The Breath of Shenn Tao

གཏོང་ལེན་

It is a place born out of balance, it is a home to harmony. In a world full of bitterness and so much focus on the self, to the detriment of others, it is a haven for the mind.

Shenn Tao's region on Virtual Worlds Zone takes its name from Tonglen, a Tibetan word meaning more or less 'give and take'. The sending and receiving in Tonglen meditation practice is exactly the opposite to the way most business is transacted. It's all about breathing, and the idea is that instead of trying to take in pleasure and stay away from pain, you aim to receive other's pain by breathing it in, and on each breath you exhale, you're trying to send out goodness and wellbeing to others. Imagine if everyone gave that a go for a little while.

Shenn Tao, artist and sometime opensim nomad - you'll have come across him in such notable places as Atlas, OSgrid, and Francogrid, Ignis Fatuus, and now also Virtual Worlds Zone - has created this as yet unfinished paradise, which inspires all thoughts of serenity. Sweeping lines, organic forms, lightness of touch and an infallible marriage of the natural with the manmade, Shenn's builds all seem to come from another place, another time.

Here is a world animated by the forces of nature. Plants or insects, or something in between, the message seems to be that life is itself what matters, and appreciating its beauty is what elevates us from the fraught day-to-day.

Tonglen meditation has been compared to the way a tree works, receiving carbon dioxide, and sending out oxygen into the world. That's a great service and responsibility, and so it's not surprising to learn that Tonglen is not for everyone. It requires a good level of mental health to be prepared to absorb the negative and exude the positive, and a level of altruism balanced with mindfulness of one's own mental wellbeing.

Shen's giant tree and the little buildings around it and the roots and remnants are all varied expressions of this 'wooden' way of thinking - in the best possible sense of the word. Living wood, flexible and protective, is something to aspire to in this allegory.

All around this build, thousands of meters above the region floor, a magnificent sky in pristine, Sistine colors illuminates the build - make sure you have set your graphics to show the shared environment! Twisted tree roots and branches seem to be carved by an artist's hand, and the vertical and horizontal bands of light play games across the horizon.

Fellow VWZ Builder and close friend of Shenn, Arwen Lannock commented on the feeling that the build engenders.

Arwen Lannock: this build is making me calm, i said it was heaven... hard to understand it. I like to be here and feel good.

The build is as yet unfinished, and it will be wonderful to see what new things are added to express this  challenging and rewarding form of spiritual practice. So far, the representation makes it clear that all elements need to be in harmony, none trying to take advantage of the others. A Tonglen expert, Steve Gooch, quotes the Dalai Lama on that  point: 

"If you would like to be selfish, you should do it in a very intelligent way. The stupid way to be selfish is seeking happiness for ourselves alone… the intelligent way to be selfish is to work for the welfare of others.”

HG Address: grid.virtual-worlds.zone:8002/Tonglen/144/339/5003