Mindful Words

 This

There’s no law against my listening

to this thrush behind the barn,

the song so loud it echoes like a bell,

then it’s further off beyond the lawn.

Whatever else there is, there’s this as well.

There’s no law against this singing –

nesting I suppose – up in the silver birch,

even though we build a common hell,

have done, and will make it worse.

Whatever else there is, there’s this as well.

- Maitreyabandhu (2011)

“I became a Buddhist because I wanted to learn more about my potential as a human being,” said Maitreyabandhu, teacher at the London Buddhist Centre in East London’s Bethenal Green. 

“I realised this when I was a 25 years-old fine arts student who wasn’t all that happy. I was lost, complicated, quite depressed and seeking some sort of meaning,” he added.

Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas – Maitreyabandhu's close friends who today are both well-known artists– encouraged him to attend a meditation class at the centre in 1986. By 1987, he had moved into the residential community above the centre and by 1990, was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order and given the name Maitreyabandhu. Now a teacher of Buddhism and meditation at the centre, Maitreyabandhu introduces beginners much like his former self to the practice.

“Meditation quite literally opened me up to a much more fortunate and fulfilled life,” Maitreyabandhu explained.

“ A divine way of just being really."

Maitreyabandhu

The centre was once a burnt-out fire station, abandoned and mistreated, when a group of men and women saw the possibility of the space in the 1960s and over three years, converted the derelict building into a haven of peace.

“During this time, Bethenal Green was a very poor community, living in very hard conditions. There was a need for something else. A reason to believe that there was more,” shared Maitreyabandhu.

Now the centre is opened six days a week, offering meditation, yoga, art and community events as well as retreats.

Always fascinated by words, imagery, playful puns and clever alliteration, Maitreyabandhu said his love of poetry began when a friend read him the first five verses of Shelley's Mask of Anarchy. "It was one of those moments when one discovers a new ecstasy, even a new calling. After that I read and re-read Shelley and Keats obsessively and used their poetry to explore ancient Buddhist themes," he said.

Dreams by Anne

“I finally realised that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that's what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ...

And if I don't have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can't imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ...

I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that's inside me!

When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that's a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?”

— Anne Frank

She most certainly did. 

Her compelling voice inspires, educates and moves people still to this day. Words she wrote during a time of great suffering and loss, when freedom of speech was an unspoken luxury.

In Amsterdam, you can't help be wrapped up in the history and story of Anne Frank - and if you're not - you need to be. A recent trip to the beautiful city taught me this.

Club of Friends (Featured on Alternative London)

Pablo Picasso said: "Art is the lie that enables us to realise the truth."

When we escape to that world of imagination and mystery, and let our mind run free, we create something which reflects who we are our and our story. We create art. Behind what may often seem obscure, abstract or even indistinguishable, there's a message. There's a story about life and circumstances, and expressions of pure delight and deep struggle.

Timur Novikov, a non-conventional artist from Russia, along with his friends, were compelled to communicate their discontent with the rule of the Soviet Union and did so through their art. 

Their message was heard. The truth was realised.

This story has been featured on Alternative London. 

Sergei ‘Afrika’ Bugaev (left), Georgy Gurjanov (middle), Oleg Kolomiychuk (behind) and Timur Novikov (right) holding a book gifted by Andy Warhol at the ASSA gallery, 1986.

Read the story in full here...

Fine art meets youth culture, alternative music, pirate video, risqué fashion and daring performance.

This is the work of the New Artists - the experimental, fluid and sexually expressive group of artists from St Petersburg in Russia – who during the 1980s and 90s, rebelled against the Soviet government through colour, shape and stroke.

Ideologically opposed to conformity and structure, Timur Novikov (a Russian philosopher and art theorist) joined with his friends to form the New Artists group and began to make art to express their dissatisfaction with their country’s rule.

In Shoreditch at the Calvert Gallery 22, there is an exhibition currently showcasing the exclusive pieces of Novikov and his eclectic group known as the Club of Friends, curated by Ekaterina Andreeva.

Exhibition and Event Organiser Lily Hall said: “They were not formally educated in art and had no access to materials. They instead used anything they could get their hands on. Their mother’s shower curtain, stumps of charcoal, old clothes, embroidered patches, ribbon, film, plastic. Anything.”