Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu points out that we must talk about Buddhism itself as the real art. Instead of looking at Buddha statues as art, he encourages us to take the meaning that is expressed on the face of those images, such as the qualities of joy, intelligence, love, and patience. He explains aspects of what we can call ‘the supreme life,’ the qualities or things we are looking for. He goes into detail with many examples on the fundamental essence of Buddhism, that there is no ‘self,’ no attā, and this is the art of Buddhist living. He points out that great harm that is done by ‘me’ and ‘mine’—that this world is being destroyed by selfishness—then he explains the way of removing selfishness.

This Dhamma teaching was offered by Tan Ajahn on 4th September 1990.
Live English translation by Santikaro Bhikkhu; 63 minutes

The Art of Living series

9009 – [1 of 3] The Buddhist Art of Life

9009 – [2 of 3] The Way to Buddhist Art

9009 – [3 of 3] Training the Mind for Buddhist Art