GoForTheLaugh
TMF Expert
- Joined
- May 6, 2005
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A close friend and I have just visited the newly opened Rubin Museum of Art here in New York City. This five floor museum features art from the Himalayas and the surrounding area.
http://www.rmanyc.org/
So why I am writing this on a tickling board?
Until September 4th, the musuem will continue to feature a very interesting exhibit: "Eternal Presence: Handprints and Footprints in Buddhist Art."
I was astounded to discover huge paintings and carvings of the soles of feet, lovingly and accurately rendered far larger than life and floating in ethereal Buddhist compositions. Some were so beautiful that I wanted to go up and stroke--but, of course, one may not touch art that is many centuries old.
I realize that Buddhists who understand the spiritual nature of these depictions are moved in ways that we tickle fans are not. But surely, among all those devotees, there were a few who took foot worship (pun intended) to the next level and stroked fellow Buddhists' feet to attain Nirvana? 😀
The musuem's home page does not have any good pictures of Buddhist footprint art, but here are some images I found elsewhere on the Internet:
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/b_feet.htm
http://www.art-antiques.ch/objects/frontiers/886.html
http://www.onyzx.com/gallery/buddhasfoot.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/igj/img/12400.jpg
http://www.udel.edu/pcole/penang/buddha_foot.gif
The friend I went with is one of the few who knows about my fetish; he does not share it, but he has seen our board and, since I am new to the scene, he lets me talk things out with him.
After we had walked through a few floors devoted to female Buddhas, protector Buddhas, and so on, we arrived at all the sole art. My friend turned to me said: "Can you imagine how much the people from your board would get into this?" That was all I needed to get me going! Hee hee hee. 🙂
Keep in mind that my friend, though not a ticklephile, knows all the codewords--including "play"--because of me. We had borrowed headsets on which a visitor can type in the number of the work he or she is viewing to hear a curator explain it. While most of the explanations were what a person usually hears in a museum, a few were wonderfully campy, as the curators had put on theatrical voices and spoken as the beings in the otherworldly compositions. When, in a gruff voice, a snow lion asked us if we wanted to "play" with him in the snow, we both lost it and almost fell over laughing. (Tickle games with a snow lion!!!!!)
As we were leaving the museum and stepping out onto the sidewalk, we saw a pit of sand and some pointy instruments. Patrons could bare their feet and make their own sole art. If I had looked at my friend, I would have died laughing, so we just kept walking.
http://www.rmanyc.org/
So why I am writing this on a tickling board?
Until September 4th, the musuem will continue to feature a very interesting exhibit: "Eternal Presence: Handprints and Footprints in Buddhist Art."
I was astounded to discover huge paintings and carvings of the soles of feet, lovingly and accurately rendered far larger than life and floating in ethereal Buddhist compositions. Some were so beautiful that I wanted to go up and stroke--but, of course, one may not touch art that is many centuries old.
I realize that Buddhists who understand the spiritual nature of these depictions are moved in ways that we tickle fans are not. But surely, among all those devotees, there were a few who took foot worship (pun intended) to the next level and stroked fellow Buddhists' feet to attain Nirvana? 😀
The musuem's home page does not have any good pictures of Buddhist footprint art, but here are some images I found elsewhere on the Internet:
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/b_feet.htm
http://www.art-antiques.ch/objects/frontiers/886.html
http://www.onyzx.com/gallery/buddhasfoot.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/igj/img/12400.jpg
http://www.udel.edu/pcole/penang/buddha_foot.gif
The friend I went with is one of the few who knows about my fetish; he does not share it, but he has seen our board and, since I am new to the scene, he lets me talk things out with him.
After we had walked through a few floors devoted to female Buddhas, protector Buddhas, and so on, we arrived at all the sole art. My friend turned to me said: "Can you imagine how much the people from your board would get into this?" That was all I needed to get me going! Hee hee hee. 🙂
Keep in mind that my friend, though not a ticklephile, knows all the codewords--including "play"--because of me. We had borrowed headsets on which a visitor can type in the number of the work he or she is viewing to hear a curator explain it. While most of the explanations were what a person usually hears in a museum, a few were wonderfully campy, as the curators had put on theatrical voices and spoken as the beings in the otherworldly compositions. When, in a gruff voice, a snow lion asked us if we wanted to "play" with him in the snow, we both lost it and almost fell over laughing. (Tickle games with a snow lion!!!!!)
As we were leaving the museum and stepping out onto the sidewalk, we saw a pit of sand and some pointy instruments. Patrons could bare their feet and make their own sole art. If I had looked at my friend, I would have died laughing, so we just kept walking.
