Impermanence of things

Abstract

I have lived most of my life engaging myself in Eastern traditions, which most of them were built upon the Buddhist philosophy. In Asian countries such as Thailand and Japan, Buddhism is the national religion and influences our ways of life, our beliefs, culture and art. I am fond of the Japanese culture because it has unique characters and fully contains with a remarkable background, which has been influenced by Zen Buddhism.

Zen is one of the dozen different branches of Buddhism in Japan. The teaching of Zen is more a philosophy than a religion. It has no supreme god and does not focus on the biography of the Buddha. And there is no worship in Zen. Rather, Zen is a form of thought that gives rise to certain way of acting. The influence of Zen in Japan has become the essence of Japanese art and culture, such as the Noh theatre, the Zen painting, the flower arrangement, the tea ceremony and the rock garden.

I have been interested in Zen philosophy, especially when it is represented through the rock garden of Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto. It is considered as a masterpiece of Zen and Japanese art. Some mysteries in Ryoanji rock garden are still kept secret. The mysteries enrich the meaning of this rock garden in terms of philosophy and aesthetic aspects. My curiosity of its meaning and mysteries have brought me to further study and become the starting point of this MA thesis.

The Ryoanji rock garden reveals an implementation of Zen studied to practice mindfulness and achieves the essence of Zen Buddhism philosophy about the impermanence of things. The impermanence occupies the central position in Zen Buddhism. Based on the statement that “Everything is not something stable, but a stage of change”. Buddhism teaches about equanimity in the midst of change and how to respond more wisely to impermanence because all conditioned things are transformative, unstable, and keep changing.

Based on the above, I would like to demonstrate the aspects of Zen philosophy and Japanese aesthetic ideals that are concealed in the rock garden of Ryoanji Temple. Furthermore, the intention of my MA thesis is to create a textile art object that conveys the impermanent statement to the audience, using thousand of natural dyed cotton threads. The natural dyed technique is a natural process that is not only an expression of Japanese aesthetic appreciation, but also reflects the impermanence of nature. Additionally, the visual perception of the artwork will be changing, when the viewer’s position moves. The space between threads and the different colors of each layer create an animation of visual perception in the artwork. By seeing the thread presentation, it demonstrates the idea of my art object about the impermanence of things.