The Chinese story of the hare moon; Buddha was walking through the forest, as he went each animal would offer him food. The hare however offered himself as a sacrifice to Buddha. Buddha conjured a fire and before jumping willingly into the flames the hare stated ‘I will offer myself, but cannot speak for the fleas on my back’ and with that the hare removed each flea from his fur, then dove into the fire. To honour his sacrifice and care for others, Buddha put his image onto the moon.

Another version states that the hare is the Buddha in a former life giving his life for a stranger who turns out to be king of the gods.

 

The fleas are cast bronze, as they are my chosen symbol of the story for this piece.

 

Overall Project: The Hare is an animal native to many parts of the globe, and is important to many different collections of peoples, from pagans to the ancient Egyptians. The hare not only has many different stories, but also many common themes within its symbolisms, such as its link with the moon. This makes it a very transformative creature symbolism wise. To show this transformative element I created 6 small hares in different stages of flight, each representing a different symbolism. Each figure had a token of its symbolism/story either represented in cast bronze or painted gold. These pieces were in a circle in a gallery setting to give the impression of one beast running in a circle, transforming as it goes. These pieces were centered around a large ‘Luna Hare’ which is a Hare taking the form of the moon. There is an element of the moon in nearly every symbolism when speaking of the hare, including that of the Celts, Pagans and Ancient Chinese. I also produced two medium sized sculptures to represent ‘The Mad Hare’ and the ‘Jackalope’..