About the Image of Guze Kannon (Bodhisattva) drawn with the Heart Sutra

On September 11, 2001, many innocent lives were lost. On that day, people got stripped of their ordinary and peaceful lives in an instant. I was shocked and outraged by the act of taking human lives committed for some lopsided conviction, causing the world an agonizing pain. I decided that it was my duty to put into form the reality of what happened as a member of the artistic community.

In October of 2018, with my promise yet to be fulfilled, I was presented with the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition in New York. I wanted to create a piece for the repose of the souls of the 9/11 victims for the show. And I was immediately confronted with a big question. There are many different languages, writing symbols, and religions around the world. There ought to be as many ways to console the spirits as there are religions. I had to contemplate on what manners of expression were available to and appropriate for me to choose as a Japanese Buddhist in the light of the situation. After some reflection I came to the conclusion that all religions must share the same fundamental spirit of prayer offered to the deceased regardless of the beliefs. With this realization I set out to create my piece in a Buddhist style that I was familiar with.

I came up with two tricks for the design instead of writing out the Buddhist scripture in plain lines. One was to draw the image of the Bodhisattva and have his face turned to one side to express his sorrow. The Guze Kannon is one of Buddha’s disciples said to save us from the sufferings of the world. The other trick was to draw the image with the scripture sentences instead of regular lines. I chose the Heart Sutra to do this. The Heart Sutra is a fundamental sutra that teaches us about common human conditions of worries and sufferings, and salvation from such conditions.

In creating the piece I placed each symbol on paper prayerfully to console the spirits of those who died in the 9/11 attacks and ease the loneliness and longing of the bereaved families.