Urthona Current Issue

REIMAGINING THE BUDDHA

Issue (28) Autumn 2011

From the editorial:
Urthona 28 opens with the wonderful, dynamic sea paintings of Jeanette Kerr, painted from life sketches - just like Turner. Apart from this Urthona 28 has two fascinating points of focus. Firstly we introduce the important theme of Reimagining the Buddha. This theme has implications for anyone who is interested in the possibility of sacred art in our post-modern world. I argue in my article that the Romantic notion of the imagination as a spiritual faculty, especially as explored by Coleridge, is an inspirational stimulus towards re-envisioning the sacred. Another helpful avenue is to seek out those rare modern sacred paintings of quality with human figures - which speak to us directly of our spiritual potential. In this line we feature work by the wonderful Buddhist artist Amitajyoti, who is courageously painting sacred figurative images of considerable depth and power.

Our second focus is the somewhat mysterious theme of psycho-geography. Here we explore the imaginative response to landscape, especially urban landscape the interwoven textures of past and present on the streets, alleyways, river-shores, even the motorway verges, of the world that lies on our doorsteps. My article introduces the work of psychogeographer par excellence Iain Sinclair, amongst others. We also feature an interview with nature writer Robert Macfarlane, whose book The Wild Places is an intensely felt exploration of the wilderness that remains close by on these islands. Finally I shall mention an abundance of poetry material in this issue, including many reviews, and excerpts from interviews with prominent contemporary poets from the very successful Poetry East events held at the London Buddhist Centre. Enjoy your exploration of this rich 2011 issue of Urthona.
Ratnagarbha


Reimagining the Buddha -
painting from Norwich Buddhist Centre by Aloka
poet David Constantine who read at Poetry East
Atlantic Sea - Jeanette Kerr

North Norfolk - one of the wild places of England,
photograph by Ratnagarbha