The painting is called "The Sacrifice of Loving-Kindness", after the Buddhist principle and inspired by a story in the Buddhacarita.

It goes that the demon Mara and his army of demons shot thousands of arrows at the Buddha as he meditated, but as the arrows neared him, they turned into flowers and fell harmlessly at his feet.

The context given with it (though it may be wrong) was that instead of closing up and fighting back against ill-wishers, the Buddha remained open, and that in his openness, those attacks were rendered impotent. At the time of this painting, I was under considerable social stress. Then I surrendered, letting it in, through me, with an open heart.

Though many of those arrows would turn to flowers, some did not. This was the sacrifice of Loving-Kindness.

The mat is also hand-done with specialty paper.