Contemporary & Traditional Tibetan Calligraphy

Title:
Hog eats Cock eats Snake

Chinese ink on water-colour paper, 57x76 cm, 2007

One of the basic notions of Buddhism is that the ego of each individual is an illusion.

At the centre of the circle of script in this piece, repeats the words “cyclic existence” are three animals chasing each other’s tails: a hog, a cock and a snake.
Each of these animals represents the one driving forces which maintain the illusion of a separate and constant change.
The aspect of the ego portrayed here are first, delusion, which is signified by the hog; secondly, greed and attachment, which is signified by the cock; and thirdly, hate and aversion, which is signified by the snake.
Each of these aspects of ego is seen as feeding on another, perpetually in the cycle of Samsara.

Circular Tsugtung script.