MOKSHA (Liberation) On a walk through a forest in remote northern Japan I encountered the remains of a bird. Instead of recoiling in horror I marvelled at the transcendent beauty of the scene spread out on the forest floor before me. So perfectly positioned, without even the slightest trace of violence, it seemed as if the bird, after a lifetime of weathering ferocious storms one day and soaring to great heights on the prevailing winds the next, had, one faithful morning, decided it was time to move on. Completely at peace with the transitory nature of life she folded her wings for the last time, lay down on a bed of freshly fallen leaves, and let her spirit rise to heights unknown into realms unknowable. Fully aware that this scene, too, would vanish without a trace I stood there silently, before, in a vain attempt to capture the ineffable, I took a photograph. Alan Watts, in one of his lectures, mentions how Ananda Coomaraswamy used to say: “I pray that death will not come and find me still unannihilated.” In other words, when the ego is vanished there’s no need to hold on because there’s nothing to hold on to. Death becomes a mere transition, changing trains on the opposite platform, destination unknown and unknowable. The freedom this profound awareness engenders is the MOKSHA that can’t be searched for, only realized. Teuri Island, Hokkaido, Japan, September 2024 ABOUT IMPERMANENCE My first ever collection on Transient Labs. It seems only fitting that I named it IMPERMANENCE. Every now and then I will add a photograph to the collection. Not just any image but photographs of scenes encountered revealing truths obscured. Such can be the power of an image. I did not set out to look for these photographs, instead the images found me and I became a witness and chronicler, my favorite role on this stage and in this play we all find ourselves in. Hans Kemp