I had a dream when I was out sketching from nature in my hometown. I didn't realize it was a dream at first because when I woke up, the scene around me had not changed. It was the same old temple hidden in the mountains and the huge dome I could see when I looked up.

It often visits my dreams. It started out as a mud dome. Next time it was decorated with auspicious clouds, floral patterns, and even miniature temple buildings surrounding it. In later dreams, it was no longer quite as simple as it had been at first, with frescoes of vermilion and verdant and ivory and gilt lines. It looks like a window built by god to spy on people, or as the only passage between the two worlds, looking up is the domain of god, and looking down is the world.

In the beginning, I was terrified of repeating a scene in my dream, but then I stopped to feel fear. Because every time I'm surrounded by this dome I just feel familiar and relaxed, like an old friend waiting patiently for your arrival.

Since then, I've been going to that old temple in the mountains, to see the dome. I stared at it, then closed my eyes and thought about how this amazing work of art was created. I want to touch it, but it seems to be separated by a very distant distance from me. I listened to it, sometimes as if someone was calling my name, my nickname that was given by my great-grandfather, but when I tried to identify it, I was just met with disappointed silence. I could only paint it over and over again, sometimes in black and white charcoal sketches, sometimes in brightly colored oil paintings. It's like if we exchange souls over and over again like these, I'll find the answer to our destiny.

I am not a believer in fatalism but prefer the mysterious beauty of its aesthetic value, and all acts of questioning it are included in the unfalsifiable fate. Somewhere always has the power to let me repeatedly meet the dome in the ancient temple, like a stubborn let I must not forget. What are the gifts that people in this world left for me, treasures that belong to me alone.