fan

DIA600mm, Hong Kong

心經  The Heart Sutra

bō rě bō luó mì duō xīn jīng
般若 波羅 蜜多心 經
guān zì zài pú sà, xíng shēn bō rěbō luó mì duō shí,zhào jiàn wǔ yùn jiē kōng
觀自在菩薩, 行深般若波羅蜜多時, 照見五蘊皆空,
dù yī qiē kǔ è 。 shè lì zǐ, sè bú yì kōng ,kōng bú yì sè,
度一 切苦 厄。舍利 子,色不 異空, 空不 異色,
sè jí shì kōng ,kōng jí shì sè。 shòu xiǎng xíng shí, yì fù rú shì
色即 是空, 空即 是色。受想 行識, 亦復 如是。
shè lì zǐ, shì zhū fǎ kōng xiāng, bù shēng bú miè, bú gòu bú jìng,
舍利子, 是諸法空相, 不生不滅, 不垢不淨,
bù zēng bù jiǎn, shì gù kōng zhōng wú sè, wú shòu xiǎng xíng shí, wú yǎn ěr
不增不減, 是故空中無色, 無受想行識, 無眼耳
bí shé shēn yì, wú sè shēng xiāng wèi chù fǎ, wú yǎn jiè, nǎi zhì wú yì shí jiè,
鼻舌身意, 無色聲香味觸法, 無眼界,乃至無意識界,
wú wú míng, yì wú wú míng jìn, nǎi zhì wú lǎo sǐ, yì wú lǎo sǐ jìn
無無明, 亦無無明盡, 乃至無老死,亦無老死盡。
wú kǔ jí miè dào, wú zhì yì wú dé,yǐ wú suǒ dé gù
無苦集滅道, 無智亦無得,以無所得故。
pú tí sà duǒ, yī bō rě bō luó mì duō gù, xīn wú guàài。 wú guà ài,
菩提薩埵,依般若波羅蜜多故,心無掛礙。無 掛礙,
gù wú yǒu kǒng bù, yuǎn lí diān dǎo mèng xiǎng, jiū jìng niè pán
故無有恐怖, 遠離顛倒夢想, 究竟涅槃。
sān shì zhū fó, yī bō rě bō luó mì duō gù, déā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí
三世諸佛, 依般若波羅蜜多故, 得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
gù zhī bō rě bō luó mì duō, shì dà shén zhòu, shì dà míng zhòu
故知般若波羅蜜多, 是大神咒, 是大明咒,
shì wú shàng zhòu, shì wú děng děng zhòu。 néng chú yí qiè kǔ, zhēn shí bù xū
是 無上 咒, 是無 等等 咒。能除 一切 苦, 真實 不虛。
gù shuō bō rě bō luó mì duō zhòu。 jí shuō zhòu yuē
故 說般 若波 羅蜜 多咒。即說 咒曰:
jiē dì jiē dì,bō luó jiē dī,
揭 諦揭 諦, 波羅 揭諦,
bō luó sēng jiē dī, pú tí sá pó hē
波羅 僧揭 諦,菩提薩 婆訶。

The heart Sutra is about emptiness;  things exists only through our minds… Thoughts, ideas, names, concepts. Nothing really exists on their own sides.

Here is the Dalai Lama’s teaching on the Heart Sutra and the 37 Practices.

embroidery

DIA190mm, China

This embroidery is taken from a traditional Chinese under garment, the du dou, a garment that is made by the mother for the child as an extension of love and blessing.  The design of this embroidery showed the well wishes of the mother, the hope that her child would become a zhuang yuan, the scholar who came first in the official examination.  Since the Siu dynasty, the imperial court has set up a system of examination to find the best scholar to take up an imperial post.  This is perhaps the only way to promote one’s status in a hereditary society.

In the embroidery, there is the zhuang yuan holding a bamboo while stepping on head of the Ao fish.  獨占鰲頭, occupying the head of the so fish alone, is a symbol of being the zhuang yuan for during the ceremony with the emperor the zhuang yuan will be standing on the head of a stone carving of the ao fish.

national day

DIA200xH80mm, China

Have a great day!

Spike is rejoicing for the cancellation of this year’s firework celebration.
Rooaf Rooaf!

tiger paper cutoutW180xL180mm, China

This special paper cutout is made for traditional window lattice; to be able to fit into the small lattice frame the paper cutout are normally of a small size.  To make a bigger pattern, this tiger has been divided into 4 pieces to be paste onto the four interior corner the lattice frame to combine into a tiger.  These paper decorations are called chuang hua (window flower), they are removed and paste a fresh on every Chinese New Year as a projecting of hope and blessing for the year ahead.

Tiger from the Chinese is a symbol of blessing, an admiration for this strength and bravery, a popular theme for children

stirpes

Textile Width 450mm, China

Fancy a striped shirt made with hand woven cloth?

Before that some stripes illusion.

weaving shuttles

L400xW70xH60mm, China

 These are a pair of wooden shuttles for the hand loom.

Anyone interested in weaving and other Chinese craftwork should watch out for the workshop organized by the Jin Ze Arts Centre,  a not-for-profit art and craft organization aimed at the preservation and promotion of the fine tradition of Chinese craftsmanship by fostering exchanges of ideas and techniques between practitioners of traditional crafts and contemporary designers via innovative approaches.

Here is a weaving workshop held last March, wish I was there!

https://www.facebook.com/JinZeArtsCentre

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DIA210xH30mm, China

This plate gave me an impression that it is not Chinese, this feeling most likely came from the scribbling scripts on the plate which resembles a foreign language.  But on closer inspection, there is a mark on ten o’clock which inscribed the word 熏.  This happened to plates that were quite common, a mark for identifying your own if they were to be mixed up in a lot of similar ones.

The pattern on the center, two, four, six, eight and then o’clock resembles a flower, as sunflower is not a common object on Chinese pottery, it would be fair to assume that it is a chrysanthemum.  Looking at the scribble again, there seems to be a repeating icon which makes the language again unlikely.  Scrolling foliage pattern is typical for Chinese floral pattern, basing on this i started by search and this is probably what the original designed was like and after years of abstraction by the village craftman, the design has transformed itself altogether.

umbrella

DIA990xH650mm, China

Typhoon Usagi just departed and its raining cats and dogs but this umbrella is probably too delicate to embrace the serve weather – a paper umbrella!

The paper is made from mulberry tissue paper coated with tung oil (oil extracted from the fruit of tung tree, Aluerites fordii Hemsi).  The structure is made delicately with bamboo.  These umbrellas are very durable, I had a plain dark blue one which lasted through my teen years.

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moon cakeW70xL70xH25mm, Hong Kong

This is a ceramic paper weight made in the shape of a moon cake.

Today is the 15th of lunar August, the middle of autumn when the moon is at its fullest.  Since the Zhou dynasty people has started to worship and celebrate the moon on this night.  Food, such as moon cake, water melon, apple, dates, plums and grapes will be offer to the moon on an alter together with candles.  Today, for most people the moon festival is about the appreciation of the moon, a time for family reunion and of course a feast.

As people becomes more health conscious in recent years, the once a year of loaded sugar and cholesterol is too much for some, the sales of moon cake has started to decline.  However, they have found another target customer – doggy mooncake, mooncake made especially for the man’s best friend.  Looks like they have found spotted the right target!

brush standW70xD50xH20mm, China

Continuing with the stationary items, this ceramic ware is a brush holder.  A holder for the small brush, unlike the previous brush rests where they are lay horizontally, the brush here are inserted into the small holes and left standing.  The small container is for keeping a bit of water in case the brush has gotten a bit dried.  This kind of brush stand are usually used by the people who are writing all the time, e.g. the doctor, the pawn shop owner, the restaurant manager etc.