Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure and fortune of becoming acquainted with many members of the Buddhist Council of Greater St. Louis. They have generously and enthusiastically shared their time and energy with the Pulitzer in developing and facilitating many aspects of the diverse programming for Reflections of the Buddha. In particular, I have been working with several local Buddhist groups affiliated with the Council, to coordinate the Pulitzer’s phenomenally successful meditation series.

Not knowing how incredibly popular this series would turn out to be, each week has brought its own set of challenges. The first week was very exciting for all of us planning it, and we did everything we could think of to be prepared for hosting the 50-60 people we expected. It was a particularly funny thing we didn’t think of though–what do you do with the castoff shoes of 50 meditators? Oops! We did not plan for the piles of footwear, but by the second week we had assembled shelving to further eliminate what could have been a potential fire hazard. Now, if only we could count on everyone to actually use the cubbies! Of course, we continue to do our duty to keep the space safe and comfortable, but this requires a certain amount of finesse and thinking on the fly.

That’s another funny thing about planning large, extended events like this, and why it’s especially valuable to me that I have the opportunity to work with such gracious and magnanimous people as those I have. I very gratefully acknowledge this is one of those serendipitous learning opportunities life hands us every so often. Not only do I get to learn the many complex nuances of public programming and event planning, but I have the added blessing of working with some of the kindest, most patient people. And considering that one of the key notions underpinning most Buddhist thought is that all things are in a constant state of change, impermanence is the nature of things, we are also dealing with experts in how to be flexible and open-minded.

A kind of inside joke I keep throwing into internal conversations around the Pulitzer is, “Well, at least we’re working with Buddhists, right?” By that I mean, “Could we ask for anyone nicer or more understanding?” It’s true! While our galleries are open to the public only two days out of the week, there is constant activity behind the scenes to ensure our best efforts go to promoting the visitor experience. Though as with any other large undertaking, the reality is there are challenges, struggles, and even at times unfulfilled expectations. The best laid plans sometimes end up getting thrown out the window!

Fortunately, in the case with the meditation series, the unanticipated popularity has only brought out the best in people. Though some interested parties have had to be wait-listed, and some who made reservations have had to cancel for illness, injury, or inconvenient schedule changes, I can honestly say that I’m blown away with everyone’s patience and understanding with the ongoing evolution of this program. From the dedicated practitioners, to my incredibly supportive and helpful coworkers, to the many attending participants, everyone has shown such grace and loveliness to myself and each other. It has been such a wholly positive–dare I say enlightening–experience to interact with so many people who dedicate their time, their energy, and some of them their whole lives, to bettering themselves, their minds, their lives, and the world around them.

I cannot even begin to describe all of the inspiring activities and conversations I have been allowed to participate in over the last few months for this project. I have even been kindly invited to their monthly Council meetings. They hold their meetings at various affiliated temples, so this has given me opportunities to visit several local groups in person. It is always with a warm reception and usually tea and cookies, that I have been so welcomed. About a month and a half ago, my colleague Sevda Safarova and I were treated to an array of interesting and unfamiliar tasty foods at the monthly Thai Food Fair at the St. Louis Thai Temple. Our generous host, Dr. Kongsak Tanphaitchitr, Secretary of the temple and Chairman of the Buddhist Council of Greater St. Louis, showed us around their lovely grounds and invited us to join their festivities. He and Naronk Hompleum, a fellow member of the Wat Phrasriratanaram Thai Temple, will be leading the two meditation sessions this Saturday at the Pulitzer.

We can look forward to the next three weekends rounding out what has been a very full and generally fulfilling seven-week series. Since each of the past four Saturday morning mediation sessions at the Pulitzer have been so well-attended, we are now going to be offering additional afternoon sessions for the upcoming three Saturdays: October 29, and November 5 and 12. While it appears that these sessions will soon, if not already, be full for pre-registration. We continue to encourage folks to contact meditations@pulitzerarts.org in order to receive the most up-to-date information.

Last Thursday evening, I enjoyed participating in Sound Waves, providing a musical accompaniment for Reflections of the Buddha. What I realized while putting the music together was that this was going to be different from what I normally do on the radio. Not only the setting but mostly because this music itself is different from so much of what I am usually surrounded by. I’m very glad I accepted the challenge to learn a little more about these musical styles and cultures, enough to feel confident about a set of music. As a result of the positive experience, I hope to do more of this sort of thing in the future. 
 
