A Meditation in Three Parts
Brent Nakamoto
Open Scholarship Institutional Repository 2018 DOI: 10.7936/k7zw1kbs (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that just as we see through words to understand meaning, we see through images to perceive illusion, and that Zen meditation practice, by bringing attention to perception, helps see through the illusions of selfhood. Proposes that repetition and effacement as aesthetic interventions can challenge conventional ways of reading images, interrogating the paradoxes of the image and the self. |
Abstract
I’m interested in the way we read images—they way we see through an image’s surface in order to perceive its illusion, in the same way that we see through words in order to understand their meaning. I’m interested in this relationship, in both images and texts, between surface, illusion, and meaning. In Buddhist philosophy, the source of suffering is in our attachments to the self-as-image. The function of Zen meditation practice is to bring attention to this process of perception and, in doing so, to help see through the illusions of self-hood and ground our understanding in the reality of physical experience. In meditation practice, there is equanimity in accepting the paradox of the image—that its deeper meaning lies in neither surface nor illusion, but in the experience of seeing through. In this thesis, I’m looking at the intersection of my creative and meditative practices over the past several years, focusing on projects where I have tried to incorporate the structure and awareness of meditation into my image-making. Using repetition and effacement as aesthetic interventions, I’m trying to challenge the conventional way we read images. By approaching my work as both an artist and a Buddhist, I hope to interrogate not only the paradox of the image, but also the paradox of the self, and the nature of identity, history, and suffering.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |