FIRENZE: Pilgrimage of the Senses through the Sense-Fields
The world's population is steadily migrating into cities and most of us live in urban surroundings much of the time. Now and for the future we cannot rely on taking the natural world exclusively as our temple or theatre of practice; we must also make what we can of the man-made environment - as did the Buddha, in his father's palace.
Among buildings and streets, interiors and artifacts, we continue in the identical practice: remaining in, and returning to, the undivided field of the senses inseparable from the sense-fields; spacious passion in passionate space. Whenever we feel the turbulence of unenlightenment - doubt, uncertainty, friction, insensitivity, constriction, blockage, ignorance, panic, alienation, self-consciousness etc. - we remember this practice. When we experience stress in the urban environment we can take the mere appearance of these reference-points in our own energy, the very symptoms of unenlightenment, as our practice-supports. Relaxing, we can return to the non-dual perspectiveless space, brilliant with essential unobstructed arising and dissolving. Such a practice fulfils itself naturally, spontaneously and effortlessly; such is the peaceful quality of the Dzogchen Vehicle.
On our Apprentice Retreat at Losar 2009 we made special use of the city of Firenze as a chiaroscuro of mere indications. On the October retreat we are returning to an expanded repertoire of these suggested pilgrimage places (see slideshow). They are chosen for their contrasts and alternation, between sacred and commercial, aesthetic and anaesthetic, intimacy and perspective. They range from Michelangelo to Mussolini, from pheromones to footwear, from Leonardo to lampredotto (one of which is tripe).
Download map of Florence with locations marked
Salvatore Ferragamo & the Ferragamo Museum
Palazzo Spini Ferroni, via Tornabuoni 2, Firenze
This visionary designer (d.1960) made his first pair of shoes at the age of nine. Uncomplacent with early success in America, he studied anatomy so he could make footwear more comfortable, and filed patents for some of his innovations. He inspired and was inspired by contemporary artists, architects and designers, with whom he collaborated. The most famous and admired women in the world were his clients, from Hollywood to high society, and wore his creations both on screen and in the street. An appreciation of his work changes perception of the body and its relationship with the environment. The parade of beauty and fashion in the public eye flickers with the bodhisattva's essential creative act of existing for others.
