与其说，我搞艺术，倒不如说我在寻求一种生活方式，自由自在，无拘无束。多年行走于名山大川游历世界各地，这是我喜欢的。作品是我对现实生活经验的反观，我的作品就是我生命的过程，有年轻时入世的喜悦、对生活的赞美、彷徨和对神的崇拜，比如《易经》系列、《朝圣者》、《风》等，又或者是对自己的思考，比如《断层的思考》系列、《觉》系列，这一时期的我和我的作品都是新鲜的，只想着“仰观宇宙之大，俯察品类之盛”，然后积累着自己各种各样的情绪，把它们放进一件件的作品里，或者堆积在细节上。有一种情绪我最在意，就是见佛欢喜，虽然我没有皈依任何宗教，内心对每派宗教都怀着敬重。仿佛冥冥中感受到由此带来的无限宁静，但它并不是时时存在的，只是偶尔的，像对我生命的奖励一样出现，让我久久地陷在这种淡淡的却不甚理解的超然里。

　　随着时间慢慢从我生命里跑过，那些悟透悟不透的事情好像过眼烟云，不再重要。如同佛理所说“直指真心”一般，剩下的就是全部生命的理解，它也许不是什么高深莫测的学问，也不是世人追逐的真理，就是一个渐悟的开示。这一时期，我把自己关在工作室里，用虔诚为我佛造像，每一天，就像空门弟子诵经念佛或是扫地吃饭一样，是一种修行。每一次抹泥，每一次雕刻，都是不带任何诉求的修行，不为任何目的祈求佛祖给予。塑造的佛像仿佛我心万言，是我想说的一切关于生命的感悟，但似乎又并不需要言语去表达，因为开悟本身就是一件只可意会不可言传的事。我不善言辞，不能像高僧一样辩经，也不能靠言语去点化世人，塑像是我唯一的修行和说明。我把世界文化元素及各大宗教理念融于佛像的创作。世界和平、大爱无疆是所有宗教的信念，也是我的创作主题。如果世人在我塑造的佛像面前有所得，那么，功德自然归于我佛，如果世人在今世的佛像里感受到了宗教的神圣，那么，慈悲仍是源自我佛。我如果有所得，在塑像的修行里，所得即是我心欢喜，那种开悟之后的、没有包袱的、发自真心的欢喜。

　　后来，我似乎具备了一种特异功能，我能在凡尘的世人身上感悟到每个人的本我，见到他们佛性，他们的背后都有一圈圈的光芒：有的人智慧如佛，有的人笑容暖心，有的人天生悲悯，有的人积善成德……人人皆佛，只要他们一生都向着佛的方向不断修行。我发愿把三千人用雕塑形式造成佛，让他们参与造就他们的本我心像，这尊塑像成为他们本我的观照，这就是360渡(慈悲之美)——千佛计划。唐太宗李世民曾说过“夫以铜为镜，可以正衣冠;以古为镜，可以知兴替;以人为镜，可以明得失”，今天我们以本我心像为镜，又会何如?也许，这就是我佛叫我造佛的意义。任何的神明都不需要实体，他们忌讳偶像式的崇拜，他们更希望济苍生以德，是世人需要看得见的精神依靠，一种真实存在。佛像是佛的化身，代表了佛的一切属性，如果世人带着肉身被塑成佛，余生都将活在向佛的修行之途上，这是一种正念，一种理想，一种对至臻完美的佛的追求。

　　魏晋时的名僧释惠远曾被他的师父评价说：若有一人能将佛法在这片土地上发扬光大，非惠远莫属。而他之所以能，是因为他用广泛流传的儒道来解释佛法，在魏晋玄学不可一世的时期里，宛若一股清流。我自然比他不能，我的修行是用艺术的方式在繁华喧闹中为世人提一盏佛灯，当一尊尊以世人为题的佛像被放在千家万户的台面上时，就是佛祖在警讯世人当克制己欲，并以他为德行之尊，用每一天完善自己的心性，哪怕是琐碎的重复，也是修行。

