A large hand-brushed scroll (over 7 feet long and 3 feet high) with a Sanskrit version of the Heart Sutra, also known as The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom sutra. The Romanization is frequently written as “Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya“. This is a core teaching of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and one of the most cited and reproduced Buddhist texts.

“After teaching myself how to brush Sanskirt lettering over a period of about three months, I executed the piece during a week-long silent meditation. The text is especially dear to me as it contains many of the primary teachings of Tibetan Buddhism as well as my personal mantra. The calligraphy reveals all the tentative and vulnerable elements of my tentative grip on life and reality framed by impending mortality. My studies and engagement with Buddhism cosmology has been the primary way in which I engage with my mortality and prepare for my death and dying. One can trace both my confidence in the brushwork and my emotional surrender in the variances of the calligraphic strokes.” — Marshall Weber