Zen Stone No.6

31*40cm

Mixmedia Print

Zen Stone - A Silent Journey to Emptiness

In this artwork, the artist constructs a serene yet powerful spiritual space through the use of warm tones. The piece extends the Zen Buddhist philosophy of "no reliance on words, realizing the Way by transcending forms," using the vertical stacking of abstract forms as a symbolic path of spiritual cultivation. The four distinct "stones," seemingly irregular in shape, maintain an inherent harmony through their balance and rhythm, akin to the Diamond Sutra's teaching: "Develop a mind that clings to nothing." True stability, therefore, arises from the freedom of not clinging to any form.

The light beige and off-white background symbolizes the originally pure awakened nature, a mind-ground undefiled by delusive thoughts. It is precisely this "emptiness" (空) that allows all phenomena to manifest. Within this tranquility, the flat black and white stone texture at the bottom, like settled sand, carries a profound weight, symbolizing wisdom accumulated through the磨砺 of time. The white, vase-like form in the middle, resembling an ethereal vessel, perfectly aligns with the Diamond Sutra's statement: "All compounded phenomena are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, like dew or a lightning flash." It is not a solid entity, but a vessel for containing wisdom and letting go of attachments in one's practice.

The small black stone rests atop, narrow like the mouth of a vase, symbolizing the crucial pass to a "mind that does not abide"—only by restraining the self and breaking through attachments can one reach the path to liberation. The black and white oval above it, mixed with concrete fragments and ink wash textures, is like the surging of thoughts and residual images of the past, representing the practitioner's contemplation of inner clarity amidst a flurry of杂念. And the topmost brown round stone, like a mind that has been repeatedly polished, is warm, stable, and peacefully silent.

This is a series of works that does not deliberately "reproduce" reality, yet it reveals truth through "abstraction." It does not narrate specific things but guides the viewer to transcend forms and perceive the inner self, just as the wisdom conveyed by the Diamond Sutra: "If you see all forms as formless, you will see the Tathagata." This is a pagoda of the mind, a silent journey of spiritual cultivation.