ARTWORK > Meditations

VASUGUPTA'S DREAM
VASUGUPTA'S DREAM
Watercolor woodblock print (mokuhanga)
26 x 19 (66 x 48 cm)

Sometime around the 9th century C.E., in the mountains of the Kashmir region of India, there lived a sage named Vasugupta. Little is known about Vasugupta, but a text I've been studying called the Shiva Sutras is attributed to him. It's said that Lord Shiva appeared to Vasugupta in a dream and instructed Vasugupta to go to a particular place on a particular mountain where he would find the 77 sutras engraved on a rock.

This image is based on a large rock on Mt. Holyoke in western Massachusetts that my partner and I would often hike to with our puppy Ty. The rock is a very large conglomerate rock, an “erratic” that stands alone in its environment, and at 15 feet or so in height it has a striking presence.

Made from 4 blocks
14 hand-rubbed applications of color
Edition of 5 on Echizen Kozo