Composition

「菩提本無樹   

明鏡亦非臺

本來無一物

   何處惹塵埃」

— 六祖惠能

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The root of all human suffering—the pain of life and the cycle of eternal reincarnation—lies in the faintest thread of obsessive thought. When one sees through the façade of material manifestations masking metaphysical reality, obsession (dust) and the suffering it brings lose their grip on the heart (the clear mirror) and on enlightenment (the Bodhi tree). This idea forms the essence of the famous gatha by the Buddhist patriarch Huineng, from which the title Dust, Mirror, and Bodhi Tree is derived.

Drawing on the purity of perfect fifths and the unique timbre of the piccolos—especially in their lower registers—the piece opens with stoic calm. The serenity is soon disrupted by a creeping dissonant figure that grows increasingly obsessive. After a passage of bitter darkness, the piccolos ascend, symbolising awakening and liberation. Calm returns, perhaps now deepened with wisdom, while the cosmic clockwork continues undisturbed, as it always has.