Thought Reading

"Thought reading" is one of the six supernormal powers believed by the Buddhists, which refers to the ability of reading other people's ideas just through looking at them. In the photography work “Thought Reading”, the Buddhist statues shot in Dazu Grottoes, Chongqing (China), are combined with the CT images of the human head, presenting my reflection on the modern civilization. What is defined as 'a thorough understanding of the others' ideas', in my opinion, is just a metaphor. The seeing is easily influenced by one’s desires. For this reason, even though the Buddhism talks about the supernormal power of looking outward on others, in the end the Buddhism is oriented toward human itself, and it believes "looking inward" is the most important matter. The Buddhism tells people about "discipline, concentration and wisdom", but first of all one should clean his delusion and desires. Thought reading can be understood as a significant warning towards our modern civilization: with the technological development, we have been ignoring to take good care of ourselves (our mind); and the technology that is driven by human’s desires, is facing the risk of losing its control.