The Zen saying "keisei sanshoku" 1 , states that the voice of a mountain stream incessantly intones the truth of Buddha’s words, and that the contours of a mountain embody his silhouette as he teaches. Zen teachings hold that truth is in all natural phenomena that surround us—to be found everywhere and in everything. Is it not a tragedy to be constantly face-to-face with truth and not be able to perceive or hear it? HASHI’s photography extracts momentary images from these things that exist around us and in so doing, he reveals their true nature.

When shown an image of a fleeting moment, we can sense just how rich in meaning our lives are. Objects when they are viewed for an instant have an expression which is truly full of life and vitality. The moment of the photograph is the foundation on which other moments accumulate, creating a temporality stretching towards an infinite future. Living within such a temporality, we are surrounded by things with the potential to be viewed thus.

The beginning of the Heart Sutra says “form is emptiness,” 2 that all matter in this world has a form, but that this form is only temporary and has no permanence. By releasing all things into emptiness, then all things, in their momentary and temporary form, reveal truth. HASHI’s work itself, by expressing this moment in photographs, discloses the truth before our eyes.

Wahei Tatematsu
February 11, 2006
At the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo