In the quest towards ultimate spiritual enlightenment, mankind has often strived to reconcile with the wisdom within. Says Nicholas Vreeland, a Rato Dratsang monk and spiritual photographer, “We are individual beings making our way along individual spiritual paths. We all have the potential to find peace, find salvation and ultimate enlightenment of Buddhahood. This is not limited to human beings, but to all sentient beings, including mice and mosquitoes. And, given that we all have the possibility to attain enlightenment, each one of us will eventually arrive at that state. Hence, we must say that there will be a point when we will all find ultimate peace.” However, he says, this is a long way off. He believes the important thing is for each of us to work on ourselves in order to bring about our own peace, while we diminish our selfish tendencies and work at developing our love and compassion. This, he says, is the greatest contribution to world peace that we can ever make.
Vreeland was educated in Europe, North Africa and the US, after which he pursued a career in photography. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, Vreeland worked as an assistant to famous American photographers Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. That’s when he was introduced to The Tibet Center in New York by Richard’s son and daughter-in law, John and Elizabeth Avedon. Soon, he became a follower of Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, and became a monk in 1985. He was awarded a Geshe Degree (Doctorate of Divinity) in 1998.
Vreeland now serves as director of The Tibet Center and was the editor of An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life, by the Dalai Lama. He is also founder of Photos for Rato, a series of fund-raisers that have been held in France, Italy, Germany, India, and the US, which underwrote, through the sale of his photos, a large part of the construction of the Rato Monastery in India. The exhibition came about as a result of the economic crisis of 2008. Vreeland had begun the reconstruction of the Rato campus. Suddenly, sponsors disappeared, and they got stuck. That’s when some friends suggested he put together his photographs for an exhibition.
He now divides his time between The Tibet Center, New York, and the monastery. Tasveer Gallery recently held the Photos for Rato exhibition of rare photographs by Vreeland in Bangalore. It is a collection of 20 photographs taken over the 26 years Vreeland has been a Rato monk.
“I first came to India in 1972, when I was 18. I visited Sikkim and Bhutan, taking photographs and learning about Buddhist culture. Buddhism provided answers to questions I hadn’t asked yet,” says the quiet and affable monk, continuing, “I don’t think of myself as intelligent enough to be seeking answers to revolutionary questions. Of course, a great mind is able to pose questions and seek answers from among the possibilities.” He returned to India in 1979, and spent a few months in Dharamshala, clicking Tibetan lamas, and visited Rishikesh, Haridwar, Amritsar, and Srinagar. Then, in 1985, he settled down in India and joined the Rato Dratsang order. “I’ve grown to love India as I love no place else. It is not always an easy place, but I am learning India’s most profound lesson—we can’t expect to change the world to please ourselves; we must work to change ourselves in order to accommodate the world,” he says.
Emotions conveyed in a photograph are a reflection of the state of the photographer. “Of course, this cannot be accomplished without a certain mastery of the craft. I’ve had the extraordinary opportunity to photograph His Holiness The Dalai Lama on a few occasions over the last 32 years. I’ve learned that I must be ready to photograph whatever aspect he reveals. It is not my job to impose an idea of what the picture should be. No matter how automatic our camera may be, we are responsible for what it does, and so our control over it is essential in communicating what we wish to convey. Ansel Adams once said, ‘The easier photography is, the worse the pictures will be’. If we expect our camera to do all the work, we are abdicating our responsibility for the technical aspect of the photographic process. And, as Edward Weston said, ‘There are no short cuts in photography’.”
The essence of spirituality for Vreeland is to work on oneself to diminish one’s selfish tendencies and develop concern for others. “A spiritually attuned person watches himself/herself, and with practice, the process gets more natural and instinctive. But for most of us, we must try to be more vigilant. I know that my natural tendency is to please myself. I need to push myself to think more of others. Spiritual photography is something to live up to. I would not call myself a photographer; I’d simply say that I enjoy taking photographs. As for spirituality, we must work on it constantly, by wishing to benefit others.”
To maintain such a selfless attitude when taking photographs is not easy to maintain. One’s motivation is bound to shift from moment to moment, as one gets attracted by something he/she sees. What then? The monk continues, “Selfishness is the primary reason for all of our misery—individual, societal, national, international and even universal. The good news is that we can diminish our selfishness and thereby contribute to the happiness of the world.” His prescription: “We see a friend or enemy, and our emotions are stirred. All sorts of things affect us. A spiritual practitioner works at being mindful so as to catch himself or herself when becoming affected by a selfish or self-serving motive. I would be a fool to think that just because I’m a monk my motivation is guaranteed.”