This is a project that relates, through images, four colors to the transformative movement whereby each of them changes negative qualities into positive ones in the Buddhist tradition. In it, color symbolism is frequently used to present abstract concepts through visual images to make those very concepts more universal.

 

Thus, blue transforms anger into wisdom of patience; yellow transforms pride into wisdom of balance; red transforms the delusion of attachment into the wisdom of discernment; and white transforms the delusion of ignorance into the wisdom of ultimate reality.

 

In addition, the images created try to capture symbolic representations from nature, such as the lotus flower, which are related to the qualities mentioned above.

 

The project arises from a personal interest in Zen Buddhism as a form of meditation and the need to explore beneath the surface of things by simplification, minimalism and abstraction, to awaken spiritual awareness and intuition vis-à-vis the symbolic.

 

Zen Buddhism affords a glimpse into the original nature of mankind. Its teachings aim at disciplining the mind itself and making it its own master, through an insight into its proper nature. Zen’s unique character consists in the methodical training of the mind in order to open it to the state of satori, when all its secrets are revealed, and the realization of emptiness and impermanence of things is achieved.

 

In the practice of Zen there are three fundamental elements called 'jewels', 'treasures' or 'refuges': the Buddha -or awakening-, the dharma -or the practice and understanding of the teachings- and the sangha -or group of practitioners, which includes all sentient beings. Taking refuge in the Buddha involves learning to transform into harmony the confusion that the mind has created.

 

It is such transformative process that this work intends to portray through a set of images associated with four colors and their symbolism.