Anthony Stevens British, b. 1978

This piece leads on from NAM no 1. To briefly recap, NAM is an honorific word or title that is placed before a Buddha’s name or the title of a Buddhist sutra. In it’s most simplistic form means ‘devotion to’. This piece is really about the relief I sometimes feel from my Buddhist practise of chanting ‘NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO (DEVOTION TO THE WONDERFUL LAW OF THE LOTUS SUTRA), of being able to put into perspective my place in the chaotic, sometimes murky swamp of life where we are bombarded 24/7 with the results of our shared greed, anger and stupidity. I am able to understand a little better what I contribute to the world both for the better and the worse, to get a glimpse of the potential in the problem. This is like the paradox of the beautiful lotus, which needs the mud of the swamp to feed it’s roots and to bloom and reveal it’s full potential. It is a part of a cycle that plays out across the micro and the macro.

The muddy swamp is a moist place fed by the rain, where waste is transformed into life giving and life growing compost. The moisture from above feeds the moisture below and vice versa, over and over again. It reminds me of how when we cry deeply, we somehow revitalise our lives, feel softened and more flexible in our approach to life and to each other, that everything eventually passes, just like the clouds.