Artwork > GARLAND OF SKULLS

Crazy Cloud Skull Ikkyu
Crazy Cloud
Acrylic on canvas
2008

This piece was a commissioned work by the Mugrabi collection in New York. "Crazy Cloud" is a reference to the famous 15th century Zen poet monk, Ikkyu:

My Hovel
The world before my eyes is wan and wasted just like me.
The earth is decrepit, the sky stormy, all the grass withered.
No spring breeze even at this late date,
Just winter clouds swallowing up my tiny reed hut.
Crazy Cloud is a demon in Daito’s line
But he hates the hellish bickering.
What good are old koans and faded traditions?
No use complaining any more, I’ll just rely on my inner treasures.
My real dwelling
Has no pillars
And no roof either
So rain cannot soak it
And wind cannot blow it down
Every day priests minutely examine the Dharma
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by the wind and rain, the snow and moon.