Can Contemporary Buddhist Art Be the Middle Way to Enlightenment?

Taiwanese artist Chen-Yu Chang’s highly meditative paintings, on view at the exhibition Superimposition, Entanglement, and Excitation, bring us to the intersection of millennia-old Buddhist wisdom and the quantum world.

Sense of Wander: ★★★★☆

The Perfection of Compassion by Chen-Yu Chang. Image courtesy of Ruomu Gallery.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — This summer, I’ve been fascinated by interviews exploring spirituality from a scientific perspective. Among these, the meditation techniques put forward by Dr. Joe Dispenza have caught my interest.

Under his guidance, I was led to the so-called “quantum field,” a realm brimming with the potential of the lives I desire. In this space, I was encouraged to visualise and deeply feel — with every cell of my being — as if I’m already living my dream life.

Some of you reading this might think it sounds like pseudoscience. How could our physical bodies be connected to the quantum field?

For the skeptics, here are the scientific facts: our bodies are composed of organised patterns of energy and information. This means we are more than just physical beings; we are consciousness broadcasting a unique energy pattern. According to Dr. Joe Dispenza, we are all connected to “a sea of information in a dimension beyond physical space and time.”

Though I’m no quantum expert, my intuition urges me to venture into this sea of infinite possibilities where all potential experiences exist. It is perhaps this recent revelation that led me to discover the works of Chen-Yu Chang, a contemporary Taiwanese artist known for his Buddhism-inspired art.

While studying modern physics, Chang discovered that the notions of superimposition, entanglement, and excitation in quantum physics echo phenomena described in millennia-old Buddhist philosophy. This opened up a new world for Chang, who now explores the essence of life through his artistic expressions.

Chen-Yu Chang’s The Heart Sutra, measuring three metres by three metres, took the artist more than a year to complete.

I had the opportunity to catch Cheng-Yu Chang’s solo exhibition, Superimposition, Entanglement, and Excitation at Ruomu Gallery in Taipei before it closed.

As soon as I set foot into the gallery, my attention is immediately drawn towards a huge canvas titled The Heart Sutra.

Men and women, naked, swirl from the centre of the canvas like a school of fish rising from the ocean depths. Some appear to enjoy their journey, while others seem to suffer. This scene recalls both the Genesis and, to some extent, Michelangelo’s Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.

These nude figures blend into the backdrop of a human face, carrying a compassionate expression reminiscent of a Buddha — one who has fully attained enlightenment and transcended the cycle of suffering — or a Bodhisattva, who delays final Buddhahood to help others achieve liberation. In The Heart Sutra, Chang depicts the Bodhisattva with half-open eyes and a hint of tears at the corners, as if showing tenderness towards mankind.

Superimposed on this compassionate visage and the sentient beings is a silhouette of a thousand-hand bodhisattva traced in neon blue. The various mudras, or symbolic hand gestures, add a sense of dynamism to this pensive image, putting viewers into a near-trance state.

In fact, The Heart Sutra recalls the artist’s mystical encounter in his mid-30s. During a deep meditation, he found himself facing a ten-story high Avalokiteshvara (the Bodhisattva of Compassion) with one-thousand arms and one-thousand eyes, exuding a semi-translucent light and warm texture. The artist knelt before the divine figure and was handed a golden-handled purple axe, as if being entrusted with a mission.

“Trends in Contemporary Chinese Art” (Chinese title: ‘當代華人藝術走勢圖’) by Chen-Yu Chang offers an insightful exploration of the evolving dynamics within modern Chinese artistic expression.

Heart Sutra is also the name for a popular sutra in Mahayana Buddhism, which teaches that all phenomena are emptiness (Sanskrit: śūnyatā), famously stating, “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.”

The Heart Sutra is just one piece in Chang’s “Quantum Facebook” series, where he connects his understanding of quantum physics with the idea of the social media platform Facebook. This series marks a great shift from his earlier Buddhist paintings, showcasing a deeper internalisation of Buddhist principles. Instead of portraying the full body of the Buddha, the “Quantum Facebook” series gives the spotlight to the face.

Chang views the face as a symbol of the “profundity of superficiality,” a concept explored in contemporary French philosophy. The face holds particular significance in Buddhist doctrine: of the six faculties (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) that interact with the external world, four are on the face. The mind, influenced by these faculties, creates consciousness and manifests in accordance with karma. Thus, an individual’s perception of the world begins with the face.

The Ground of Happiness (left) and The Ground of Difficult Conquest from Chen-Yu Chang’s “The Ten Grounds” series depict the practice on the bodhisattva’s path toward the attainment of Buddhahood.

Next, I encounter a canvas awash in gradients of blue, titled The Perfection of Compassion (translated from its Chinese title “慈悲波羅蜜”). It depicts the face of another Bodhisattva, with eyes cast downward and half-closed.

This portrayal of the Bodhisattva, with half-open and half-closed eyes, is called samāpatti in Sanskrit, an undistracted state of mind achieved through deep meditation. This half-closed gaze also symbolises compassion, reflecting an unwillingness to turn away from the suffering of sentient beings across the six realms.

Delicate lines, reminiscent of calming waves and water splashes, blend into the Bodhisattva’s compassionate visage, their subtlety akin to veins seen through the skin.

On the forehead, where the third eye, or ajna chakra, is located, a tiny red circle is painted, evoking the setting sun. The figure’s cheeks are also tinted with a soft pink hue, reminiscent of the warm, golden tones of the golden hour.

“This half-closed gaze also symbolises compassion, reflecting an unwillingness to turn away from the suffering of sentient beings across the six realms.”

Detailed view of The Perfection of Compassion by Chen-Yu Chang. Image courtesy of Ruomu Gallery.

Nearly every work on display features the Bodhisattva’s meditative face as a backdrop, with various elements artfully blended or superimposed. These include portraits of women embodying Tang dynasty (618-907) aesthetics and flying apsaras, nymph-like celestial beings from the Dunhuang caves. Alongside these classic subjects, Chang also incorporates contemporary elements, skillfully merging tradition with modernity.

Chang’s quest for “truth” in Buddhist wisdom is reflected in his art. By incorporating diverse elements into the meditative visage of the enlightened figure, he reinforces the Buddhist doctrine of the non-duality of emptiness (the non-material) and forms (the material).

Chang explains that “The face represents the whole, greater self, dharma realm, Buddha, Bodhisattva, with a focus on mindfulness of thought, sentient beings, and the individual. These subjects merge into the face, highlighting the non-duality of the whole and the individual…”

Unity of Heaven and Humanity blends the traditional Chinese painting theme of shanshui (meaning “mountain and water”) into the face of the bodhisattva.

A close-up view of Chen-Yu Chang’s Unity of Heaven and Humanity (Chinese: 天人合一).

As I wander among these different faces, each gazing down at the sentient beings — or in this case, the viewers — I feel as though I have made a quantum leap into the role of the Bodhisattva. It seems that the elements woven into the artwork reflect fragments of my own memories from the material world, reminding me that everything before me is ultimately just an illusion.

Finally, I encounter Unity of Heaven and Humanity (translated from its Chinese title “天人合一”), where the contour of the Bodhisattva’s face emerges from a composite landscape of mountains and water, or shanshui. At that moment, I hear a voice whispering in my ear: the divine is everywhere.

Chen-Yu Chang’s solo exhibition, Superimposition, Entanglement, and Excitation at Ruomu Gallery in Taipei.

In Buddhism, the Middle Way — or Madhyamaka — represents a balanced approach to spiritual practice and living, avoiding the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.

Discovering Chen-Yu Chang’s contemporary Buddhist art prompts me to question whether art itself can embody the Middle Way, inspiring viewers to explore not only ancient wisdom but also the essence of life itself.

Chang contends that contemporary Buddhist art transcends mere imagery; it’s an interpretation of dharma — or teachings — and its contribution to civilisation. His “Quantum Facebook” series exemplifies this balance by blending traditional Buddhist symbolism and teachings with modern artistic expression, making it relevant for today’s audience.

Artworks, whether paintings or sculptures, have the potential to guide viewers beyond the material world through visual and emotional engagement. Chang’s creations offer a sense of comfort and serve as a refuge from a chaotic world, fostering mindfulness and inviting introspection.

So, if you ask me whether art — particularly contemporary Buddhist art — can act as the Middle Way to enlightenment, my answer is a definite yes. In my view, contemporary Buddhist art serves as a bridge, connecting timeless wisdom with modern sensibilities, guiding those who seek — for only those who seek will find.

“Contemporary Buddhist art serves as a bridge, connecting timeless wisdom with modern sensibilities, guiding those who seek — for only those who seek will find.”

Reference:

Pan, A. (2020). 當代敦煌: 張振宇的「量子臉書」系列 = Contemporary Dunhuang: Chang Chen-Yu’s New Buddhist painting. Artist Publishing Co.

Chen-Yu Chang’s solo exhibition, Superimposition, Entanglement, and Excitation, was on view at the Ruomu Gallery in Taipei from June 22 to July 28, 2024.