Dreams, illusion, bubbles and shadows_a doctoral PLR research project

  Add a piece of paper in the back of the thin bamboo paper An example of disgraceful mounting (by putting too much water) When the shape which stands for a moon is sealed on the paper

Recent, I have read this book on Chinese mounting technique. In a chapter, the author records how he and his colleague repaired an ancient scroll.  The repairing reminds me there are many institutions around the world making painstaking effort to preserve and recover the ancient materials. I think this is a spectrum which I really want to study, as well as what the Diamond Sutra, the first printed book, may indicate. The history, our collective memory, are such an important and touchable part of our life, even if we haven't lived in the ancient time. Situatedness? Mirroring? What can we gain from the ancient material? Why we keep on repairing? Are we care about the past, and repair for the future? Do we unconsciously situate ourselves in a non-linear temporal structure that links the past and the future to one moment? Upper: a damaged ancient scroll; Lower:The damaged ancient scroll before and after repairing work 1 & 2  ( to be mounted) other works (to be mounted) 

 The River Map  and the Lo Shu Square , or He Tu (河图) and Luo Shu (洛书), are two mysterious diagrams from ancient China, though extremely simple, it is widely believed that the two diagrams indicate particular mathematical sequences and changes of the universe. The river which is in the name of the river map sometimes is explained as the yellow river, and the other times are explained as the Milky Way ( for its Chinese name is the silver river). It is widely accepted that the two shapes reflect the sequence of change of the great universe.  Based on the two diagrams, Fu Xi, the one who is said to have invented the ancient Chinese Characters made the diagram of  Bagua .  Left: River Map                            Right: Lo Shu Square   It is impressive how such simple diagrams record and predict the moving tracks of important constellations. The Yin and Yang , in the diagrams, black and w...

Through reading, drawing and revising, it seems that I feel more clear what I want to make. Today's blog is aimed to show a part of the drafts made for an installation work, the work for me now will contain audios which are not made and decided at this stage. Reflections from the readings and thinkings about this work will be presented in this blog tomorrow.  Tracing the outline of the mark left on the ceiling outside the library cave in Mogao Grottoes Draft - one page    Colors applied inside the outline of the traces. The circle will be made by putting the round side of an object, then remove the object.  Draft-three pages, the mark will be expanded everyday, until the 100th day. Draft - more pages Problems at this stage: 1. the rice paper requires great mounting skills to add a piece of paper in the back and put together.  2. the circles are out of shape compared to my drafts. For me, it reduces the effect. 3. What kind of audios are still not decided. ...

  Images were pieced together to see the effect. To strengthen the effect and to better articulate the idea of temporal structure in my research proposal, it seems that the ideas are still to be developed.

emotion and writing, 12 April, 2022 In the Asia culture, especially in China, handwritings is widely regarded to reflect the emotion and character of the writer. All individuals, not only calligraphist, can express through their handwritings. Like artist Qiu Zhijie applied calligraphic writings on places in a market, each stroke in each Chinese characters exhibits its emotions. Writing in a market at the same time is a method of communication between the traditional unearthly literati's calligraphic art and the most mundane life. I then question, is my handwriting yesterday "I still believe that the Covid-19 pandemic will vanish" be capable to expose more emotions?  linked from artist Qiu Zhijie's website The first instantly recalled after this idea is the  drawings and writings of poet William Blake. I then raise the question why writings and prints in the Diamond Sutra are so different? This question is not expected to be answered by the culture, but rather only on ...

  Photos linked from artist  Qiu Zhijie's website The above photos are a part of an on-going project by Qiu Zhijie and his students. The project is called   A Suicidology of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, commencing 2008. It concerns the social intervention and art articulation on a particular bridge which is a place many people decided to commit their suicide. Through collaboration with NGO founders, social researches, Qiu is aimed at applying his Total Art therapy on the particular place and saving lives. The Chinese characters in the first photo, whether written with the blood of someone who has or has not committed suicide, means "when love is gone, the only thing I can do is to forget love" [当爱烟消云散，我剩下的只有忘情]. In the video made along the project  Where is the capital of Madagascar?  (2008), artist Qiu Zhijie wiped out the sentence, and wrote with his blood "where is the capital of Madagascar?" [马达加斯加的首都在哪里].  Some works are exhibited again in the lat...

