Everyone is an artist
The Skandhas - Vajradarshini’s notebook
An introduction to the 5 skandhas and how we build our self and world from their raw materials.
It was Joseph Beuys who said, ‘Everyone is an artist’.
“It’s probably his most famous quote but also the most misunderstood. Because what Beuys did not mean is that everyone is an artist in the usual and narrow sense of the word, like a painter or a sculptor.
For Beuys “artist” was the word to describe the essence of what it means to be a human being: The deep need and fundamental ability to create and be creative.”
The metaphor of the artist was key for my own teacher, Sangharakshita. He made strong connections between the Dharma and art in his own teachings writing a book early on called The Religion of Art. For him, the path was a path of creativity.
The Buddha preferred the metaphor of ‘builder’. How many people had time for art in those days? But everyone had to build and rebuild their houses, often with their own hands.
