Ph. D. Thesis--Hamburg--University. / Contient en annexe le texte chinois et la trad. anglaise d'un passage du "Hsien-yang" Bibliogr. p. 253-265. Index.

This thesis summarily examines the concepts of moment, momentariness (ksanikavada) and impermanence (anitya) in Indian Buddhism, especially in the influential treatises produced by Vasubandhu (fifth century A.D.) An expose of impermanence and momentariness is at once a fair picture of the religious philosophy that mostly was Indian Buddhism--a religion appropriate on the philosophical level.

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Change is a constant reminder that permanence is the ultimate illusion. It is through the creation of hyper-realistic, ceramic sculpture that I explore the relationship between nature, humans, and the phenomenon of impermanence. I seek to expose the beauty that often results from decay while, at the same time, making my viewer question their own perception of the world around them. The juxtaposition of natural and man-made features in combination with the skewing of scale, proportion, and material, creates an altered perspective – forcing the viewer to look closer. By combining both human and natural elements within my work I highlight the fact that we are not separate from nature but are, in fact, part of it.

My final thesis exhibition, Effluvia and Aporia, explores impermanence, loss and uncertainty. I use materials and images in a poetic way, where there is a link between what the work is and what it means. I use looped videos with images of water, light, and dissolving clay to invite a meditative state. I also use materials like tissue paper, paper-mache, and paper thin porcelain tiles to invite fragility and complexity into the viewer's experience. I am concerned with creating an interactive environment that allows for a multiplicity of responses and interpretations from each viewer depending on their unique perceptions. I am interested in impermanence, loss and uncertainty as themes because I find that they are ever present in life. My intention is to explore these ideas and create an experience that allows for the viewer to reflect on them as well.

My project reflects upon our body's impermanence and our efforts to balance the enormity of the concept of mortality with living every day. It investigates the condition of being that one cannot permit oneself to know too often, that is, the condition of, inhabiting a body through which one engages meaningfully with the world as a conscious being, but aware that this body will die. Within this framework, I investigate concepts of consciousness, sentience, and impermanence. These are concepts that are not clearly delineated in experience. There is a need to grasp them by means of other concepts that are understood in clearer terms. Using the quotidian experiences of food preparation, eating and the domestic as metaphorical tools, I delve into these themes. As I worked with these ideas the wider possibilities, both material and conceptual became evident. I expanded the initial medium of food to encompass personal objects and daily bodily processes in my attempt to probe complicated feelings about the impermanence of my own body. The project matured into a closer examination of what could be read as signs in every day life, of my body's vulnerability to death. The specific areas of focus are: Skin, Reanimation of the inanimate, Mouth, Concepts of the internal, Organs, Offal, Transmogrification, Organic destiny. Beginning with the skin that we are encased in, I used my body as an armature to produce a facsimile of my own hollowed-out empty skin. In Reanimation of the inanimate, I explore the continuum from preserved food to fermented food investigating the development from food as organic material whose life had passed to food as organic material in which change is an indicator of ongoing life. In the section titled Mouth, I consider the concept of exploring the world with one's mouth and the notion of anti-food. Introduced in Concepts of the internal are three investigations of the internal human body: anatomical illustrations from the sixteenth century, a cinematic portrayal from 1966 that has included in its subtext a spiritual journey, and a current project in which the internal human body is seen as purely scientific data. In Organs I investigate the idea of ingesting 'properties of character' that can be culturally associated with internal organs and the possibility that such characteristics could permeate the person ingesting them. In the section titled Offal, I propose that the polarity of life and death inherent in food is most evident when eating a meal of offal. In Transmogrificaation, I consider the conundrum of my internal organs, that is, they are mine in fact they are 'me' and at the same time they are foreign to me. In this section, I also investigate the concept of my body as a conduit with the ability to transport and transform matter. Finally, in Organic destiny I posit the notion that as bodies we are an ongoing process, an accumulation of matter built up over time and that we are small participants in a much bigger phenomenon.

Presently, 190 million people live outside of their countries of origin. Almost all have moved in search of a better life: higher wages, or an escape from war or persecution. However, a small but growing demographic is merely seizing opportunities to feed its curiosity and satisfy its sense of pursuit. London is a Mecca for such migrants that choose to fulfill career aspirations and to embark on the global adventure. These New Nomads are of both genders, young, skilled, and have an ease of mobility afforded by the virtual permanence of the Internet. They come to the city alone, leaving friends and family behind, and they often leave again in the same way. But during their stay, they build relationships, accumulate belongings, make homes. Here are some of their stories. This thesis predicts a changing of the notion of 'dwelling' in this, our market-driven, resource-limited, technology-fluent world. New efficient ways to negotiate the exchange and sharing of space and commodities are needed. The proposed Living Marketplace is designed for the passing individual with an undetermined itinerary. It is a communal hub for nomads, migrants, transients—minorities navigating amidst uncertainty and impermanence, as they each make the journey of their lives via London.

