Sonia Li

“My brain and my heart are my temples. My philosophy is kindness.” -Dalai Lama

Through an eight year process of personal transformation, my entire identity shifted in meaning. In dance I found personal truth, and it showed me how to move through my existence in this world, ever-evolving to become a better version of myself. Within this intensive period, I experienced multiple stages of neuroplasticity through the mind-body connection, continually rewiring the brain and sculpting the body to lead to an open and compassionate heart.  

Buddhaverse is the symbolic depiction of my ever-changing exuberant internal energy, hinging on my research in Tibetan murals and the compassion mandala. Mandalas are Buddhist enlightenment maps used to enhance spiritual practice through imagery and meditation to overcome suffering. An artist’s vision of the Tibetan compassion mandala, Buddhaverse is a three-dimensional ‘divine temple’ which resides Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, whose thousand arms help many beings simultaneously. Within this virtual temple, Chenrezig’s arms radiate glowing rainbow lights, symbolic of the Rainbow Body practice, a physical fluorescence phenomenon when one obtains the highest level of enlightenment, transforming their bodies into pure light. The fantastical visuals are inspired by Tibetan murals, 'talking walls' filled with images of nature and deities, meant to help us understand our minds and hearts, adorned with artistic symbols of nature and goddesses. Visitors become dancers in this compassion mandala, promenading through the flowing cosmic temple.

Originally I wanted the virtual version of Buddhaverse as a way to digitally show what I was thinking about as a physical installation, yet the result of the digital world became its own entity.