family connection

Here is a pic of Mako in front of one of her paintings (the one I decided to buy). Also, Masaki (one of my students) invited me over for dinner again to meet his sister who goes to design school in Tokyo. Afterwards we went to Karaoke. Masaki, if you remember, is the boy whose father died about a year ago from cancer. In between songs he leaned over to me and showed me his cell phone. Playing on the tiny screen was a video of his father playing the guitar. I almost burst into tears; I had never seen his father before and it just was so powerful to think that Masaki (15) keeps this video he took of his father in this cell phone and wanted to share it with me. I’m tearing up now. Remember when he showed me his fathers paint box? His mom and I sang a Paul Simon song together as well as Sweet Dreams. Masaki and I sang some Greenday, and I think I got a little drunk; His mom kept buying me cocktails.

"Life is a train. At some train stations, some people get off and others get on." Abbie

moon worship

I've recently discovered that part of my religion is (and always has been) moon worship. I open my hands and dreamy eyed call out "Homage to the great and holy Vajrasattva Mahasattva, the luminous moon disc from which flows the sound Hum: the fountain of nectar that is the universe in every moment." Devotion to beauty bathes my soul in a cool river of moonlight, I sing out from my small body, out to the clear light, out to the glowing water of awareness behind my eyes, reflecting the unchanging, glowing sphere of light embedded within the womb of the sky. I'm rambling again. The moon never minds. Suddenly she emits rays of white light that wash away the harmful deeds and delusions of all sentient beings, who then give offerings, dance and sing in ecstatic praise. During this, all the accomplishments, kindness, love and compassion generated by beings throughout the history of the universe are reabsorbed into the light, so that Moon becomes an accumulation of brightness, power, and divinity. I open my mouth and swallow the moon. It stays in my throat like a glowing marble, continuously emitting its purifying light into the world.

My Bio

Here is the bio Micheal helped me write.
David Titterington was born and raised in Kansas City. He began to
draw at age three, using crayons and markers on his bedroom walls.
Furious but intrigued, his parents sent him to private lessons at six,
and he has studied the visual arts ever since.

David was kicked out of elementary school for possessing a weapon; he
spent junior high vandalizing and stealing. Things turned around for
him in high school, when he began to study Japanese language, Zen
Buddhism, and Ken Wilber, and awoke to a fascination with hospice,
death, and the process of dying. The summer after his senior
year he went to India for three weeks and discovered the writings of
Shunryu Suzuki and the Dalai Lama, inspiring him to begin a daily
practice of meditation and contemplation. At the University of Kansas he
studied painting, mysticism, art history, and Japanese language and culture. He founded a sitting group at the university, returned to India for the Dalai Lama's spring teachings, and participated in spiritual retreats and workshops, including a Buddhist refuge with Khamtrul Rinpoche. He has been involved with Integral Institute since 2004, when one of his paintings was used for the cover of the Integral Ecology and Sustainability seminar brochure. He currently lives, exhibits, and works as an Assistant Language Teacher in Ehime, Japan. He is still a troublemaker, although of a decidedly more legal variety.

About his work, David says "I am fascinated with energetic
patterns found in nature and the way light falls over forms.
I'm also interested in the power of symbols to communicate ideas that
words alone cannot. However, my paintings are primarily intended to
provide the viewer with a simple space for rest."

For more information, please visit www.davidtitterington.com.

recently

So, last night I hosted a going away party for Stacey. 30 people crowded into my apartment. Pics of all the beautiful guests are below. Can you guess who I am in love with? (or, correctly, whom do I love?)

I am so lucky to have a wonderful group of people living with me in this area of Japan. Philosophers, religion majors, artists. Great connections. Sunday morning, 6 people who stayed over went with me to the Zen temple. Then, in the evening, I helped Mako set up her painting show at the same gallery mine was in.

Right now I am reading Ken Wilber’s "Integral Psychology," honestly a page-turner. One of the best books I have read by him. I’m excited to become part of the artists featured on integralnaked.org, for that will mean Ken Wilber will get familiar with some of my work, if he isn’t already (they recently used peekabuddha for the cover of their integral packet “Integral Ecology and Sustainability” sent to Senator Gary Hart and Al Gore.) I’m trying to put together a bio for Integral naked right now. It's tough. What angle should I take writing about myself? What story should I tell? What kind of person should I paint? Michael G. is going to help me i hope.
I’m also reading Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. Recently I saw the new Gibli film "Gedo Senki" based on the third book. Frankly I thought it was pretty boring. Not as stunning and beautiful as the other films. Lots of story I could not understand. Not very much action. I’m also working through this wonderful book Michaela gave me called “The Game of God.” I starting wearing a Tibetan scull bracelet on my left wrist that reminds me to live life to the fullest and embrace everything occurring as precious moments of mind. The spectrum of textures arising moment to moment as my experience are fleeting, falling away continuously like a flowing river, but they are so magnificent; they sparkle and shimmer and announce the richness and fullness of Life in the present moment. The sculls on my wrist help me see this and open as acceptance, even in the face of my own fleetingness. You know, we are all dying. We can talk about it with authority. We all are experiencing dying right now. How does it feel? This slow, luminous, living death?

Stacey's going away party

two poems and two new paintings and a picture of niihama

it's never over. this world is hell.
and heaven, sky swells into the sunlight, energy gushes through my fingers,
and children cry out to the fire, screaming for the mother that exploded.
May peace be with you.

a tiny man in a tree told me
don’t forget to renounce renunciation,
or for that matter, detach from non-attachment,
and most of all, hold the sun, and
be what we can blame,
see what we can shame,
gone inside the game
gone gone.