Style meditation journal #1: All white

Terrence Koh

Photo by Olivier Zahm

  

     These days, the mind-body issue troubles me again: My mind is full of wandering thoughts and my body cannot settle down. I feel like moving a lot, I can't concentrate; My ideas are flying everywhere, full of things I want to do, but all out of my reach. So I go back to basic: I need to clean up my mind. It's too dusty and messy, like a stack of books with a thick layer of dust. 


     I began to practice meditation last night: Sitting down in my bed, crossed-legs, palms up, eyes closed. Then my mind started to wander, to begin with a Radiohead song "Let Down", a song that I probably heard it 10 years ago. Later, I felt a little bit of chilly and I warped up my head and neck with a soft, cotton-like white silk blended stole. It's comfortable and calming. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on my meditation again. A question popped up in my head: What would I wear if I were a monk practicing Zen? First I thought of the colour, it must be very clean and it must be white. 


     To maintain a spotless mind status is a long way to go, while for most of us, to keep a white shirt spotless is just hard enough.

Terrence Koh at his "Nothingtoodoo" art performance, March 2011.