The Seven Tibetan Monk Skulls VI. The Ascetic Dreamer
The Seven Tibetan Monk Skulls
VI. The Ascetic Dreamer
Photo by Noriaki Fukushima
Deep inside the loneliness and pain,
Those who know that there is infinite freedom.
Dreams are a deeper training than reality.
Monks practicing in the highlands of Tibet
Sometimes they spend several months meditating in silence in a cave.
In that time cut off from the outside world,
they areThe true nature of suffering is “something like a dream”I realize that.
The expression that this skull gives off is exactly that of "silence in a dream."
Beyond physical suffering, beyond illusions,
It marks the moment when existence itself transforms into prayer.
ZOCALO's creation also resembles a quiet penance.
Face the material, prepare your mind, and carve, pound, and polish it over and over again.
Through this repetition, consciousness gradually becomesDrifting into a realm beyond form。
Jewelry is not just a piece of work;
It is a record of “lines that are like praying in a dream.”
He who knows that beyond loneliness and pain
lies infinite freedom.
A dream, deeper than reality, becomes his discipline.
In the high plateaus of Tibet, monks often spend months in solitude —
meditating in caves, far from all human sounds.
Through this silence, they come to realize
that suffering itself is a dream,
a fleeting image born of attachment.
The expression carved into this skull
captures that moment of transcendence —
when the body’s pain dissolves into stillness,
and being turns itself into prayer.
ZOCALO’s act of creation mirrors this same ascetic devotion.
The craftsman faces matter as a monk faces the self:
filing, striking, polishing — each gesture a meditation.
Through repetition and patience,
the work drifts beyond form,
until jewelry becomes the trace of a dream —
a silent practice of awakening.
This Chapter VI is the series'the most internal chapterIt is.
After praying in the outside world (I to V), the gaze now sinks inward,
We will reach the practice of ``prayer = way of life.''
The seventh chapter that comes after this flow――“Rebirth Keeper” Ha,
This is a chapter of “rebirth” born from this silent dream.