金玉佛國 A Precious Buddha Land
設計人：胡焱榮 Soofeen Hu
2014 | 18.2 x 14 x 15.2 cm | 3.125 kg(含木座）
種地：冰種三彩
廠口：達摩坑
 
飛天，在佛教中，指的是以歌舞香花等供養諸佛菩薩之天人。最早起源於印度早期，經中亞絲路，一路傳入中國。敦煌飛天始見於石窟開鑿十六國時期(西元四世紀)，終於元代(十四世紀)，歷時千年，儼然已成敦煌藝術的標記。從敦煌豐富的舞樂圖像看來，飛天是弘法利生志業的重要環節，一方面以歌舞、奏樂、香花、禮讚表達內心虔誠供養佛法的心意；另一方面表達聽聞佛法的歡喜以及佛國極樂世界的讚嘆。

作品浮雕以西方三聖為中心，即阿彌陀佛、觀音菩薩與大勢至菩薩，寓意佛國淨土。周圍飛天伎樂，以箜篌、胡琴、琵琶、橫笛演奏著梵唄音聲，曼妙優雅地從雲彩中飛出。飄帶、流雲的飛舞，加上天女彈奏樂器的神態，動感與美感兼具，畫面似乎也流動著梵音與歡喜讚頌之聲。

荷與和同音，有和諧圓滿的吉祥寓意，而玉石雕造後，以金箔敷塗，有金有玉，也有金玉滿堂的意義。整體荷花池的構圖，是長期觀察荷花生長變化的結果，覺知大自然的生命循環如此鮮明，深有所感：黃白相間枯葉的斑駁，如同過去歷史，清透正盛的花葉以及青蛙，如同現在的生活時光，不久，現在也將逝去，生命無常，世間凡人只能借鑑過去，得以把握當下。另一方面，以荷葉、佛菩薩、飛天包覆從中生長的荷花，乃至超越枯葉，獲得新生，期望觀者從中感受佛性智慧及其救渡眾生的慈悲，不只是藝術欣賞，更能獲得心靈的啟發，朝向成佛之道。

原石的條件影響著創作的想像與啟發，非全然刻意造作，以原有的原石狀態，匯聚創作概念，才能接近渾然天成之效。作品整體以荷葉為造型，配合原石的形狀與色澤，分別呈現荷葉逐次枯黃的模樣、從中開出純淨的花朵與新生綠葉；不規則的形狀，也讓淺浮雕構圖，得以從各種角度欣賞，皆有不同意趣。石頭的硬質地如何表現出荷葉的軟質地，是工藝技法上的一大挑戰，整顆石頭外形，化為由下往上包覆的荷葉，邊緣些許翻出，增添律動感；鏤空雕鑿，呈現出輕盈的層次感，對應飛天佛國主題，於荷葉內部點上一盞燈光，剎時化為具有現代感的佛光普照。

The flying Apsaras in Buddhism refer to the celestial beings that make offerings to all the Buddha and Bodhisattva with the singing, dancing, fragrant flower and more. The Buddhism was originated in early India and spread into China through the Central Asian Silk Road. The flying Apsaras of Dunhuang Caves were first found in the grottoes built in the period of Sixteen Kingdoms (the fourth century A.D.) and ended in the Yuan Dynasty (the fourteenth century A.D.), which had lasted over thousands of years and become an symbol for the art of Dunhuang. Through the rich pictures of dance and music in Dunhuang, the flying Apsaras are an important part for the ambition that propagates the Dharma to benefit sentient beings. One the one hand, they express their intentions of heart to sincerely make offerings to the Dharma through the singing, dancing, performing music, fragrant flower and praising. On the other hand, they express how happy they are while listening and learning the Dharma and how they highly praise for the Sukhāvatī as well.
The Three Noble Ones of the West, Amitabha Buddha, Guanyin Bodhisattva and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, are the focus that is the relief carving of this work, making an analogy of the Pure Land. The surrounding flying Apsaras, music performers, play the Buddhist Chanting and sound through the konghou, huqin, pipa and Chinese flutes, and gracefully and elegantly fly out of the clouds. Dancing in the breeze with the streamers and clouds, plus the Devi’s facial expressions playing the music instruments, the image showcased with the dynamic sense and aesthetics seems to be full of the sound of Buddhist chanting and happily praising.

"Lotus" in Chinese "He" is homophonous with the word for "harmony", which means harmonious and perfect. After carving the jade, it's covered with the coating of gold leaves, and as there is a mix of gold and jade materials, it expresses the meaning of abundant wealth. The composition of the whole lotus pond is based on the results of observing the lotus' life cycle for a long term. The creator realizes that how distinctive the life cycle of nature shows up and he's deeply impressed. The dried leaves mottled with yellow and white colors are just like the history happened in the past; the crystal clear flower, leaf and frog are just like the present life. However, the current moment will be gone soon. Nothing is permanent in life. People around the world shall seize the current moments and learn the lessons from what happened in the past. On the other hand, the decoration of lotus, grew up to get through the cover of lotus leaf, Buddha and bodhisattvas and flying Apsaras and surpassed over the dried leaves, means having a new life. Through this work, the creator expects the visitors to feel the Buddha-nature wisdom and its compassion of rescuing all sentient beings from suffering. This creation is not just an artwork appreciation, but gives the spiritual inspiration to people, leading them to start the way to Buddhahood.

The condition of the raw gemstone affects the creator's imagination and inspiration of creation. The creator, not entirely nor deliberately making a creation, uses the original state of raw gemstone and collects the concepts of creation to achieve a very natural effect. The entire work is modeled by the lotus and coordinated with the shape and color of raw gemstones in order to respectively express the style of gradually dried lotus leaf, and how to display the appearance of pure, clean flowers and newly sprouting leaves. Through the irregular shape of raw gemstone, the composition of bas-relief displays the different charm and interests when visitors appreciate it through the all-around angles. How to demonstrate the soft texture of lotus through the hard texture of raw gemstone is a huge challenge for the carving technique. The external appearance of raw gemstone is transformed into the lotus leaves, which cover itself from the bottom to top and particularly change the display angle of upper edge to showcase a sense of rhythm. The used openwork-carving technique is to express the lithe layers. Compared to the theme of flying Apsaras and Buddha Land, lighting up a lamp inside the center of lotus will immediately display a modern look that the Buddha's light shines universally.