Presently, 190 million people live outside of their countries of origin. Almost all have moved in search of a better life: higher wages, or an escape from war or persecution. However, a small but growing demographic is merely seizing opportunities to feed its curiosity and satisfy its sense of pursuit. London is a Mecca for such migrants that choose to fulfill career aspirations and to embark on the global adventure. These New Nomads are of both genders, young, skilled, and have an ease of mobility afforded by the virtual permanence of the Internet. They come to the city alone, leaving friends and family behind, and they often leave again in the same way. But during their stay, they build relationships, accumulate belongings, make homes. Here are some of their stories. This thesis predicts a changing of the notion of 'dwelling' in this, our market-driven, resource-limited, technology-fluent world. New efficient ways to negotiate the exchange and sharing of space and commodities are needed. The proposed Living Marketplace is designed for the passing individual with an undetermined itinerary. It is a communal hub for nomads, migrants, transients—minorities navigating amidst uncertainty and impermanence, as they each make the journey of their lives via London.

Neste projeto pretendo realizar séries de desenhos, gravuras e pinturas tendo o jardim como tema central. Para realizá-lo, buscarei referências em minhas memórias pessoais, particularmente as relacionadas com o pequeno jardim da casa de subúrbio de minha infância, e nos jardins concebidos por poetas e artistas, no que possam ter de pequenos, modestos, delicados e instáveis. Esta impermanência ou efemeridade inerente a este tema será refletida durante a invenção e feitura das obras, através da exploração da instabilidade, dos possíveis limites e fronteiras, passagens e caminhos, afastamentos e aproximações entre a pintura, o desenho e a gravura. / In this project, I intend to perform series of drawings, prints and paintings with the garden as the central theme. To accomplish it, I will look for references in my personal memories, particularly those related to the small garden of the suburban house of my childhood, and in the gardens designed by poets and artists, in what they may have of small, modest, delicate and unstable. This impermanence or ephemerality inherent at this theme will be reflected during the invention and production of the works, through the exploration of the instability and of the possible limits and borders, passages and paths, separations and approximations between painting, drawing and printmaking.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A proposta do trabalho é analisar como a morte é entendida pela visão da hipermodernidade e pela visão do Budismo. Na contemporaneidade cuja lógica capitalista é embasada na lógica do mercado onde o consumo assume o papel principal, a morte se tornou um tabu, onde ela é evitada, esvaziada de sentido e descaracterizada. A dor e o sofrimento são depreciados e é exigido do homem uma inabalável postura performática e um desempenho cada vez melhor. Há ainda a crença de que o discurso tecnocientífico trará todas as soluções para as mazelas humanas. A felicidade é, portanto, um imperativo da sociedade hipermoderna e sua busca é exteriorizada isentando os indivíduos de um olhar crítico. Assim, a morte e o luto perdem seu lugar para a busca incessante de satisfação e bem-estar. O Budismo tem uma lógica que segue na contramão. Ensina que a existência humana no Samsara é constituída por principalmente quatro sofrimentos básicos: nascimento, envelhecimento, doença e morte. O Budismo ensina que a morte, assim como a vida, é um fenômeno comum a todos os seres vivos e que o exercício budista possibilita compreender o real significado da vida e da morte. A meditação sobre a impermanência, uma das práticas budistas, visa familiarizar o adepto budista a três pensamentos: certamente vou morrer; a hora da minha morte é totalmente incerta e na hora da minha morte e, depois dela, só a prática do Dharma vai me ajudar. Postula que para alcançar a verdadeira felicidade o homem deve provocar uma mudança interior, exercitar a compaixão e se desapegar da crença de que os fenômenos são permanentes e imutáveis. Tais considerações foram possíveis a partir da pesquisa sobre o Budismo da Nova Tradição Kadampa a partir de uma metodologia etnográfica que incluíram visitas ao campo de estudo, a confecção de um diário de campo e a realização de entrevistas com os praticantes budistas da Nova Tradição Kadampa. / This work goal is to analyze how the experience of death is understood at the hypermodernity and Buddhist view. In the contemporary in which prevails the capitalistic logic that is based on the market logic towards which the consumption takes the main role, the experience of death has become a taboo, so it ends being avoided, made empty of any sense and so mischaracterized. The pain and the suffering are depreciated and man sees himself being required to have an indestructible performing posture summed to an even better efficient behavior towards this experience. There is also the belief that technological and scientific arguments will bring to humanity all the needed solutions in respect to mankind wounds. Happiness is so the imperative order at the hypermodern societies and its search is externalized from the individuals making them absents of a so called more critical overview. The experience of death and of mourning has lost room enough to the continuously search for satisfaction and well being sensations. The Buddhism and its logic are heading exactly in the opposite direction. It teaches that the mankind existence experience into the so called Samsara is mainly made of four basic suffering experiences: birth, becoming elder, unhealthy lives and death. The Buddhism teaches that the experience of death, as the experience of living, is a common phenomenon that reaches all living creatures and that the Buddhism practice allows the individual to comprehend the real meaning of life and death. The meditation about the impermanence, one of the Buddhist practices, looks for to help and make three different thoughts familiar to the ones adepts of Buddhism: Certainly I will die; My dying moment is totally uncertain and at my death experience moment and, after it, only the Dharma practice can help me. The Buddhism states that to reach the true happiness the men must look for an inside change, practice the compassion and break free from the belief that phenomenons in life are permanent and unchangeable. These above mentioned statements were possible according to the research done about Buddhism on the New Kadampa Tradition through an ethnographic methodology which included visits to the study field, a field diary as their product and interviews with Buddhism practitioners at the Kadampa New Tradition.