The phrase "Sōmoku Kokudo Shikkai Jōbutsu" (Grass, Trees, Land, and All Beings Attain Buddhahood) originated when Buddhism traveled to China and merged with indigenous beliefs. It expresses the idea that all things possess life and that all things have the potential to become Buddha.

Mountains, rivers, and even stars are born and eventually perish. This is the very essence of the cycle of energy.

I happen to exist as a human being in this place at this moment. However, my existence, my actions, and my thoughts are all merely parts of this vast cycle of energy. This realization struck me when I witnessed the end of a life, and it became the foundation for this work.

One summer day, as I was walking along a forest path with my dog, as usual, I came across a deer that had slipped off a cliff and fallen onto the road. Living in the mountains, it is not uncommon to see the remains of animals, and in such cases, the authorities quickly take care of the remains.

However, the deer’s body, which would normally disappear quickly, remained in the same place the next day and the day after. I remember how black butterflies fluttered around it as if in mourning, creating a fantastical scene.

Over time, its limbs were torn apart, various bodily fluids spread across the road, and small microorganisms began to decompose the remaining flesh. Eventually, all that was left were the fur, bones, and traces of the spinal cord.

When I first discovered the remains, I was so shocked and filled with sorrow that I turned back home. As the days passed and small animals consumed the body, its gradual dismemberment seemed grotesque and unsettling, and I began to run past it to avoid looking.

Yet, over time, I started to observe its slow transformation and eventual disappearance. This process reminded me of the words of the Buddha, which I had read in the Sutta Nipāta and the Dhammapada.

Sutta Nipāta, Chapter 11: Victory

193: Whether one walks, stands, sits, or lies down, bends or stretches, these are merely bodily movements.
194: The body is bound by bones and tendons, covered with flesh and skin, and is never seen as it truly is.
195: Inside, it is filled with intestines, stomach, liver, bladder, heart, lungs, kidneys, and spleen.
196: It contains mucus, phlegm, sweat, fat, blood, joint fluid, bile, and pus.
197: Its nine openings constantly ooze impurities—eye discharge from the eyes, earwax from the ears,
198: Nasal mucus from the nose, bile and phlegm from the mouth, sweat and grime from the skin.
199: The skull is hollow and filled with brain matter. Yet, the ignorant, misled by delusion, perceive the body as pure.
200: When the body dies, it swells, darkens, and is abandoned in a graveyard, disregarded by even its relatives.
201: Dogs, jackals, wolves, reptiles, birds, and vultures devour it.
202: A wise practitioner, having heard the Buddha’s teachings, fully understands this truth, for they see things as they are.
203: (This lifeless body was once like this living one. This living body will one day be like that lifeless one.) Thus, one must detach from attachment to the body, both internally and externally.
204: Having abandoned desires, a wise practitioner attains the immortal, peaceful, and deathless state of Nirvana.
205: The human body is impure, foul-smelling, and covered in ornamentation. It is filled with filth and constantly exudes impurities.
206: To hold oneself in high regard while despising others—what is that but blindness?

Dhammapada, Chapter 11: Aging

146: What is there to laugh about? What joy can there be?—when the world is always burning. You are enveloped in darkness; why do you not seek the light?
147: Behold this adorned form! It is a body full of wounds, assembled from various elements, suffering from disease, full of desires, yet fragile and unstable.
148: This beauty decays, becomes a nest of disease, and quickly perishes. It is a mass of decay, destined to collapse. Life inevitably leads to death.
149: Like a discarded gourd in autumn, like bones bleached white, where is the delight in such a thing?
150: This fortress of bones is plastered with flesh and blood, governed by old age, death, pride, and deceit.
151: Even the grandest royal chariots decay. The body too moves toward old age. But the virtues of the wise never age. The noble continually impart the truth to one another.
152: The unlearned grow old like cattle—their flesh increases, but not their wisdom.
153: For countless lifetimes, I have wandered in the cycle of birth and death, seeking the house-builder. Suffering is rebirth again and again.
154: O house-builder! You have been seen. You shall build no more. Your beams are broken, your roof collapsed. The mind is freed from all formations, and all cravings are extinguished.
155: If one acquires no wealth in youth and fails to cultivate virtue, one withers away like an abandoned heron in a desolate pond.
156: If one acquires no wealth in youth and fails to cultivate virtue, one lies like a broken bow, regretting the past.

As these passages took on scent and color in my mind, I suddenly understood—I am but a fleeting part of this great cycle of life, momentarily given the form of a human.

The decomposed flesh and blood return to the earth, nourishing plants, which in turn feed animals. Those animals are then consumed by larger creatures, perpetuating the endless cycle of life.

Water follows the same path. Flowing from rivers to the sea, rising into clouds, falling again as rain upon the mountains, and returning to the rivers. Water bestows its blessings equally upon all beings—humans, animals, microorganisms, and insects—nurturing countless lives as it flows.

During my daily walks, I had never noticed this intricate chain of life. But now, it spread before me like an undeniable truth. The Buddha’s words became deeply interwoven with my realization, forming the core of this artwork.

The image of a girl receiving golden light from the heavens represents myself at the moment of receiving this profound teaching through this sequence of events.