A letter written on the occasion of the Naropa Institute’s first summer program, July 1974. THE TERM dharma art does not mean art depicting Buddhist symbols or ideas, such as the wheel of life or the story of Gautama Buddha. Rather, dharma art refers to art that springs from a certain state of mind on the part of the artist that could be called the

the Vidyadhara referred to artistic practice as ongoing and all-pervasive, involving every aspect of one’s life.

“The path is the goal”—it is not just what we do, but how we do it—the art of life, and life as art, grace, enjoyment.

Enlightened mind consists of prajna, or “discriminating awareness,” and karuna, or friendship and kindness.

The whole purpose is to soothe aggression and passion and ignorance.

When we begin to realize how to become warm and to make friends with our world—when that kind of breakthrough takes place—then there is no problem at all in introducing buddhadharma into our art.

The human principle is known as simplicity: freedom from concepts, freedom from trappings.

The post-art and the actual art experience become one, just as postmeditation and meditation begin to become one.

It is simply that you can give yourself space, a gap where you can warm up and cool off all at once. That is ideal.