Mixed media on mounted panel, 12×12
©2024 Jeff Lung
You may have noticed a recurring theme in my work this last year has been prayer and meditation. Indeed, since my Christ conversion, prayer has been a subject that has been at the very forefront of everything I do.
In fact, it’s become such a part of my life that I consider it the foundation. Much good are the results. I am convinced.
That’s saying a lot. I mean, a lot lot.
When I was a kid following along with what everyone else was doing at church, I would pray. Back then, I would just copy what I heard older people say: throw in some flowery words and peculiar modifiers. I didn’t really think much of it other than that it was kinda like a glorified wish list, asking a genie in the sky to give me stuff I wanted.
When I left the faith and started dabbling in others like Buddhism and Daoism, I was elated that within those traditions, a surplus of gods and buddhas and “heavenly” figures were there that I could pray to. Need money? Pray to the god of wealth. Need peace of mind? Pray to the goddess of compassion. Need to pass a test? Pray to the god of wisdom.
It was a smorgasbord of “divine” genies in a bottle.
When I eventually didn’t get what I was looking for by “praying” to those gods, I just gave up on religion all together. Of course, back then, I wasn’t on a Truth mission anyway. I was on a “do what feels good so I can be comfortable and happy all the time” mission. Didn’t turn out so well. Repeatedly.
Fast forward to today, having found the Truth in Jesus Christ, I know that prayer isn’t just me asking for stuff I want. No, it’s building a real relationship with God.
It’s listening. Feeling. Communion.
Amen!
To really bring that message home, I made a new piece called “Pray for Us” using new (to me) collage and mixed media techniques that represent visually how the power of prayer — especially communal prayer in mass numbers — really does transcend our world, offering love, peace and hope.
In a very short time, I have seen with my own eyes the very power of prayer at work. On multiple occasions.
With all of that I am happy to announce this piece is up for bidding as part of the Conroe Art League’s Annual Art Show and Auction — the proceeds of which go towards the Student Awards Show to be held on May 10, 2025. At that show, select Montgomery County high school seniors will receive financial awards based on artworks selected by a judge or judges.
It’s a wonderful way to support talented young artists and to encourage them to keep bringing light to the world through creativity. I find it a blessing to be able to donate my work to this effort and pray that you would too.
You can see this and many other splendid artworks in person now through January 31, 2025 at the Madeley Fine Art Gallery at the Conroe Art League in Conroe, TX.
Online bids can be made now through January 31, 2025 at this link. Get your bids in and help support young Texas artists in Montgomery County.
And in the meantime, continue to pray for us!
Thank you and God bless!
Jeff, I’m not a Buddhist although I’ve read a lot about Buddhism and still do. Nowhere in my reading has the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) proclaimed himself a god. Neither has he been referred to by others as a god, nor have there been exhortations to pray to the Buddha for money, wealth, salvation, or anything for that matter. On the contrary, Buddhist Monk Linji Yixuan is quoted as saying “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” Obviously I have not read everything about Buddhism nor have I studied formally with a Buddhist teacher. I’d welcome the name of the text that promises within Buddhism a smorgasbord of “divine genies in a bottle.”
Thanks for sharing, Ken! The original Buddha may have said that, but the actual practice of religious Buddhism, especially that which is practiced in east Asia (China, Korea, Japan) is full of deities/gods/bodhisattvas. A learned Buddhist will claim that there is no single god, but that there are many supernatural and enlightened beings that they refer to as “deities” and “gods”. That’s the actual language they use. There’s an entire pantheon. Have you ever been to a Buddhist temple? If you visit one you can see some of them with your own eyes.
I lived in China for several years and the many temples I visited have altars to all of these deities and many more. The ones I mentioned in this piece by name are the God of Wealth (Jambhala, aka Dzambhala or Zambala); the Goddess of Compassion (Kuan Yin, aka Guanyin or Quan Yin); the God of Wisdom (aka Manjushri). Those are just a few of those you see the most in the temples. People go to specific temples for their specific needs and pray and present offerings with those hopes that these deities will hear them and give them what they want (as an exchange for their financial and physical offerings). I participated in the whole thing, but never got anything real out of it to be honest. It was kinda just wishful thinking in my experience.
A quick google search will yield even more deities and in China specifically (I only know because I saw and studied it myself) there is a lot of overlap between those of Buddhism and those of Daoism and Confucianism. They kind of borrow from each other so that in some temples you’re not even sure if it’s Buddhist or Daoist or Confucianist specifically. It’s quite confusing.
But I assure you, there are a lot of deities to choose from, depending on what you are searching for in life. My whole point is that in my experience it turned out to be a whole lot of nothing. Nothing actually changed my heart like Jesus Christ. And that is only in the last couple of years. Because of the church hurt I experienced as a teenager, and how determined I was to tear down any and all religious thought, especially Christianity, I became a religion major in college to have a fuller understanding of the world’s religions. My degree is in religious studies. That’s what ultimately led me to China for those years after college. But what I found there was mostly emptiness — nothing poignant enough to make me a better person. Said emptiness is probably what led me to the rock bottom I would eventually find in drug culture and the party scene that led to my 2 year time out.
All these years I’ve been searching myself for the answer to what is the purpose of life, why am I here, what am I supposed to be doing. It wasn’t until I had all my loves ripped away from me, broken as broken can be, right here in the heart of Texas where I finally found my answer in Christ. Twenty plus years of kicking and screaming, but now I have hope. Finally. Anyway, I’m just sharing my story; don’t want to preach at anyone but happy to share if one is interested. I had to find the Truth on my own and it didn’t happen overnight. If interested, for more info you can check out this video. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBdJ2xmSPTI
Thanks again for sharing, Ken! Always appreciate your insightful and your artistic mind!
Of the teachings I am somewhat familiar with-the Middle Way, the 4 Noble Truths, and within that the Noble 8-fold Path, the 5 Precepts, etc.- I find no mention that the Buddha is a god, self-proclaimed or otherwise, or that one is to pray to Buddha for anything. My quibble is not that Buddhism is not for you (Afterall, it is not for me either.), but the blanket statement “the actual practice” – not “an actual practice” or “some practice” but the use of the definitive, all encompassing “the”. Even after your examples, I remain unconvinced that deities are pervasive and representative within Buddhism (surely not within Western, contemporary Buddhism) any more than snake handling and polygamy are pervasive and representative of Christianity. Glad you got your bag back, BTW.
I understand what you’re saying, but I can’t say that your comparison stands. You’re right in that snake handling and polygamy are not at all representative of Christianity (the latter isn’t even accepted as Christianity, it’s its own thing — Mormonism) but even so, those examples are by far a very small, tiny proportion of the entire Christian world. In Buddhism however, it’s quite the opposite. The great majority of practicing Buddhists believe in and worship a wide array of deities. The Buddhism you’re referring to is simply a philosophy, not a religion. However, all throughout Asia (both east and west) the Buddhism that is practiced is full of deities, full of temples where people pray to these deities/gods. For those who would actually consider themselves to be “Buddhists”, these figures are essential. Like I mentioned, step into any Buddhist temple here, in Asia, anywhere, and you can see with your own eyes. In comparison, those who call themselves “Buddhists” who follow only Siddartha’s original thoughts are few and far between. For a good primer on the many deities of Buddhism, check out this article: https://historycooperative.org/buddhist-gods/
In it the author mentions how the sayings of the original Buddha don’t quite line up with what is practiced by the masses and yet here we are.