Gautama Buddha: Illustration of a Patient's Vision.
HCA healthcare journal of medicine January 1, 2020 Haryashpal Bhullar
A psychiatrist-in-training describes how a patient's use of mindfulness teachings from Gautama Buddha inspired an artwork. The patient imagined the Buddha meditating in a natural setting as a symbol of peace and stillness, countering her depression and anxiety. The psychiatrist created a vivid drawing with flowers, vines, a butterfly, and feathers to evoke life and levity, blurring the Buddha's outline with natural elements to reflect Eastern philosophy's challenge to separateness. Foxes, representing transformation in Eastern mythos, symbolize the mind as a companion sublimating negative thoughts through creativity. This exercise reaffirmed the psychiatrist's interest in psychiatry, seeing the mind's protective creativity as an unseen canvas.