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TWO FISHERMEN
KIM HONG-DO
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TWO FISHERMEN
KIM HONG-DO
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Moon above water.
Sit in solitude.
If waters are placid, the moon will be mirrored perfectly. If we still ourselves, we can mirror the divine perfectly. But if we engage solely in the frantic activities of our daily involvement, if we seek to impose our own schemes on the natural order, and if we allow ourselves to become absorbed in self-centered views, the surface of our waters becomes turbulent. Then we cannot be receptive to Tao.
There is no effort that we can make to still ourselves. True stillness comes naturally from moments of solitude where we allow our minds to settle. Just as water seeks its own level, the mind will gravitate toward the holy. Muddy water will become clear if allowed to stand undisturbed, and so too will the mind become clear if it is allowed to be still.
Neither the water nor the moon make any effort to achieve a reflection. In the same way, meditation will be natural and immediate.
reflection
365 Tao
Deng Ming-Dao
Daily Meditations
Landscape with Fishermen
Kim Hong-do (1745 - 1806?)
Choson Dynasty. 1796
Ink and light colors on paper
26.7 cm x 31.6 cmHo-Am Art Museum
It was the painting of Mt. Kumgang, which he originally painted under royal commission, that inspired Kim in his early forties to develop a new painterly technique for which he would become so widely recognized. The majority of the paintings from this period are "true-view landscapes" in which the artist candidly captures the lives of the common people against a landscape background that is distinctly Korean. This leaf, from an album assembled in 1796, is an outstanding example of this period. Set in a typically Korean rural landscape, the painting depicts two men peacefully fishing in a stream at the foot of a mountain. In addition to the loose brushstrokes which so expertly describe the natural bends of the bush, it is such seemingly mundane details as the smiling face of one of the men that imbues the entire work with the sense of intimacy and charm unique to the works of Kim Hong-do.