In the late autumn of 1997, a ruined ancient temple on Lotus Mountain in northern Jiangxi concealed a strange Buddha statue. The left half was a Buddha with lowered eyes; the right half was covered by a bronze mask, its right eye wide open, calmly watching the road down the mountain.
Shen An, twenty-three, was a temporary worker at a cultural center and a university dropout from the archaeology department. After that eye "caught" him in the main hall, his pupils began to change color, his dreams spiraled out of control, and he saw masks on everyone's faces. He saw the mineral veins deep underground pulsing like blood vessels. The old monk Shoujing had guarded the temple for forty-three years, waiting only for someone who could "understand" that face. Professor Gu Weijun had spent his whole life fleeing the gaze of that eye.
A thousand years ago, the monk Falín "saw" a blank mask inside a stone and called it "Guanzizai": to see is to be free. When you truly see, you will discover that your name, your identity, and your past are all masks. And your true face...
Is blank.
Lotus Buddha Face is a long novel about seeing and disguise, truth and the burden of bearing it.
