Mandala Lotus
“Like the truth of a pure lotus flower blooming from muddy water“
Creating these 48 Mandala Lotus Dresses, here at this elder stage of my life, is hope, awareness and prayer. Creation is a source of pure inspiration taking form as the human life force.
Inspiration arises from within, when you feel the truth burning within you. I follow that inspiration.
The consciousness of the Mandala Lotus was born out of an effort to preserve pure light as inspiration in this chaotic world, a place like muddy water.
To create a pure lotus flower out of muddy water, we need to keep our own hearts pure, offering effort and perseverance in endless hours and moments, to that presence of purity and tranquillity.
Yes, what we need to know above all is the law of effort. If we forget this necessity, we must pay the price of physical and mental degeneration: our consciousness loses its power to follow inspiration.
And creation may be selflessness. With constant patience, eliminating one’s own thoughts, eliminating one’s ego, connecting with inspiration without being distracted by the muddy spirit of the world.
Like Mount Fuji which stands tall and unaffected by the chaos of this world.
Even if the earth is polluted, the summit of Mt. Fuji towers above, ever pure.
Our life force is naturally maintained by the cosmic order. The fundamental reality of life, the sublime joy of human existence, no matter how miserable, bitter, or dirty the world may be. If beautiful, shining lotus flowers exist in this world, may we not also live like them? That awareness should change this world.
A lotus flower is life-centred, shining beyond everything. The lotus flower is not affected by muddy water. It is a symbol of joy that shines through the mud. A person’s true joy and happiness must arise after they overcome hardships and break through muddy waters, like a lotus flower blooming.
For me, the effort to break through the muddy waters of this world is the perseverance to use fabric and thread to carve an eternity out of this world’s moments. It is a time of patience that transforms each stitch into eternity.
I empty myself.
Only the presence of cloth, thread, and one needle weave eternal time. I am not there. In this world of greed, dirt, and deadly laziness, every movement of my hand dreams of a future lotus flower.
One day when the 48 lotus dresses bloom, it will surely become a great mandala. The time will come when its absoluteness will pierce the darkness of this world, and with patience and effort, connecting each moment with inspiration, there will dawn an era in which newborn truths shall bloom. Like Mt. Fuji, which stands tall, unaffected by the poisons of this world.
I believe in this hope, and this is why I weave the intention of the mandala into eternity, moment by moment, with every movement of my hand.
Mandala Lotus Series
Chronological order :
| Mandala Lotus 01 | 2020 |
| Mandala Lotus 02 | 2021 |
| Mandala Lotus 03 | 2021 |
| Mandala Lotus 04 | 2022 |
| Mandala Lotus 05 | 2022 |
| Mandala Lotus 06 | 2022 |
| Mandala Lotus 07 | 2022 |
| Mandala Lotus 08 | 2023 |
| Mandala Lotus 09 | 2024 |
| Mandala Lotus 10 | 2024 |
| Mandala Lotus 11 | 2024 |
| Mandala Lotus 12 | 2024 |
| Mandala Lotus 13 | 2024 |
When I was little, I read the story of Chūjō-hime (747–775). And I was very impressed.I always remembered that I longed for the process that the lotus thread was pulled out, and when it touched flowers of various colors, the thread was dyed like a dream and the mandala was completed.
Fukuko Ando
