“If we wish to know clearly the eternal truths of the world,

We must of necessity expand our spiritual space.”

From the Museum of World Religion’s Founder,

Dharma Master Hsin Tao’s prayer at the UN Millenium World Peace Summit

 

 

“Rocks are like flying white, trees like seal script

To “write” bamboo go back to the pa-fen

Only when a person is capable of understanding this

Will he know that painting and calligraphy are basically the same.”

Poem by Chao Meng-fu,

dedicated to Hsien-yu - Shu, collophon, 1300

(in Possessing the Past, Treasures from the Palace Museum, Taipei)

The pictures were painted by students from two schools in Taipei in reaction to a brief first visit to the Museum of World Religions which opened on 9 November 2001. The Museum of World Religions is the creation of Master Hsien Tao, a Buddhist monk. Master Hsien Tao meditated for two years in a cave and another two years in a cemetery, emerging with the idea of uniting the art of all religions in a single space in order to show a unity of purpose among religions, a unity which he sees in the idea of love and compassion. The museum was organized with the help of Prof. Sullivan of Harvard University.

It is characteristic of the work of many of these students that they are more concerned with getting their ideas across than with the technical execution of the paintings and the aesthetics of art. Those students using traditional Chinese brushes and inks faced an especially difficult problem, because the medium requires a great deal of experience and control. However, under the direction of Prof.Wu Yen-i, their desire to communicate a feeling and belief gives their works force and directness which makes up for the lack of experience in handling the medium.