Hearing the music from the speakers in the grates on the gallery floors and listening from the balcony as it played off the walls of the building, I was even more impressed by this music than before. Several visitors to the exhibition that night gave me the same response. As I do for the radio program, I have provided a “playlist” for anyone interested. Click here to see it. The particular track information is not complete, but it should provide an overview of the music that I chose to play. Any questions about these records or any other details I haven’t mentioned can be sent to me by e-mailing mystery@kdhx.org
 
Without the architecture of the building and the Buddhist art, I’m interested in hearing how the music stands alone. Before the exhibition closes, I am planning to devote an episode of my weekly radio show to this music and expose my usual listeners to it as well.

by Philip Matthews, Gallery Assistant

Last Thursday, October 6, I had the pleasure of experiencing the first of a series of Sound Waves events, which will all respond to the current exhibition, Reflections of the Buddha. For this installment, DJ Tim Rakel pumped a variety of Indian and Indian-influenced music throughout the exhibition through a sound system installed in the grates in the floor. The effect was encompassing, and as a gallery assistant stationed in the main gallery over the course of three hours, I found myself considering the Buddhist concepts of impermanence and attachment.

According to Buddhist thought, everything is in a constant state of change. The Pulitzer building exemplifies this principle, as natural light shifts throughout the day throughout the galleries: in one moment, a shimmering reflection of the Watercourt on the ceiling; in one moment, a rod of light through the Buddha on a phyllite plate; in one moment, nightfall reveals the standing Buddha reflected in a window, alongside my own reflection. And Rakel’s musical selections enhanced this principle beautifully: moving from a recording of monks chanting a cappella in unison, to a shimmering of sitars and a woman’s microtonic pipes like I have never heard, to a percussive, upbeat dance fitting of a dakini. Throughout the event, I am struck by how the power of the artworks around me interact with the music and the building, and how those relationships evolve as time progresses. At any given moment, I am satisfied to be here, having the experience I am having. Is this something like samadhi?

But when I begin to become attached: for example, when I begin to miss the blocks of orange light which sunset cast on the wall, I begin to miss out on the current experience of night available to me, with its different beauties and significances. This, I feel, is the Buddha’s most useful teaching to my daily life, which is full of attachments: to loved ones, to routine, to self-image. Because nothing is permanent, my attachments dissatisfy me when the conditions of my life change: I am dissatisfied that the relationship I want to last must inevitably end; I am dissatisfied when my students are not as talkative as they were last week; I am dissatisfied that, at 24, I am still so much skinnier than other men. The Buddha: “…on the cessation of craving ceases attachment; on the cessation of attachment ceases becoming…” (Mitchell, Donald W. “The Teachings of the Buddha.” Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. 42. Print.)

Here is a creative response to the challenges and questions of intimacy, attachment and impermanence which the current exhibition at the Pulitzer has begun to raise for me. The first draft of this poem was written at Sound Waves on Thursday, October 6, in fragments, on the back of a receipt I had in my wallet at the time.

Numerous distinct conversations bubble up all around. They rise and fall, in and out of audibility, and they fade through one another interconnected. A woman talks excitedly about the kind of power she wields on a new contract her firm acquired, while a man nearby describes ways to create inexpensive, handmade Christmas gifts. The front door slams behind a girl storming off, spitting into her phone, “You can’t text me things like that!” At a table by the door, an older couple turns back to discussing their evening plans, while their immediate neighbor continues describing to a colleague her convoluted career path from social work to epidemiology.

I’m sitting in a cafe listening back to an interview recorded with the Venerable Sungak Sunim last week, but I’m also listening to the eclectic noise of my neighbors. I am mostly able to focus on the recording, but occasionally I get carried away by the curious chatter all around me. I don’t know these people, and I don’t really know anything about them except the tiny, little bits that float in through my ears. However, as I hear Sungak’s digitized voice, louder than the rest, it’s almost like her voice is giving subtitles to the mostly indiscernible din behind it. “100 Bhikkunis in the same room. We eat the food. You cannot hear any sound..,” then she fades to a whisper, “only quiet.” I can’t help but notice the great contrast between her description and the scene before me presently.

A Bhikkuni is a fully ordained female Buddhist monastic. Sungak is specifically of the  Chogye Order of Korean Buddhism. This past Saturday, October 1st we held the first of a series of seven workshops in our Meditation Series, and we were led by Sungak through a sitting meditation and then a walking meditation that wove around the Pulitzer’s courtyard. She also gave a very thoughtful and informative talk to introduce the group to several key concepts of Buddhist practices. Back in that interview she elaborated as to why the dining hall would be so silent, an idea inconceivable to me. “Eating is also another practice, walking is another practice, speaking is another practice.” Well, if all of these things are practice, when’s the big event?