　　艺术就是生活，艺术也是修行，艺术更是一种社会责任。如果每一个人来到世上都有一个使命，那么，这就是我的使命。

Art ascultivation

Rather than creating art, I am seeking a lifestyle, of freedom and boundlessness. Walking amongst mountains and journeying all over the world is my favorite. The artwork is a reflection of my real life experience. My artwork reflects my life journey: When I was young, it’s all about secular joy, praise and wandering, divine worship in works like The Book of Change, Pilgrims, and Wind, or self reflection in works like Fractional Thinking and Awakening. Everything I made and myself were refreshing during that period, as I thought consistently about “the boundlessness of the universe and multiplicities of types”, accumulated my various emotions and then transformed them into artworks or details. Among all emotions, I was most aware of my joy towards Buddhism. Although I didn’t follow or practice any religion, I held respect for each of them. As if it’s destiny, the infinite peace brought by Buddhism – sometimes and not always—surfaced as a reward for my life, and put me in a lightly incomprehensible detachment.

As time goes slowly through my life, those incomprehensible moments, like floating clouds, are no longer important. As stated in the sutra “Straight into one’s heart”, all that’s left is the understanding towards life itself. It is neither sophisticated knowledge nor universal truth, but just a discovery of gradual enlightenment. During this period, I buried myself in the studio, working on the sculptures everyday. Just as monks recite sutras or cook and sweep, each claying or each carving for me is also a way of cultivation without pursuing and giving to the Buddha without needing. The resulting sculptures embody my countless thoughts and revelation about life, expressed without words, as enlightenment itself is to be sensed but not explained. Though I am not as eloquent as eminent monks who can debate or enlighten people with words, sculpture is my only cultivation and statement through which I can fuse world elements and religious ideas together. World peace and borderless love are both beliefs of all religions and my theme of creation. If anyone experiences and gains something in front of my sculptures, the credit belongs to our Buddha; if anyone experiences the holiness through my sculptures, the mercy belongs to our Buddha. If I gain anything through the cultivation of sculpture making, it is my happiness, one that is of enlightenment, burden-less and from the bottom of my heart.

Sometime later, I seem to have gained a super power. I can sense the true self and see the Buddha nature in everyone. They all have layers of halos and auras behind their back, some as intelligent as Buddha, some with heart-melting smiles, some with universal empathy, some accumulating merits. Everyone can indeed become Buddha as long as they practice Buddhism all their lives. I have dedicated myself to transform three thousand people into Buddha sculptures, and invite them to participate in creating their images of self, so that the sculptures become a mirror of their true self. Thus is the 360 over-comings (The beauty of compassion) – three thousand sculpture project. Shimin Li, Emperor Taizong of Tang, once said, “Using brass as a mirror,we are able to tidy our dress; using history as a mirror,we are able to learn about the rise and fall of a dynasty;using others as a mirror, we are able to tell the lossand gain of ourselves.” Today what can we learn when we use these self-images? Perhaps this is why Buddha made me sculpt. No divine entities need real bodies, and instead of blind worship from people, they prefer spreading seeds of virtues. They are visible spiritual entities people depend on, a real existence. The Buddha sculptures are personifications of Buddha, and they represent every Buddha attribute. If people are made into sculptures while alive, they can spend the rest of their time in cultivating Buddhism. This is mindfulness, an ideal, and a pursuit towards the perfect Buddha.
    An eminent monk named Huiyuan Shi, during the Wei-Jin Dynasty, received one testimony from his teacher, “If there is one person capable of spreading Buddhism on this land, that person is Shi,because he islike a clear stream in the muddy river, explaining Buddhism through the widespread Confucianism on this land where Neo-Daoism considers itself a world above others.” Of course, I am no comparison to him. My cultivation is to light up a sacred lamp, in the name of art, for people in the hustle and bustle. When these secular-themed Buddha sculptures are presented in the homes of thousands and thousands’, they deliver the messages from the Buddha that people should restrain their desires, respect and honor him for his virtues and improve one’s own mind-nature, because however trivially repetitive it may be, it is still cultivation. Art is life, art is cultivation and art is ever more a social responsibility. If everyone comes to this world with a mission, thus is my mission.