Flowers Fall and Return to Earth (花落以土) #15

Ilche-yusimjo (一切唯心造) is a representative phrase of Buddhist mind-only doctrine (yusimnon, 唯心論), meaning that all phenomena and laws of the world, visible or invisible, are made by the mind. It carries a worldview in which all things are seen as products of the spirit, and across all art including photography, the process by which a work is brought forth through the will, or the spirit, of its maker shares something with ilche-yusimjo.
Whether by someone's intent or by nature (天然), what is made and expressed carries some spirit within it. And yet, even when work is carried out at the same place, in the same time, in the same environment, the differing physiological and conscious gaze of each artist results in entirely different works, and as many readers as there are viewing them, that many ilche-yusim are made.
『Flower Falls into Earth (花落以土)』 is a work about ji (地), earth, in the material world. The ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles regarded water, air, fire, and earth as the equal foundational sources of the world. He saw all matter and all things as coming into being or passing away through their mixing and through changes in perception. The myriad things of the world repeat birth, growth, and disappearance, and what grows and moves is, Empedocles argued, what humans perceive as the changing mixtures of those primal elements—water, air, fire, earth.
Likewise, in the "Creation Song," one of the important collections of myths and legends that show the primal worldview of the ancient Tibetans, the first world is described as composed of the four elements: ji (地, earth), su (水, water), hwa (火, fire), and pung (風, wind). Each of these elements has its own color, and they appear further as breaking down into particles bound in organic relation.
A defining trait of Tibetan Buddhism—which has come through long struggle and fusion between Bon, the indigenous folk faith of Tibet, and Buddhism—is the belief that next-life rebirth (來生) and reincarnation (幻生) are taking place within the present reality. People wish, by doing many good things in this life, to be reborn into a better next life. Those who live within the space of Tibet, even within the hard journey of life given by dependent origination (緣起) and samsara (輪回), with the pilgrimages and duties of full-body prostration (五體投地), still believe in and follow ilche-yusim's actions and what they lean upon. They believe that what they wish for will be made. The world of Hwarakitto is no different.
In all things existing in any place, the environmental and ecological consciousness and spirit unique to that place dwells. The flower that pierces its skin and rises out of the earth, and the artificial funeral flower (弔花) tossed onto a hillside in remembrance of someone—both have their intent, their ilche-yusim. And it is only a matter of time: whether a flower of nature or an artificial flower, every flower returns to earth without distinction. Whatever shape they wore, all things of the world are dismantled and broken down to become earth, returning to the ground; and the earth, without any discrimination, takes everything in, accepting the return of all things with infinitely wide forbearance.
And so, by the force of time, it dissolves the form of all things and sends them back to nature, securing a space of emptiness (空). It helps the birth of yet another being. Flower, tree, or human—all things wait upon the earth for the next cycle. The world of Hwarakitto is an image that holds death and birth at once, a space where dissolution and creation stand together.