Mani Stones

Acrylic, Gold Ink, Sand on grained paper, 2024

On the way climbing up to the Tiger Nest, you can find piles of stones stacked upwards from large to small everywhere. You will also find them somewhere nearby the temples or open spaces in the countryside easily. Some of the stones have even scrawled in Buddhist scriptures. If you look at them with lively imagination, they actually look like the spine of a body at first glance.

These stacked stones are called "Mani Stones", which are sacred objects of Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibet, they are even regarded as simple small altars, symbolising a source of spirituality, protection and healing. 

The Bhutanese believe that stacking Mani stones is a way of conveying prayers and blessings, which can bring positive energy and inner peace to the world.

I also think that Mani stones convey a message of being balanced. If you don’t want the stones to collapse, you have to master the balance point of each stone. This actually symbolises the pursuit of physical and mental balance, dietary balance, energy balance and work-life balance in our daily life.

走上虎穴寺的路上，或是在不同的寺廟外，以至郊外的空地，處處也能發現呈一塊塊由大至小被向上堆疊的三角錐石堆，有些石頭更被塗寫經文，驟眼看起來有點像人體的中軸-脊椎。 

這些被疊高的小石塔被稱為「Mani Stone 瑪尼石」，是藏傳佛教的殊聖物，在西藏甚至被視為簡單的小祭壇，象徵具有靈性、保護力與療癒力的泉源。不丹人以相信，疊製瑪尼石堆是一種傳遞祈禱和祝福的方式，可為世人帶來一份正能量和內在平靜。

另外，瑪尼石亦傳達了關於平衡的象徵價值。若要石堆不倒塌，你就必須掌握每塊石頭的平衡點，這好比理想的生活狀態，只有達至身心平衡、飲食平衡、能量平衡、勞逸平衡，我們才能獲得真正健康人生。