Mandala - journey to conquer mother's wish

The nature of life is always suffering, so I choose to find optimism in pessimism, and I believe in gentleness, good luck, better work, and being closer to happiness and peace.

My mother gave me early enlightenment and I was exposed to Buddhism from a young age. Along with the gentleness of a Buddhist in my mother, her love has nourished my soul and formed my personality. Strong will taught me valuable life lessons about the message that when you have a positive thought, you will find a positive meaning in any situation. Since then, Buddhism has appeared very gently in my life. My workspace is composed of Buddhist artwork and meditation music. I feel happy with my work, relaxed, and at peace in that space. Without thinking, the mind and body are more purified, and peace is more present.

The Mandala universe, with the meaning of complete rotation, is combined with concentric circles, representing the complete Buddha nature, for the enlightened realm of the sea of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This square structure has four gates, each decorated with decorative motifs representing each of the enlightened qualities of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. This place can be called a palace because the main central position of the Mandala is the residence of the main Buddha, surrounded by five Buddhas. But it can also be called a pagoda because this is the place where the essence of Buddha-Dharma-Sangha is stored.

The work with the Mandala is placed in the center, surrounded by 379 words of the Great Compassion Mantra, the outermost being a stylized circle of a lotus petal. I want to say that each of us—a small universe—is protected and sheltered by a great universe with the tolerance and compassion of the Buddha. What is more special than 379 words is that the work was done by 379 different people. This means that when inserting toothpicks into the typeface, everyone is focused on sending good thoughts into the work.

When doing this work, when designing, I didn't know whether the arrangement of the letters of the Great Compassion Mantra should be done from the inside out or the outside in. I shared this with my monk. He asked what the purpose of this was. I presented the idea of spreading the positive energy of the mantra of Great Compassion, the compassion that connects the community. He said if you want to bring energy to each individual, do it from the outside in; If done from the inside out, the meaning of energy spreads to many people, each person has a thought, and the work will spread a lot of energy. That is why in this work, the 379 words in the Great Compassion Mantra are arranged from the inside out.

If it is predestined, I hope to do more work to connect the community, connect the love, let everyone participate, and sow more good things for each other. And finally, BoArc will use the auction proceeds from the work as a charity to send to orphans and children in need of maternal care with the message: "Spread the love."

Specifications:

Dimensions: 1.4mx1.4m

Number of toothpicks used: about 27,000

Time: 03 months

Number of people: 379 people