By Irene Lok
Once more, I tread this boundless land,
undaunted by winds, unshaken by sands.
Through towering peaks and drifting clouds,
the silent journey calls aloud.
Through countless lives, across the years,
I’ve walked this path where time adheres —
Dunhuang, where Han and Tang abide,
To find you here, our fates collide.
Do you recall this altered face,
A soul adrift in time’s embrace?
Your gentle gaze, serene and vast,
holds echoes of the ages past.
A fleeting smile, a whispered prayer,
the hush of mantra fills the air.
Through flowing light, your visage glows,
where time dissolves, yet ever flows.
In sacred caves where shadows gleam,
the past and present weave a dream.
Through mortal storms, beyond the years,
I find the light that calms my fears,
Buddha, Bodhisattvas, wise and kind—
You’ve always in my mind.
10 February 2025
University of Cambridge
Building upon my previous work in Chinese, published in Serendipity at Dunhuang (《緣繫敦煌》, p. 241), I wrote this in English for my online Buddhist lecture, “Dunhuang Iconography: Art as a Path to Enlightenment,” presented for FGS London and delivered at the University of Cambridge on 16 November 2024.
About the author
Dr. Irene Lok is a Visiting Scholar at University of Cambridge, Ph.D. from The University of Hong Kong, Honourary Associate Research Fellow and Art Advisor at the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, The University of Hong Kong, and Member of the Chinese Association of Dunhuang and Turfan Studies. Dr. Lok specializes in Buddhist Studies and Dunhuang Studies. She has taught Master’s degree courses in Buddhist Studies and Dunhuang Studies at institutions such as The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her monograph Contemplating the Mind at Ease: The Origins of the Guanyin Festivals and Worship in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Cosmos Book, 2020) was the winning work of the first “The Next Writer, Publication Funding Scheme (Intangible Cultural Heritage Division)” and received the Social Science Publishing Award at the 3rd Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Awards. Dr. Lok is also the author of Serendipity at Dunhuang (Hong Kong: Chung Hwa Book, 2023). She edited The Collected Essays on Buddhist Studies by Jao Tsung-I (Hong Kong: Cosmos Book, 2013) and has published numerous papers in journals such as Humanistic Buddhism Studies: Arts and Culture and Newsletter of the International Dunhuang Studies Committee.
