Written for TANA Quartet during 2017 Royaumont |  ACADÉMIE VOIX NOUVELLES. Premiere on 10th September, 2017, Royaumont, France.

神秀說：「身是菩提樹，心如明鏡台，時時勤拂拭，勿使惹塵埃。」 
慧能說：「菩提本無樹，明鏡亦非台，本來無一物，何處惹塵埃。」

I imagine cleaning the big ancient Buddhist temple, but in the end I’m cleaning my soul. This piece is inspired by the two famous poems in China from one thousand year ago.

Shenxiu – 
I strive to be a tree of bodhi,
And have a heart of a clear reflecting plane,
Forever polishing it I will be,
To never let it be dusted and vain.


Huineng – 
The bodhi did not really the form of a tree possess,
A clear reflector restricted not to a plane;
When not a thing ever really mattered,
Where could dust have gathered and lain?

Cleaning The Temple (2017)

Composer from Taiwan, now based in New York City

Cleaning The Temple (2017)

張玹 Shiuan Chang