Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Buddha Board = Zen Board?

There is a renewed interest in Buddha Board lately. So, what is Buddha Board? It is also called an aquadoodle. It is simply a special canvas board using marker filled with water. Using the water marker, you can draw whatever you like on the special canvas. The drawing will appear but fade and go away slowly leaving you with a blank canvas again.

The concept is very useful and practical both for children and adult. The children love to play with the board as it is easy to draw with water marker and the canvas will self-clean. For parents, there is no worry of cleaning up and it is very eco-friendly.

For adult, the Buddha Board can be used as an expression of art that will disappear momentarily. It is all about living in the moment. We have to live in the NOW. It is effortless for children, but as an adult we need to practice and train the NOW habit.

Life is stressful for many people. We think about the uncertain futures. We worry about what is coming along. We also regret of what happened in the past, both the near past and the far past. Letting go the mind from the past and future and keep reminding ourselves to live in present and focus on now is a good idea.

From the Buddha Board, interested people can explore further the concept of Buddhism. In actual fact, the Buddha Board was developed from Zen Buddhism. Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism. It is also called Chan in Chinese. Chan is derived from the Sanskrit Dhyana which means meditation.

Looking at the function of Buddha Board that encourages living in the present, it is very similar to the practice of meditation that also cultivates the mind with continuous awareness. Zen's emphasis is on experiential wisdom. It means we have to experience the wisdom and awakening, rather than relying on theorical knowledge and study of religious texts alone.

Most of the awakenings in Zen Buddhism happened with unpredicted twists. The enlightenment of the Zen followers happen in very simple, mundane settings and sometimes only realized long after the events have passed. It is interesting to pay attention that it can happen to anyone anytime. We just need to let your mind be ready and not have any prejudice thoughts. The same thing is also applicable when you are drawing with Buddha Board. Let your mind play along on the canvas. The realization may just appear and happen unnoticed.

I don't claim that playing with Buddha Board alone can lead to enlightenment. However, Buddha Board can be a good starting point for people who would like to start meditation or cultivating the mind with conscious awareness by watching the ever changing thoughts in the our mind.

May all sentient beings be happy.