Impermanence Through Photography

Beautiful things are pleasing to our eyes. Beautiful things I enjoyed and get attached to. Beautiful things however can be associated with suffering, when there is this beautiful thing that you cannot have; this beautiful thing that you no longer have; or this beautiful thing that is no longer beautiful.

When the beautiful thing is a beautiful person… all these feelings just got many times more intense and complicated.

This “beautiful” ailment that I am suffering from, is not a new age ailment. This is an age old ailment. In fact, I came across a 2500 years old prescription to treat this ailment.

Main ingredient of this prescription.

  1. Flower

  2. Observing mind

  3. Time

This is a journey of healing and spiritual growth. Exploring spirituality through the lens of my camera…

Fresh from the florist

Fresh from the florist

Day 1: Fresh from florist.  Reminded about that intense feeling at first sight…

“So beautiful, so perfect… that I can’t help falling for it.

The feeling was so intense, my heart kept fluttering.”

Vibrance

Vibrant

Day 2: Vibrant…

Beautiful from every angle.

Beautiful from every angle.

Day 3: Beautiful from every angle. Wish  you are always as pretty, always mine.

It is polinating

Pollination

Day 4: First noticeable sign of change… there is yellow coloured pollen appearing on the flower.

I don’t like changes…

First sign of aging

First sign of aging

Day 5: First sign of aging, the petals are no longer perfect. Without your perfect beauty, what else is there to capture my continual interest?

Fading away

Fading away

Fading away from every angle

Fading away from every angle

Day 8: Yes… I did loose interest in photographing you last few days. You are fading away.

You beauty is impermanet.

Your beauty is impermanent.

2 weeks after: Your beauty is impermanent. Is there longer lasting beauty than your physical appearance?

***

The flower has faded. Physical beauty is short lived. The infatuation faded together with the flower. My emotional turmoil from not having that beautiful things can now slowly settle…

Suggested reading:

1. Tina’s guide to living with impermanence.

2. Kelly on 花開花謝,不執著

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8 Responses

  1. Bro CH,
    what a therapy:)
    only if i truly understand the meaning of letting go,sometimes it takes forever to get stuck in the infatuation period…
    wish u well n happy always:)

    p/s did my elective in S’wak Hospital,and met ur batchmate,Doreen Chan:)

  2. 放下 過去的回憶
    放下 曾經的美好
    放下 你我的因緣

    了結 不解的恩仇
    了結 千万的困惑
    了結 心中的遺憾

    突然 新發天地
    突然 一身飄飄
    突然 看透生命

    Maybe this will explain the art of letting go?

  3. Very deep… serene.

    Let me think about it…

  4. Nice post !

  5. Walk through this life as if a breeze passing through…there is no letting go of nothing…

  6. Tanzeel…

    So Zen… that I don’t really understand:P
    Good one.

  7. [...] the change, deterioration of the condition of Buddha statue, can also remind us on the teaching of impermanence. Just a few examples of the functions of Buddha [...]

  8. [...] Read about ChengHiang exploring the idea of impermanence via photography [...]

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