I think it is probably my westernness talking, but I can’t help wondering, “What do you get at the end, after all the practice?” Then I think back to something else Sungak said in our conversation. I had asked why, of 100 new people who joined her each year to train as a Bhikkuni, only one or two completed the ten to fifteen year program. She explained that some came with false impressions that they were there to realize a dream they had for their lives, but quickly they found out it is all about the practice. “If their goal is to spend a nice life, they cannot stay. If their goal is boddhisatva life, they can stay.”

When she was just 20 years old, Sungak decided to dedicate herself to Buddhism completely, and she entered the monastery. Eventually, she found herself in St. Louis studying at Washington University, in the Brown School of Social Work. Upon competing that program, Sungak was aimed to pursue her PhD. Only, when her colleagues pleaded with her to continue leading a meditation group, and after deep contemplation on the idea, she decided it was time to start a temple. The Buddhanara Temple was opened in 2002. It is currently located in University City, and they have an introduction to meditation night every Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

The Buddhanara Temple was established to answer a group of people’s desire for guidance and teaching. This week’s meditation workshop features leaders from the Shinzo Sangha, also located in University City. This group came together also to address a peoples’ need. Oddly, though many Buddhist temples and meditation groups will take on service projects to better their communities in any number of ways, the Shinzo Sangha developed in a slightly different way. They started through their service efforts, first addressing the demand for Buddhist teachings to be available to incarcerated individuals in the state of Missouri, and now their projects are multiplying. Currently, they are working to continue their support of those imprisoned with their organization Inside Dharma, as well, they are continually trying to find feasible, novel, and creative ways to provide support and infrastructure to the many homeless, who are being pushed to the margins of St. Louis City and surrounding areas.

This Thursday will be the first in the Pulitzer’s series of 88.1 KDHX collaborations for Reflections of the Buddha. For Dreamscapes, these events were called “Dream Sounds” and for stylus, they were “sound waves”. Since they have become a habit, we’ve decided to just brand them “Sound Waves” indefinitely.

During Sound Waves, 88.1 KDHX DJs and live performers create soundtracks to the Pulitzer’s current exhibition. DJs curate playlists to fit a certain theme–such as “Brazil” or “dreams”–and complement the artworks on view within the Pulitzer space. Each show brings a new combination of sounds and changes the ambiance the exhibition and building.

This Thursday, from 6 to 9 p.m., Tim Rakel, 88.1 KDHX DJ, will play music from cultures represented in Reflections of the Buddha.

From Tim Rakel, 88.1 KDHX DJ, on choosing songs:

I have hosted a radio program on KDHX called “Mystery Train” over the last several years. The show features a variety of musical styles and regularly ventures to foreign parts of the globe. The countries inhabited by Buddhist populations and featured in Reflections of the Buddha are not among the most frequently visited ones on my usual program, however, so I’ve enjoyed digging a bit deeper into these musical traditions. Most of the relevant material in my own record collection comes from compilations of older recordings, so I’ve borrowed some additional music from the KDHX library as well. I hope to sample a decent variety of this music in the three hours on Thursday evening. From field recordings of acoustic instruments to more modern takes on the traditional pieces, the music will represent several of the countries from which the visual art has also arrived. 
 
I walked through the exhibition once last week and was impressed by the collection assembled in the galleries. I’m certainly tempted to play a couple longer pieces so that I might have some time to walk through the exhibition again while some music is playing. How the individual responds to each musical piece is as varied as how one might respond to the art itself. My own reactions varied from piece to piece, from a sense of awe to something more haunting. Some pieces I thought could help induce a trance-like state while others may inspire a more conscious state of wonder. I hope to match these sensations and thoughts with my musical accompaniment.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tomorrow the Pulitzer’s neighborhood, Grand Center, will present one of St. Louis’s most beloved festivals, Dancing in the Streets. “Over 700 dancers and 75 performances on four outdoor stages.” Tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop– Quixotic Fusion will even perform acrobatic-style on the side of the Grandel Theater up to 50 feet high. You too can perform tomorrow evening by learning the steps above with COCA dancers (this is how I will be spending my Friday night).

We hope you will also visit  Reflections of the Buddha, which is in walking distance from the stages. We will be open our regular hours, 10 to 5 p.m. Our current Exploring Art series, Exploring Buddhism and Art, will run from 1 to 3 p.m. A Buddhist practitioner and a Pulitzer docent will be available on the Mezzanine to answer questions about the artwork and how it relates to Buddhism and cultural history.

If you would like to learn a little about the exhibition and its artworks on your own, you may enjoy reading some of our recent press. Here you are.

