The Breath
Gautama Buddha rode a horse when he left his princely palace. The white horses name was Kanthaka. Kanthaka helped Gautama win contests in strength and archery when he was a prince. He leaped over his princely Palace walls guarded so the prince would not see the ills of this world, like illness, old age, and death. When Gautama the bodhisattva decided to become enlightened to help the people who were suffering, Kanthaka carried Buddha away from his Palace for the last time, leaping over the Anoma River.
I grew up with horses, they were my best friends. When I was suffering abuse from my step-father as a child of 6 to 12 years old, I would imagine riding a white horse away from my painful life. Riding the school bus I would imagine a white horse running next to me following me to school, I loathed school but loved learning. When I became a teenager I forgot my imaginary friend until I started studying the Dharma and learned how to meditate using the breath.
The life of a human was very confusing to me when I was young. But animals and nature made sense, nature never lied and animals were not cruel for cruelties sake. The white horse has always been a symbol that carried me away from my pain and was a good friend that protected me during the hard contests of life.
The Tibetan flag is called the Windhorse, lung-ta. I have always thought the breath was the horse in Tibetan legends. When I go to a Vipassana meditation retreat the first three days are always spent watching the natural breath come and go. Once the mind settles I found I can ride the breath through fire and ice of the body and minds sensations.
Old Path White Clouds, Gautama Buddha's Life Story by Thich That Hanh
Milarepa used it as a metaphor for Mind in "Song of the Galloping Horse of a Yogi:"
In the mountain hermitage which is my body
In the temple of my breast
At the summit of the triangle of my heart,
The horse which is my mind flies like the wind.
He gallops on the plains of great bliss.
If he persists, he will attain the rank of a victorious Buddha.
Going backward, he cuts the root of samsara;
Going forward he reaches the high land of buddhahood.
Astride such a horse, one attains the highest illumination.
~translation by Losang P. Lhalungpa. The 100, 000 Songs of Milarepa.
11 x 14, Mixed Media Paper, Watercolor and Gouache, 2016
This painting was my rendition of a Pokemon character named Ponyta. This painting was the last in my series of Pokemon art my granddaughter and I worked on. I don't have a painting from E to post because she gave away the other three paintings she did of her favorite Pokemon characters.
I kept thinking of Buddha's horse and the breath when I painted my interpretation of Ponyta and decided to share my story with my Steemit friends.