Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography Books: My Toronto and San Miguel Mexico

By Maxine Sidran

Review by John McQuade

   I am delighted to present two Miksang photography booklets by Senior Nalanda Miksang practitioner Maxine Sidran: My Toronto and San Miguel, Mexico.

    Maxine lives in Toronto, and these are a small selection of images from a life of perception exploration in that Metropolis. Like many Canadians she is a “snow-bird” and for many years has spent some of the Winter weeks in the Mexican town of San Miguel which is the visual locale of the other book.

    Maxine is one of the first people to engage Miksang contemplative photography in a decisive heart connection way and was one of the first Nalanda Miksang teachers. She has a very pure contemplative way with the Miksang intention and practice.  The book – Heart of Photography – is dedicated to her and to get a sense of her contribution to Miksang you can read the dedications written by myself and Miriam.

    Most of the images in both books issue from the mode of perception that we designate as “Level Three”: Orderly Chaos.  In part, the Nalanda Miksang View and practice, is based on a Dharma Art text by Chogyam Trungpa: “The Three Levels of Perception”. (This is presented in the chapter “ Nobody’s World” in his book: True Perception.)

    We could say that this is the “tantric” level of Nalanda Miksang: the images break with the spaciousness and simplicity of contemplative aesthetics and issue through a more raw and energetic aesthetic. This “raw and energetic aesthetic” resonates with some manifestations of American modern art such as the assemblage work of Robert Rauschenberg.

    Maxine’s images are spontaneously found visual assemblages. They are juxtapositions of visual elements that have arresting, surprising and powerful visual effects. It is difficult to say what they mean since – like modern art - they place conventional meaning in play. They are wild – but completely ordinary and available – visual energetic displays of the urban phenomenal world.

    Included in the range of images are some of mannequins. Maxine opened a special and fun sector of the Level Three Orderly Chaos world: The Secret Life of Mannequins. Here we reframe the situation of the mannequins as if they were living in their own lived dimension that is somewhat overlapping with our lived world. (Maybe they are!) It is sort of sci-fi. Personally I am thrilled to see that she included one of my favorite of her mannequin images: just the bottom leg of a mannequin wearing a dark beige shoe – or is it a real woman? Or is it a mannequin becoming a real woman?

    The San Miguel images are interesting in that they are Orderly Chaos but also San Miguel. The images issue through the same Level Three juxtapositions, energetic displacements, visual assemblages and so forth. But they are also definitely Mexican.

    This display points to a decisive feature of the Miksang perception ways and image ways: they are a fusion of form and content. Indeed in some ways – from a contemplative orientation – content is the formation: the orientation issues through the specific manifestations of the phenomenal world. So, San Miguel is energetically manifesting as San Miguel.

    In these images my sense of the San Miguel manifestation is color and color in a clear bright light often with clear deep blue skies.

    Certainly, these books are a Nalanda Miksang treasure.

To purchase the books write to Maxine at maxine.sidran@sympatico.ca

The cost of each book is $25.00(CAN). Plus, postage. (The postage will not be large since these are 8x10 booklets with soft covers. However the images are a good quality)