Miksang is a particular form of contemplative photography, which arose out of the teachings of Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche, which is photographed according to its own set of rules. There are currently two schools of Miksang photography, one being the The Miksang Institute for Contemplative Photography, with noted teachers Michael Wood and Julie DuBose, with the second school being Nalanda Miksang Interntational, with noted teachers John McQuade and Miriam Hall.
Miksang photographs are shot while totally present in the moment, from flashes of perception, then forming an equivalent and recording one’s perception totally without concepts. (For those who might be unfamiliar with Buddhist terminology, “beyond concepts” means without, or beyond, thought.) It is not a visual technique, it is a practice and a process. I am not a Miksang teacher, I’ve only had two levels of training, so I can only express what I know from my own personal experience, so please remember that anything I say is only from my own understanding.
To start us off, here is a quote from Nalanda Miksang teacher, Miriam Hall, copied and pasted from the Nalanda Miksang Davis (California) Facebook Group. The link will take you to the pinned post I’ve copied from.
Miksang is a formal practice, not a bunch of images that look a particular way, or even feel a particular way. It is a formal practice, like meditation is, in which you learn to look and see freely, but with specific guidelines. Without the practice, the guidelines for images posted seem simply like a bunch of pointless rules. And without the practice, that's what the guidelines are: just rules.
Also, images produced not from Miksang practice (again, it's a formal lineage, tradition and structure) are basically Miksang-like. Because the practice, the process is 3/4 of the actual point of Miksang. And that is something you can only learn by taking a class.~Miriam Hall, Instructor in the Nalanda Miksang lineage.
So now we have some idea about Miksang Photography from someone who knows better than me. :-) It still remains to be seen if I can offer anything of clarity, but I can bypass any potential for ego enhancement by admitting right off the get go, that there are many, many other Miskang photographers who are way better than me, I’m not really that good at it. But the challenge to deepen the practice and get better at it is what keeps me interested.
In the Nalanda School, in which I received my training, there are three levels of Miksang training, plus something called Absolute Eye. Since I’ve only had levels 1 and 2, I don’t know much about the practice as it develops in further levels, or the other school. I am interested in learning more, it just isn’t in the finances at the moment. :-)
In Miksang Level 1 photos often appear abstract as we deconstruct reality down to photographing elements like color, pattern, texture, light and shadow, space and dot in space. Immediately below are some of the images I submitted for Miksang class assignments...those of a rank beginner; if you are interested you can click through to Flickr and read the teacher’s comments.
Color photos need something besides pure color to ground them, in the above image is the bit of black and the texture. Minus these it would be nothing but a flat frame of color...not very interesting. Here’s one more:
Space is the most difficult to understand and photograph, and I’ve heard it is the most difficult to teach as well. Since I haven’t any decent class images to share, I’ll skip space and dot in space for now.
In Miksang Level 2 we begin to look up and see fields of perception, the Level 2 class assignments are Ordinary/Personal World, Flowers and Weeds, Earth/Man/Sky (Miksang landscape), Zen Aesthetic, Visual Haiku, Impressionism, and finally People and Other Sentient Beings. The idea is not to shoot a documentary image that one looks at and says/thinks, “Oh yes, that’s books on a table,” for example. Even if the image is of books on a table, it should be more about the feeling sense it conveys, rather than the actual objects in the image.
If we are really open to the world around us we begin to notice ordinary beauty is everywhere, here are some more class images:
Each assignment has many details, but one thing I remember about Visual Haiku is it is frequently shows the change of seasons, or clearly shows impermanence.
To this day I am horrible at Miksang landscapes, the image below is my second attempt after the teacher did not at all like my first submission. :-)
Impressionism is reflections and/or movement on water, photos shot through fog, or photos shot through water drops or condensate on windows.
The photo below is a water reflection framed by ice that appears to be fog. Perhaps this is a good place to point out that currently black and white photos do not fit into the Miksang criteria because the eye does not normally see that way. The following image is one that appears black and white due to the absence of color.
There is no rule prohibiting showing images of whole people, but it is also OK to photograph parts, again the idea is not document but to share a feeling sense.
The idea in Miksang is to take a photo from a flash of pure perception, it should elicit the same feeling in the viewer that the photographer felt in taking the image with his or her eye, mind and heart connected. The best Miksang photographs bring the mind to a full stop and sometimes they elicit a sense of confusion in the viewer. Since we’ve reached the limits of my instruction, I’ll just share some more recent images below. To make it interesting you might see if you can identify any of the class assignments that may pertain to them.
There is so much more to share about Miksang photography, but I suspect this is enough for now. I’ll post further Miksang photo diaries, and for now this is a brief introduction to the practice. I hope you enjoyed the photos.