Tilling Land    Kim Hong-do

Washing at dawn:
Rinse away dreams.
Protect the gods within,
And clarify the inner spirit.

 

Purification starts all practice.  First comes cleansing of the body -- not to deny the body, but so that it is refined.  Once cleansed, it can help us sense the divine.

Rinsing away dreams is a way of saying that we must not only dispel the illusions and anxieties of our sleeping moments but those of our waking ones as well.  All life is a dream, not because it isn't there, but because we all project different meanings upon it.  We must cleanse away this habit.

While cleansing, we naturally look within.  It is believed that there are 36,000 gods and goddesses in the body.  If we continually eat bad foods, intoxicate ourselves, allow filth to accumulate anywhere outside or inside of ourselves, then these gods abandon us in disgust.

Yet our concerns must ultimately go beyond these deities in the temples of our bodies to the universal One.  After we clear away the obscuring layers of dirt, bodily problems, and delusions, we must be prepared even to clear away the gods themselves so that we can reach the inner One.
 
 
 

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Tilling Land
Kim Hong-do
(1745 - 1806?)
Choson Dynasty, 1796
Ink and light colors on paper
26.7 cm x 31.6 cm

Ho-Am Museum
hoammuseum.org

The development of landscape and genre paintings based on the actual scenes of Korea characterize the prevailing styles in the art of the late Choson period. Kim Hong-do's contribution is outstanding, with the works of his later years of especial value in their depiction or simple yet lyrical scenes of the everyday lives of ordinary people. This painting is one such example, depicting a farmer plowing the field before sowing seeds. He is oblivious to the country gentry engaged in a leisurely conversation under a tree on which a magpie is perched guarding its nest. Kim depicts the furrows of the field in a simplistic fashion, sporadically touching the paper with light ink dots, in contrast to the piled stones in the forefront which are more detailed in their light and dark ink outlines. To the left of the farmer is a vermilion seal mark saying, "Collection of the Family of Kim Yong-jin (1878 to 1968)."