The Dhammapada (85-86)
or
Digging up the Past, Present, and Future / 2003

On one of my many walks, I came upon the sandy shores of the Columbia river. I began walking along the shore and every time I took a step, I dug a hole where my footprint was. I did this for 101 foot steps. Each hole was roughly one to two feet deep. I used my bare hands at first until they were too raw and then I found a stick nearby.

The idea was to focus on every step I took and bring myself into an awareness of how I was affecting the ground beneath me. While performing this project, I began thinking about people who would go on a prostrate. I thought about how disciplined one must be, for instance, to take a single step, kneel, bow, stand up, step, kneel, bow, stand up, step...for many, many miles. I am in no way comparing my minuscule endeavor to such ardent devotion, however, this project was definitely prompted out of a respect for those with such devotion. With the practice of prostrating comes the influence and impact of meditation and Buddhism, both of which I am quite fond. In retrospect, there is an tinge of irony to my project that I found quite amusing some year later. As I was reading the Dhammapada one day, I came across the following verse:

Verse: 85-86

“Few are those who reach the other shore; most people keep running up and down this shore. But those who follow the dharma, when it has been well taught, will reach the other shore, hard to reach, beyond the power of death”

And there I was, attempting to meditate and expand my awareness at the exact spot where, as the Buddha noted, most people continue along the untrained and undisciplined path. It was with this in mind that my final reason for doing this project came into full fruition.

I was also interested in the way that humans tend to focus on the past and future, while missing out on the present. In other words, I wanted to comment on how we tend to dig up the past to justify the present and eventually the future. However, when we think we are digging up the past, what are we really doing? Are we simply erasing our memories by recreating new ones? So, with this in mind I decided it would be most appropriate to have a little funeral for every step I took. When one moment comes to pass, I shall dig a grave for the moment and put it to rest, never to look back. However, I shall leave the grave open so that the rising tide may wash away both past, present, and future.

On a final note, it was interesting to noticed how a linear sense of time began to disappear as I was focused in the present moment. I began wondering, when is the exact moment that present became past, and future became present. Curious, no?