Not All Ecstasies are the Same

Michele Benzamin-Miki 2019 / Colored Inks, colored pencil on Paper / Framed "‘Not All Ecstasies are the Same’ is part of a series of work titled ‘Beyond the Stone Buddha.’ Studying and teaching meditation since the late 70’s, I learned how to still the body and mind, just like a stone Buddha. In the light of five decades of meditation practice, I now see that the human condition is illuminated by meditating, which brings about a different kind of ecstasy, a voluntary suffering under fire, rather than simply the relief of ecstatic states that come from  tranquility, or fulfilling our desire for an enlightenment".