. The question of how or why man came to exist is not even a question in Buddhist philosophy, it is irrelevant to the ultimate goal of ridding oneself of suffering or dissatisfaction. In this regard, Buddhism is a “non-theistic” religion. Can a religion that is “non-theistic” even be considered a religion or is it merely a philosophy? According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary religion is defined as “a :  the state of a religious a nun in her 20th year of religion. b (1) :  the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) :commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance. 2:  a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. 3: scrupulous conformity :  conscientiousness. 4:  a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.” It seems as though, according to the dictionary definition of the term religion Buddhism is indeed on the list even though it does not seem to adhere to the conventional conceptions of a religion based on worship of a deity or deities. Buddhism accepts the presence of deities but is does not ascribe powers of influence over human life from the aforementioned deities. There are supernatural beings, however, they act more as a guide than as a “god” with the power to create or change a person’s life. If Buddhism did not believe in the existence of supernatural beings it would be infinitely more difficult to classify it as a religion even though it would still seem to fit into the dictionaries definition being that it is still an institutionalized set of religious attitudes, beliefs or practices, yet the difficulty comes in the fact that everyone can reach nirvana through different means. There isn’t necessarily one correct way. The Buddha laid out a possible way, the way that worked for him, called the Eightfold Path but there is not exactly one set of laws dictating what a righteous Buddhist must adhere to like there is in Judaism or Islam. With the presence of religious practices and of supernatural beings in Buddhism, I believe it can be safely classified as a religion.

The visit to The Rubin Museum provided an insight into the minds of Buddhists and the rich and important meanings of their practices. Each work of art brought the different doctrine alive and allows it’s viewer to fully visualize its meaning clearer than reading a description in a book. The exhibits clearly depicted the many similarities and differences between Hinduism and Buddhism through colorful vibrant paintings and tapestries and even a large walk-through shrine. I was able to more clearly see what different hand positions meant in the paintings and how it carried through into other time-periods and regions. It allowed me to also see how the religion wasn’t only a philosophy but a culture as well. It was interesting to see the spread of the very same ideas over different areas and walks of life. The “Wheel of Life” is one of the most significant of all, tying together not only numerous doctrines of Buddhism, but in fact the main purpose of Buddhism itself, to escape the cycle of samsara. Through art and sculpture Buddhists enlighten the masses of the beautiful and unique teachings and practices of an ancient religion and philosophy.

Bibliography

·      Trungpa, Chogyam. Transcending Madness: The Experience of the Six Bardos. Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications Inc. 1992. Print.

·      Religion. In Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion.

·      Buddhism. Course Reader.

·      Hinduism. Course Reader.