Kong Xin Shi (SLim)

Over half of my life, I have been following the spiritual path of meditation. I wanted to become a physician but instead became a “patient” in a Buddhist monastery and a student at Malaysian Buddhist Institute, Penang, Malaysia for over a decade. After ordaining as a Buddhist nun, I came to Chicago in 2000 and have been serving and teaching from birth to death with several Asian and American Buddhist organizations as well as the community at large while earning a B.A. degree in art and psychology.

Since coming to the west I have been searching for a medium for beings in the West to have a heart-to-heart connection with the spirituality of the East, to find peace and harmony. Through art I have found this connection, art that conveys spirituality in human terms, humanistic spirituality.

My work portrays organic forms to convey qualities that all beings share. All organic forms are beings, and all organic forms contain beings. Leaves become noses and noses become figures prostrating in prayer. Leaves breathe. Noses breathe. And in prayer we all breathe the same air, walk the same earth, and drink the same water.

All beings have consciousness. All beings have an equal opportunity to interact within themselves and find self-realization. In this way all beings are interrelated.

© Kong Xin Shi