Dimensions / 132x61cm

Nam June Paik transcribed two koans from the Blue Cliff Record that he was deeply interested in. The Blue Cliff Record is a collection of 100 Zen Buddhist koans, the well-known stories of priests from Tang to Song dynasties. This handbook of religious exercises is also acknowledged for its literary values. What Paik wrote are the 18th verse on National Monk Hyechung about the seamless tower, and the 37th verse on Monk Banshan about the mind of the three worlds. In the early 1950s, Paik lived in Kamakura, a birthplace of Japanese Zen Buddhism, when he studied in University of Tokyo, and in his times in Germany, he had so comprehensive knowledge about Zen koans that he taught them to his friends including Mary Bauermeister there.