The Amitabha Sutra is my latest work.this is a handmade artist book of artists that records Buddhist scriptures. The content of the scriptures captures the unbelievable beauty and merit that Sakyamuni Buddha described as a disciple of the Holy City for the disciples of Amitabha in the Western Paradise. The entire text of the book has 100 pages, with one hand-painted Buddha on each page except the first page, for a total of 99 pieces. The inside pages of the book are carved by hand to dig holes of similar size but different in detail, as if the Buddha statue was placed in a Buddha cave under the bodhi tree, inspired by the Thousand-Buddha Caves of Kizil and Dunhuang .
The first page of the book presents 99 Buddhas, due to the structure and space of the book itself. The Buddha statue seen on the first page lives in 99 "Buddha caves" in different depths. I interpret this page as a Dharma monastic field spoken by the Buddha. Buddha lived in the middle, surrounded by the rest of the disciples listening. The Amitabha scriptures are printed on the left margin of the book. As the number of pages increases, as we read the book, fewer and fewer Buddha images are visible on the inner page. Only one Buddha remains until the last page. I think of this page as the scene after the Buddha's teachings were completed. As the last sentence of the scriptures says, "I heard the words of Buddha, joy and trust, ceremony and leave." Disciples have left, and the Buddha is still thinking and meditation here.
I have been to Dunhuang two times, also visited Kucha, Maijishan, Yungang and Longmen and other grottoes, enjoy the profound Chinese Buddhist culture and art. During the course of study , I became more and more aware of the uniqueness of Chinese traditional Buddhist art in artistic language, especially the hardships and difficulties of the creators behind such art. Of course, the production process of this work is just as trivial as that of the crafting of cave paintings and murals by the craftsmen thousands of years ago. However, I did experience the meditation and piety of artisans in that process.
In the process of making the works, I was surprised to find my body is also playing a subtle changes, due to the number of pages, so I need to carve the number of "Buddha Cave" close to 5000, in the beginning , I carved up slow and extremely laborious.Due to the continuous production , my right hand palm played two blood bubbles, and into a cocoon. Every moment during the processing there will be pain. This physiological change caused by the production of a piece of work is something I have never experienced before in my artistic practice. It makes me feel particularly fantastic and is the unique experience that this art practice brings.
