stamped in red ink (in Chinese characters) (in image) u.r.: (artist's buddhist seal) inscribed in ink (in image) c.l.: 丁丑元宵節敬書般若心經 伯墀 stamped in red ink (in Chinese characters) (in image) l.l.: (artist seal) inscribed in ink (in Chinese characters) on reverse u.l.: (Chinese name) (Chinese title) inscribed in pencil (in Chinese characters) on reverse u.l.: PATRICK LAM
The Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita Hrdaya Sutra), a Buddhist text, is written in the regular and semi-cursive script of Chinese calligraphy on a background of broad vertical and horizontal strokes of ink wash. It appears that the text is written or incised on a bamboo fence. It is also reminiscent of ancient texts written on bamboo strips that were tied together with thread or leather strings and then rolled into a handscroll. [Such bamboo strips with early writings have been found in burial tombs dated to the 5th-3rd century B.C. in China. This early book form must have influenced the way a Chinese text is read vertically from top to bottom and then from the right to the left column]. The style of the writing is inventive, lyrical and whimsical. It is also evocative of incised inscriptions on oracle bones (e.g. shoulder-blades of oxen or tortoise shells used for divination) of the early Shang dynasty, 12th century B.C.
The Buddhist Heart Sutra, which originated in India was introduced and translated into Chinese in the Tang dynasty (618-906). It is called the Heart Sutra, because it contains the core of the philosophy of Buddhism. It is presented in the form of a conversation between the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Suriputra, a Buddhist monk and one of the early followers of the historical Buddha. [A Bodhisattva is a being who has attained spiritual enlightenment but has postponed nirvana (i.e. the cessation of the cycle of rebirth) in order to help all sentient beings to attain enlightenment]. After studying the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom), the Bodhisattva came to the realization that the world as perceived by our senses is an illusion and is hence not real. The senses themselves are mere illusions. Even the mind is an illusion created by the mind itself. In realizing this truth, he was thus liberated from all the sufferings of the world.
