Zen Stone No.15

31*40cm

Mixmedia Print

Here's the English translation of the art description:

Zen Stone - Manifesting Sudden Enlightenment: A Huineng Platform Sutra Reflection

This artwork, through its abstract colors and forms, directly and powerfully presents the essence of Zen Master Huineng's Dharma: "sudden enlightenment to Buddhahood" and "taking seeing nature as the doctrine." It silently guides the artist and viewer to reflect upon their own minds, to realize that "all dharmas are not separate from self-nature," thereby breaking through delusive attachments and attaining ultimate liberation and freedom.

The entire canvas is steeped in a pure off-white background, which precisely embodies the "inherent purity of self-nature" (自性清净) as revealed in the Platform Sutra—it is without beginning or end, unarising and unceasing, undefiled and unstained, inherently complete with all wisdom and virtuous characteristics. This pure backdrop reminds us that Buddha-nature is innate in everyone, requiring no external seeking.

The topmost grey oval in the painting, with its blurred and rounded form, can be seen as the manifestation of "delusive thoughts" (妄念) when sentient beings are not yet awakened. Grey symbolizes self-nature obscured by ignorance, like dust clouding a bright mirror. The subtle white brushstroke above it is like the "Prajñā wisdom" (般若智慧) emphasized by Master Huineng—a fleeting glimpse of awareness piercing through delusive thoughts, an occasional flash of the light of self-nature, guiding us to break through ignorance.

The black oval in the middle is filled with dense, repetitive white textures, and a prominent white human-like silhouette. This is a vivid interpretation of "vexations are precisely enlightenment" (烦恼即菩提). The black background symbolizes all the "vexations" (煩惱障, 所知障) of the mundane world, while the dense white textures within are like the layers of "delusive thoughts" arising amidst these vexations. However, the central white human-like silhouette appears clearly in the darkness, which is precisely the opportune moment emphasized by Master Huineng to directly perceive the "self-nature Buddha" (自性佛) within vexations and delusive thoughts. It tells us that Bodhi does not exist apart from vexations; rather, vexations themselves are instantly Bodhi.

The two grey ovals at the very bottom, stably stacked together, can be seen as the practitioner's gradual attainment of the states of "no thought, no mark, no abiding" (无念、无相、无住) through "equal upholding of samadhi and wisdom" (定慧等持). The grey tone suggests an equal dharma that transcends distinctions and defilement/purity. They are interdependent, without isolated entities, precisely embodying the Platform Sutra's teaching that "Dharma has no sudden or gradual, people have sharp or dull faculties." This stable structure also implies that when the mind is pure, even when facing all the dharmas of the world, one can contemplate them with an equal mind, free from attachment. They are the ultimate portrayal of "originally there is nothing."