Art Description (What inspired you to create the artwork?) The great spiritual teacher, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, became fully awakened some 2500 years ago while meditating under a Bodhi tree in North India. The Buddha’s timeless teaching is profound and in Southeast Asia remains a vital part of the cultural fabric of society. Monks in saffron robes making alms round at first light, the scent of incense from the local temple drifting on zephyrs, lay people making offerings at modest shrines, and the chanting of Pali sutras by monks in the evening are part of the daily sights, sounds and smells of Southeast Asia. In the West, the teachings of the Buddha have also had great resonance where they continue to open hearts and minds to greater possibilities for existence. Like all great religions, Buddhism and its adherents have inspired and created a material world to express and echo the teachings. To seek to explore through works of art the vast realms of Buddhism has been for artists a challenge of immense proportions.