Burn out people’s hell-like minds by burning the Hell Paintings.

Hoping for the peace of people’s mind, I pray in a temple in Nara, Japan on October 21, 2023. For the sacred fire for praying, I burn my four serial Hell-Paintings that is 15 meters in total. With monks of the temple, she prays that hell-like minds vanish from people’s mind as my Hell-Painting burns out. Anger, jealousy, hatred, grief, low self-esteem, arrogance, irritation, loneliness, fear, anxiety, greed…… They feed on negative emotions, multiply and boil over, and control people's actions and words.

For 1300 years ago, people relied on Buddhism and erected Buddhist statues seeking an emotional support when an epidemic broke out. I believe that the power of prayer can be found in art today.

Questions for my praying project and my answers Question: Why do you burn your precious artwork? Answer: The act of destroying these paintings of hell by burning them is my act of prayer to cleanse the world of all forms of living hell. Endless wars, epidemics, evil feelings such as hatred, and jealousy are all such examples. I want my invocation to be intense enough to burn all these sins to nothing.

Question: Why did you choose this temple in Nara prefecture as a place to burn the artworks?　(Nara was the capital of Japan 1300 years ago.)

Answer: This temple teaches the heart of “forgiveness” = “forgiving from being considerate” There are lots of conflicts between either family members or nations, and most of them are concluded in court today. However, nobody ends happily in this way; losers lose money, winner becomes a target of grudge. I learned from a monk of this temple about the concept of “forgiveness” which is to forgive yourself and foes by being considerate to each other. I believe if we can forgive acts of living hells in this world, we can forge a new era.

Question: What kind of hell would people who steal fall into? (If you borrow something from people without their permission, that will also count as stealing)

Answer: In this hell, you would have to carry a lump of burning iron above a boiling iron cauldron. If you drop into the cauldron and die, your body is restored immediately, and you would start from the beginning. The term of double violation of killing and stealing is 10 trillion years.

Question: Tell us about your overall impression on the idea of hell.

Answer: Today we can live for nearly 100 years. Don’t you think it is unfair to suffer for over thousand trillions of years in hell because of behaviors committed in merely a few decades? Then, it is much better to live by respecting all creatures including tiny bugs. Let’s wish for happiness to all life!