photo linked from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Immortal_in_Splashed_Ink.jpg   The painting  Drunken Celestial  (泼墨仙人图) was painted by L iang Kai (1150-？）, a Chinese painter lived in Southern Song Dynasty. This painting is stored in the Palace Museum in Taipei now.  Referring to the Zen Buddhism, philosopher Alan W. Watts stated: For in Taoism and Zen the world is seen as an inseparably interrelated field or continuum, no part of which can actually be separated from the rest or valued above or below the rest. It was in this sense that Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch, meant that “fundamentally not one thing exists,” for he realized that things are terms, not entities. They exist in the abstract world of thought, but not in the concrete world of   nature. Thus one who actually perceives or feels this to be so no longer feels that he is an ego, except by definition. He sees that his ego is his persona or social role, a somewhat arbitrary selection...

What is time? What is emptiness? Time is a powerful tool to demolish everything. Emptiness has the ability to cut through the concrete, since every object, as high as the mountain, as huge as the ocean, turns back to be empty.  Print until the color is unseen, draw until the pigment is too light to be seen Trials of writings A study of the sound wave I drew a part of the sound waves of my reading of the Diamond Sutra . It rouses my interest whether a drawing of sound waves is apt to be converted into sound. The answer is the sound waves are more  detailed than a normal drawing, so it is almost impossible to convert into sound through apps now. The waves are more meaningful than I thought, like the moment of moment.  A drawing of a part of the sound wave when I read the Diamond Sutra

  The link between history and today is strong. The mounts made by sands (I didn't call them dunes because they are more like mounts), was the site the travelers seeking Dharma stepped on. How is it related to us? When I took this translation out from yesterday's blog and put it on this photo, I found the verse worked like the beginning of a story. At the same time, this place in Dunhuang, is the start point of the travel for Buddhist Dharma seeking. Was it felt because the verse was written on-site, where the 'story' took place? Was it just look like the beginning of a story? Review of the former work  In an interesting and inspiring conversation with Jane and Aliesha, I was asked whether I had put my works on a wall or in any form that I wanted to exhibit them. I always wanted to have my works mounted, but the paper is too fragile and requires skillful technique if I want to put them together. Thus, for testing, yesterday I mounted some wasted drawings together, some ...

  The first two pages of the Diamond Sutra (868), from the idp Website             When I asked someone whether I could take some words out of the Diamond Sutra, he answered me: you should not, because this was the translation done by the effort of so many people.  It is so exciting to think about how many people have worked for this Diamond Sutra , read the  Diamond Sutra . There is a link I can sense, but so hard to tell.  A translation of a poem depicting who traveled to India for the Buddhist Dharma was made today. I am still curious about the position of a translator. 晋宋齐梁唐代间，高僧求法离长安。 In the period of Northern and Southern Dynasties and Tang Dynasty, the famous monks departed from Chang’an to travelled to India for the Buddhist Dharma. 去人成百归无十， 后者安知前者难 ? Only ten out of hundreds went back successfully, Was their arduous journey understood by the generation of later? 路远碧天唯冷结，沙河遮日力疲殚。 The trip was too long, only the piercing coldness...

以弘始五年歲在癸卯四月二十三日 。 於京城之北逍遙園中出此經 。 法師手執胡本口宣秦言 。 兩釋異音交辯文旨 。 秦王躬攬舊經 。 驗其得失 。 諮其通途 。 坦其宗致 。 與諸宿舊義業沙門釋慧恭僧䂮僧遷寶度慧精法欽道流僧叡道恢道㯹道恒道悰等五百餘人 。 詳其義旨 。 審其文中 。 然後書之 。 以其年十二月十五日出盡 。 校正檢括 。 明年四月二十三日乃訖 。(from https://deerpark.app/reader/T2145) Upon is an excerpt from the eighth volume of a book  Chu San Zang Ji Ji [出三藏记集] . What was precious in this paragraph is it rebuilds the process of how a sutra was translated. The translation of the above excerpt is seen below: In the 5 th year of Hongshi (A. D. 403),  on 23 rd April (i.e. 24 th June), this sutra was translated in Xiaoyao Garden, a place north to the capital city. The Dharma master held the original sutra in hand, speaking of the Chinese version. The other monks discussed the meaning of each sentence through their own languages. The king of Qin has diligently read the former sutras, and testified the meanings and loss of meanings, inquire about the path of practice and exposes the core concept. The Dharma master carefully analysised ...