ARTINFO: So Serene: Buddhist Art Show Graces Tadao Ando’s Pulitzer Foundation in St. Louis

The New York Times:  Mosaics of the East From the Met to San Francisco

KSPR: KC’s Nelson-Atkins lends pieces to Pulitzer Foundation for Buddhist art exhibit

Museum Publicity.com: Nelson-Atkins Museum Loans Buddhist Art to Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

St. Louis Beacon: Take Five: ‘Reflections of the Buddha’ curator talks about the permanence of change

Outreach, Groupons, free shows bridge artistic class divide

Buddhists look forward to Pulitzer show

Buddhism and art, a path to understanding

St. Louis Magazine Look/Listen:  Review: “Reflections of the Buddha” at Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

90.7 KWMU: Cityscape

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ronald Gore Jr (middle) reads from The Merchant of Venice with another alumni from Prison Performing Arts last Wednesday.

I was anxiously awaiting the start of our first SHAKE-38 reading: scenes from The Merchant of Venice. As it turned out, we started what seemed to be a great atmosphere in front of the Watercourt, where the audience was all sitting around in front of us on the stairs and in chairs. Once we started reading, a tornado warning went off, and I had to take my Shakespeare hat off and get in gallery assistant mode to lead everyone to our emergency spot in the building, the hallway in the lower level. Once everyone was safe, we decided to finish the reading. It was going great at first, until you could hear the hail hit the building, and I didn’t know whether to read or run! But I let my knowledge of this building not only calm me but the guests as well (there are few safer places to be during a storm than the Pulitzer building with its sturdy, concrete construction). We finished the reading and everyone forgot about the storm and loved the reading.--Ronald Gore Jr, Gallery Assistant and actor in Prisoner Performing Arts Alumni Theatre Company

The actors and audience continue in the hallway of the lower level post-tornado sirens.

In conjunction with the current exhibition Dreamscapes, on view until August 13, the Pulitzer will host an event that showcases dream-related films by local filmmakers. These shorts will be projected on several exterior surfaces at the Pulitzer on Friday, June 24, at 8:00 p.m.

One of the works–chosen by the Pulitzer and Cinema St. Louis–will be highlighted at the event, and the filmmaker will receive a prize of $500.

Cinema St. Louis will also choose several of the films to screen as part of the
St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, held in early August.

READ MORE AT CINEMASTLOUIS.ORG.

Dream Sounds poster, designed and printed by The Firecracker Press

Reached just before naptime, St. Louis spoken word artist Brett Underwood said, “I don’t know what to expect, so how can you? Josh and I will be having some of the same kind of fun that we had when I followed him on the air all those nights. I have written one new piece for this session already…what’s it called?…oh, ‘The Liar Has a Squirrel’…and hope to write another or three this week. We are both flattered and excited about the opportunity to play Ear Doctors in such a setting.”

This Sunday, from 1-4pm, as CAM is celebrating Misterios de Mayo/Running of the Bulls Family Day Fun Run next door, the Pulitzer and 88.1 KDHX will offer Dream Sounds, the first in a series of music shows inspired by Dreamscapes. Late-night radio veterans Josh Weinstein (also a sound waves veteran) and Brett Underwood will bring you a subtle and surprising array of music and spoken word to enhance your dreamlike experience as you walk through our current exhibition.

Weinstein’s All Soul, No Borders and Underwood’s The No Show graced, amused and opened the ears and minds of KDHX listeners for several years before Underwood left the airwaves to concentrate on the promotion of live music and his own writing and performance. The two are reuniting to offer a jazzy and surreal array gleaned from artists who have composed, improvised and recorded outside the bounds of the mainstream throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Weinstein trained in Jazz Studies at New York University and under master NYC avant-garde jazz bassist William Parker. He has performed improvisation with Zimbabwe Nkenya, Bobo Shaw and K. Curtis Lyle and the St. Louis groups Human Arts Trio, Melodies of the Kabbalah and May Day Orchestra.

Underwood comes from a free and automatic writing “school of thought”. He has performed with Get Born and Chance Operations. He has been published in Bad Shoe, 52nd City and The Bicycle Review. He will be reading from his own work and that of select Surrealist poets on Sunday.

Following Dream Sounds will be on July 30 and August 13, from 6-9 p.m. Admission is always free.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Panelists Britt-Marie Schiller and Rose Holt talk about Kiki Smith’s Pee Body from a psychoanalysis perspective, during a Dreamscapes panel discussion on April 7. For more clips from the panel discussion, visit the Pulitzer ’s YouTube channel.