The 36th Chamber

When I was watching the 36th chamber and thinking about my life in relation to San Te all I could think is that although art school has been brutal it is definitely not beating your head into sand bags. And it doesn't seem that useless either.
All joking aside, most of his life's journey I really can't relate with. Perhaps I most relate to his desire to exceed. He wasn't happy with just being average so he'd wake up in the middle of the night to work at something and I've slept less and less as the semester's progressed because I have that same desire.
Shaolin in a lot of ways is similar to art school because a lot of what we do seems a little over the top at first, but then as the year progressed you realize how significant things you thought weren't important are the more your eye is trained to view things. Especially simple things like pinning your drawings up straight.
Eating on top of a log in water is basically like being able to look at a model and let your hand draw without you staring at the page. Running on barrels would be like compositional balance. Also how the chambers work at training individual areas of his body, our classes train individual areas of artistic design, and each assignment focuses even more specifically within that.
I think as far as perseverance and art is concerned is that you can't just stop once you make something that works. Not stopping because of time or lack of funds, but working with what you have until you're satisfied, not just until you're "done".
I think monks are far too religious and dedicated to be compared to artists who from artist to artist can differ so much in practice, appearance, personality. Monks are kind of taught to not be extreme while artists are constantly pushing past extremes. But both monks and artists have a higher level of connection with themselves intrinsically.
Boot camp is not as physically trying as the 35 chambers, but more so mentally I would say. The 35 chambers were taught in a peaceful, spiritual, and solemn environment while boot camps involve drilling, loud noise, and lots of activity. Not to mention boot camp is essentially preparing people for war at its extreme while the chambers were only a means of bettering oneself.
The abbot's quote is actually surprisingly really applicable to the art community, not sure why it's surprising though. But art school is definitely an almost closed off existence from the world. Students [for the most part] don't have to worry quite as much about bills and responsibilities outside of making art for class. It's turbulent while you're inside the flow of the school but that turbulence will really be put in perspective when we leave school and understand that we have to make everything we learned work in a world that's primarily a business.
To challenge a master in art...well. I'd imagine first that a teacher, or someone who inspires you would be a master but maybe actually someone who doesn't inspire you. A popular artist that you feel doesn't deserve the recognition they get, if you were to take the goal or meaning that they intended for and then tackle it with your mind and approach it differently, I'd say that's challenging the master.
I don't think I've reinvented art in any way as drastic as creating a three part nunchuck. I've done things were I've done them without being taught or given the idea but I'm not sure I'd say it's the first time it's been done. I don't really know enough to say.
The 36th chamber in relation to art school feels kind of like, the students that go on to be teachers or artists that become popular in some manner, not necessarily really popular, but enough to inspire someone else to go into art school.
I guess my art teacher from HS Mr. Windsor was my San Te as far as the 36th chamber is concerned. I have yet to see the Godfather but everything he said to me really helped push me towards art and he saw something in me other than math and here I am tackling the chambers myself.
Who knows where it will go after this point. I've taken it upon myself to write down ideas that I don't have time for now, or concepts that I'm interested in, and perhaps they'll change after school but I want to remember the things that I don't have time to do now while I'm still learned so that when I approach the world even if I'm not sure how I can do what I want to do, I'll always be focusing on what I want to do, not making by.