Bo in Church. Johannes Lutma's Grille and Ai Weiwei's Tree, Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In the Nieuwe Kerk in the centre of Amsterdam there's now an exhibition on the life of The Buddha as demonstrated in many art works here often juxtaposed with modern sculpture.
Today I was struck in particular by a Tree in the middle of the church. It's a modern work of art by Ai Weiwei (1957-) made from many kinds of wood from Chinese trees. The artist by it wants to draw attention to unbridled urbanisation and the destruction of nature.
Of course that Tree has a wider meaning, too, certainly for Buddhists and the Three Religions of the Book. It was under a Bodhi Tree or Bo that Siddhārtha Gautama (ca.563-ca.483 BCE) received enlightenment to become The Buddha. Hence in Buddhism such trees (Ficus religiosa) are highly revered. And in the Judaeo-Christian-Muslim tradition human history began with that Tree in Paradise of whom a Poet sings:
'Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful
Seat...'.
Here you can see Weiwei's Tree through the Choir Grille fashioned by goldsmith Johannes Lutma (ca.1584-1669) in 1654.
Bo in Church. Johannes Lutma's Grille and Ai Weiwei's Tree, Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In the Nieuwe Kerk in the centre of Amsterdam there's now an exhibition on the life of The Buddha as demonstrated in many art works here often juxtaposed with modern sculpture.
Today I was struck in particular by a Tree in the middle of the church. It's a modern work of art by Ai Weiwei (1957-) made from many kinds of wood from Chinese trees. The artist by it wants to draw attention to unbridled urbanisation and the destruction of nature.
Of course that Tree has a wider meaning, too, certainly for Buddhists and the Three Religions of the Book. It was under a Bodhi Tree or Bo that Siddhārtha Gautama (ca.563-ca.483 BCE) received enlightenment to become The Buddha. Hence in Buddhism such trees (Ficus religiosa) are highly revered. And in the Judaeo-Christian-Muslim tradition human history began with that Tree in Paradise of whom a Poet sings:
'Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful
Seat...'.
Here you can see Weiwei's Tree through the Choir Grille fashioned by goldsmith Johannes Lutma (ca.1584-1669) in 1654.