Yachi did not paint for a long time, until 2018, when her life seemed to suddenly be pushed by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, prompting her to pick up the brush and paint. At that time, Yachi was living in Hong Kong and created a series of watercolor illustrations of “Undercover Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.” Yachi wanted to express that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are not so high up above us or distanced from us, but rather they are like undercover agents in our world, and just living a normal life around us. Under her warm brushstrokes, Shakyamuni Buddha turned into a pineapple merchant, Maitreya Bodhisattva turned into a photographer who often says “cheese,” and Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva is a firefighter rushing to rescue people from the fire.

In her paintings, Buddha images are displayed in the image of emptiness, and the unpainted parts of canvas become the shape of the Buddha. Yachi thinks that the Dharma needs to be more internalized, that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have always been a little vague in our hearts. She believes that they need to be felt and understood internally, which is the reason why she uses relatively simple lines to depict them and invoke their clear forms for us to connect with.