Huan
 Zhang

The sculpture in this photo is called Rulai. Rulai is Buddha. It was made of incense ash from temples. For me, incense ash is a collective soul, memory, and prayer. The power of incense ash makes me sleepless and sentimental. Every day I work with numerous souls within the incense ash. At first, when I went to the temples, I always used to pray for myself. Then I started to pray for my family and employees. Now I pray for peace on earth. This follows the Buddhist route from great self (dawo) to minor self (xiaowo) to no self (wuwo) and back to great self. I need to train myself more. For me, life is something to use but not to own. Incense ash can bring life back to people, but it can also terminate lives.

Now Buddhism makes me more tolerant, quiet, and peaceful. It also helps me deeply understand transiency and karma.