Qi baishi... still a badass

i love art with the same passion that i detest religion. that much is definitely true.

when i was in college, then later living in china, i spent a lot of time studying daoism and i was struck at how useful its philosophy could be when applied to my own life (i eschewed the rites, rituals, rain dances and overall delusional aspects of the practical religion, of course).

basically, it's all about being one with one's environment, living in the moment, self-control, awareness, treating others as one would want to be treated. pretty much all ya need.

well, this philosophy is so evident in the works of the late great qi baishi, chinese master painter extraordinaire. what a fucking badass. with the simplest and lightest of brush strokes, he was able to create fascinatingly complex figures and scenes.

it may look simple... and easy. that's the point.

but let me assure you, there is NOTHING easy about creating masterpieces such as these:

holla!!!

Press your fucking luck

when i lived in china i spent a lot of time doing research at a series of buddhist and daoist temples and was consistently amused at the amount of wayward folk spending time at the altars of the god of wealth and the god of luck (both entities exists in each religion).

they'd crowd around in droves, fighting one another for the opportunity to give offerings to these "gods" and then leave feeling lucky... like they'd end up getting money or some awesome thing in return for their tributary efforts.

what.

the.

fuck.

i know humans have the ability to be completely fucking stupid, but i also have some sort of innate faith in our species' ability to see through the bullshit, to really know that ya can't get something for nothing, that the idea of some invisible sky daddy just randomly showering me with FUCKING MONEY and GOOD FORTUNE is as believable as a talking snake and a worldwide flood that left no geological evidence.

then sometimes i'm just like, "ah fuck it, give me a beer."