Doorways to Tranquility

Art and Images from Cambodia by
Dana Kawano, Remarque Loy & John Dunham

To develop patience, you need someone who willfully hurts you. Such people give us real opportunities to practice tolerance. They test our inner strength in a way that even our guru cannot. Basically, patience protects us from being discouraged.

-- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

--Confucius

door•way / 'dOr-"wA,
Function: noun / Middle English dure, / Date: < 1100 3b A portal or point of transition, an entryway to one's soul, an opening connecting one world to another.

tran•quil•i•ty /tran-'kwi-l&-tE,
Function: noun / Latin tranquillus / Date: 1604
1 a : quality or state of being tranquil;
1 b : calmness, serenity,
2 : freedom from agitation or disturbance,
3: quality of peacefulness of mind or spirit.

simplicity -- openness -- pure joy -- embracing acceptance -- outstretched hands dignity -- quiet beauty -- faces of the gods -- easy smiles -- flowing life -- open doors tranquility -- profoundly moved -- simple pleasures -- plain truth -- where the gods live

Introduction
This is about a celebration-a celebration of the continuance of life with dignity in spite of the setbacks we as human beings of all races experience in the course of our journey here on this earth. It is about the gods, goddesses and spirits that live within us that help us to strive for peace and betterment for ourselves and for future generations. It is about the power and force we hold in our continued quest for enlightenment.

It is about the beauty and serenity we as human beings are all capable of achieving-with the right mind and devotion to life itself.

The Spark of Inspiration
It all started with a picture in a travel brochure of an immense face of The Buddha carved in stone gracing the walls of an ancient temple. Jungle vines and tree roots enveloped its massive form, distressed blocks of stone forming a pattern that appeared to cage or bound this beautiful, peaceful, serene, ancient creature. The beauty intrigued us...where in this world could something so magnificent exist without us knowing about it? We had been experimenting with spiritual themes and images in our work, but nothing seemed to come close to the natural richness of authentic hand-carved stone Buddhas, Hindu Gods, Goddesses and Deities, weathered and mottled by the Jungle.

The first-hand accounts we read of the Khmer Rouge bloody reign gripped us and opened our hearts for what we might find. The trip took on a life of its own and soon we were on a 747 flying west.

Brief History
The Cambodians or ethnic Khmer people have truly ridden the roller coaster of history. They reigned supreme over much of Southeast Asia during the 12th and early 13th centuries-the period during which the most daring and enduring structures of Angkor Wat were built. They endured the tragedy of genocide during the horrid reign of terror of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s. The Khmer people today richly and uniquely embody the totality of their past. [For those interested, please find a slightly more detailed history at the end of this document.]

What We Experienced
Like Nothing Before
Nothing in the tour books or research materials could have prepared us for what we were to experience. The sheer joy and empathy of the Cambodian people defies description, and invites the visitor on.

Dana describes it:
What set the tone for my experience in Cambodia was when that little boy touched my arm while I sat down to eat. He was praying to me for food. The look in his eyes-I have never seen hunger, true hunger like that before. Nowhere in America do you see real hunger like that. Remarque observes why he went back to Cambodia, six weeks after our group trip: The wanting of the people drew me to return: the wanting and appreciation, of wanting to be educated, even though they've experienced persecution for education; the wanting to always enjoy life.