Painting the Dao

146 ak24.106 Water, Pine and Stone Conversation, No.15 Ink and watercolour on cloud-dragon paper 188 × 97 cm, Hong Kong, December 2024 Four artist seals 水松石山房 Shuisongshi shanfang (Water, Pine and Stone Retreat) 竹虛老人 Zhuxu laoren (Old man as empty inside as bamboo) 如如居士 Ruru Jushi (Retired scholar who believes all doctrines equal) 石狂 Shikuang (Stone fool) inscr iption The last of their foliage fallen The lifeless roots of ancient pines search still On the bare cliffs of the wilderness No longer for scarce nutrients But for a last tenuous grip In the crags and crevices of existence In inhospitable peaks Trees are indifferent to time Life and death have no meaning They embody the Dao They are as they are until change occurs And they rejoin the dust of a dusty world So I breathe life back into them Transformed into calligraphic dragons Inscribed by the Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat at the Garden at the Edge of the Universe in the winter of 2024.