Friday, March 28, 2008 – Up from the Mud

The Lotus Blossom – a mural at the Santa Monica Community Center, 2601 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica – 2000, painted by the First Z-Wave –

Notes:

If you look up Lotus Sutra Buddhism in the USA: Temples, Community Centers and Sanghas here, you will find a branch of Soka Gakkai International-USA meets at the Santa Monica Community Center.  That would be these folks: 

The SGI is based on the teachings and philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism, which places the highest emphasis on the sanctity of life. Members seek, through their practice of Buddhism, to develop the ability to live with confidence, to create value in any circumstance and to contribute to the well-being of friends, family and community.

Our philosophy is rooted in the concept of "human revolution," a process of inner transformation through Buddhist practice. It is a process that leads us to develop our character and to act not only for our personal fulfillment but also for the betterment of society.

We believe that happiness is being able to experience profound joy that comes from never being defeated by any problem in life. In fact, we use life’s challenges as catalysts to deepen and expand our inner lives. True happiness results from our efforts to manifest our highest potential - wisdom, compassion, courage and vitality.

The SGI-USA is the American branch of the SGI network, with more than 2,600 neighborhood discussion groups and nearly 100 SGI-USA centers throughout the country.

As for this mural from 2000:

On Feb. 13 the first ever Z-Wave Living Museum was held at the Santa Monica (Calif.) Community Center.

Z-Wave, a mentoring program for children ages 7-12, was conceived by Joe Newman with the goal of "instilling in our children a sense that the Mystic Law is absolute."

... One highlight of the afternoon was the unveiling of a huge mural designed and painted by the children in the "Art Part" of Z-Wave. The mural depicts a lotus pond with a beautiful flowering lotus blooming in the center of a muddy swamp filled with creatures.

Jameise Rozner, 10, said: 'Today is very fun. I got to see what everybody else is doing. The mural is pretty! I worked on the sky, the fish, the roots of the lotus flower… the teachers are very good."

Joe Newman looks forward to future Z-Wave activities: "What I learned is that you need to find a lot of different people of vision and unite them… Z-Wave unified a lot of 'rebels' who had their own vision."

Now you know.

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Technical Note:

Photographs after March 3, 2008, were taken with a Nikon D200 – or a Nikon D70 when noted. All previous photographs were taken with the D70. The lenses used are (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto, or (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. Photography here is modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  The earliest photography in the archives was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik