ART REVIEW
Buddhist treasures soothe soul, uplift human spirit

By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Reviewer

•	'Sacred Treasures of Mount Koya: The Art of Japanese Shingon' Through Nov. 10 'The Art of Mu Xin: Landscape Paintings and Prison Notes' Through Dec. 1 10 a.m. — 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-5 p.m. Sundays Honolulu Academy of Arts 532-8700

Buddhism, which teaches that one can attain enlightenment during one's lifetime, and the other through the poignant art and notes of a man who survived the darkness of government oppression with the brilliant determination of the human spirit.

Mount Koya

It is rare that I recommend that more than one viewing of an exhibit is necessary, but this exhibit is that rare occasion, historic and mind-boggling in that it is in Hawai'i at all. At the very least, please make a resolution to see it once before it closes on Nov. 10 because, according to the Honolulu Academy of Arts' Asian art curator Julia White, "Esoteric Buddhist art has never been presented on this scale in America before."

White, along with directors George Ellis of the academy and Korin Nagasawa of the Koyason Reihokan Museum, and with support of individuals from the University of Hawai'i, the Shingon Mission of Hawai'i, the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan, and the U.S. Council on the Arts and Humanities, have achieved the miraculous within two years of planning. Planes transported 44 crates of artwork, some very large.

An unprecedented installation of ninety-one works of art, including two Japanese National Treasures and five Important Cultural Properties, fill the five sections of the exhibit with sculptures, paintings, printed works, textiles, portable shrines and ritual implements. One of the National Treasures is on public display at Mount Koya only once every 10 years for a period of one month. If this arrival is not enough to celebrate, it is also the centennial of the Shingon Mission in Hawai'i and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

This eclectic collection spans the Heian (11th century) to the Showa (20th century) periods in Japan, the Koryo (12th century) to the Yi (16th century) dynasty in Korea and the Tang (8th century) to the Yuan (14th century) dynasty in China, and includes aspects of Historic and Shinto as well as Esoteric Buddhism.

It is easy to imagine, if you haven't seen the exhibit, how overwhelming all of this might be to absorb. But take heart, docent-led tours and the color catalog are available for alleviating any meltdown that might occur. Good Web sites to research are: www.shingon.org and www.koyasan.org.

A serene wooden statue of Kobo Daishi (16th century), a man who took on the attributes of a deity through learning the secret teachings, and the founder of Shingon Buddhism, greets you at the entrance. Flanked by two ferocious guardians — "Jinja Daisho" and "Shitsukongoshin" — wood statues (14th century) that remarkably survived fires in 1843 and 1926.

"Kobo Daishi's image is at every temple," says White. "He is human and compassionate. This is important because, if you can relate and identify with him, you too can take on the attributes of the deity and become a Buddha — women included."

The exhibit contains many paintings of Kobo Daishi, a scroll said to have been done in his own hand, "Hokke-kyo (Lotus Sutra) in Miniature Characters Scroll I," his priest's tools and a sandalwood shrine from the Tang Dynasty in China which belonged to him — one of the two National Treasures.

There is no shortage of deities to assist you on your path in this exhibit. Fierce Guardians, Bodhisattvas, Luminous Kings and Arhats are often portrayed in unmistakably brazen colors — in both painted and sculptural forms. Exquisite mandalas, cosmic road maps such as "Ryokai Mandala of the Two Worlds" (12 century) or the "Makakaruna Garbhakosa Mandala" (14 century) also offer direction.

The academy's Asian Arts gallery, especially the fine collection of Buddhist art, joins this divine ancestral reunion and further embellishes the exhibit. The "Dainichi Nyorai" (early 10th century), a carved wood statue with gold leaf, is a particularly elegant example.

The influence of spiritual beliefs in the art world is pervasive. The art of Esoteric Buddhism is no exception. This art was made to soothe the soul, frighten away fears and uplift the practitioner. It has the ability to transcend the physical world, the artist and the materials. "The Sacred Treasures of Mount Koya: The Art of Shingon Buddhism" is a blessing.

Mu Xin

Mu Xin, an emigre who became an artist during a period of incarceration in China, sewed 66 pages filled with miniscule Chinese characters into the lining of his prison clothes. His imagined dialogues among historic personalities represent his internal dialogue of survival through years of political suppression, house arrest, hard labor and solitary confinement for the crime of being born into privilege during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

In a profound display in the Asian Temporary Exhibition Gallery, Mu Xin (his chosen name, which translates into "spirit of the trees") epitomizes the resiliency of life through art in his writing and painting. Born in China in 1927, Mu Xin saw his family dispersed, imprisoned and killed and their estate destroyed, along with many of his paintings and books.

This exhibit might not woo you at first glance. It isn't flashy or visually seductive. The art work is dark with a limited palette (as one would expect of painting under prison conditions). However, an articulate silence here demands attention. This inspirational writer-artist risked his life to "build a more reasonable but magic world in which I sincerely lived," he wrote. He felt that he would have risked his life if he hadn't produced them.

In his work titled "Happiness," he wrote, "An individual who knows what happiness is, and is good at it, is a genius. The genius of happiness is not an innate genius but a product of deliberate cultivation."

The 33 surreal landscape paintings, averaging 13 by seven inches, in gouache and Chinese ink on Western-style watercolor paper and referred to as a "Tower Within A Tower," were produced late at night — which might explain their luminous qualities. Detailed forms emerge out of fluid shapes rich with an atmospheric, supernatural quality. In a transfer technique of "controlled coincidence" reminiscent of decalcomania and monoprinting, Mu Xin's paintings are as poetic as their titles.

"Bamboo and Plum: Paired Purities" has a rock-like, unusual blue-green background with finely detailed trees. From a distance, "Pure Mind amid Colored Clouds" and "Noon Thunder in the Shade of a Banyan Tree" appear curiously photographic.

Mu Xin did not sign his artwork. A resident of New York since 1982, he abides by Flaubert's dictum: "Reveal art; conceal the artist." Although he may choose to believe he is concealed, his inspiration is not.