An old Chinese saying about poetry asserts: "There's no such thing as an exact interpretation of a poem. " In other words, a poem can often be read and understood from numerous different angles. This is also the case in minimalist work that resonates with viewers, helping them reach inner and outer fulfillment. Golden and cinnabar dots gather and surround the arched semi-circle, a pure and spotless shape as if a giant sifter has filtered it. The blank in the center is "empty" while the tilted and clean orange lines it harbors are "exuberant." The colored dots also appear to be droplets of golden cinnabar rain that fall to the ground in high and low keys. Low and quiet, near and afar, they seem to manifest a Sanskrit song from a Buddhist paradise.

The use of acrylic paint, which is water-based, imbues the painting with especially vivid and bold colors. Full of life, the saturated colored dots run through the canvas with such an energetic vigor. Hsiao tragically lost his beloved daughter, Samantha, in 1990. Later in 1991, the death of his daughter gave birth to his "Passage through the great threshold", a series of works elaborating the new meaning of life. In "Atman - 1", created in 1999, it is easy to see the shadow of this series that concerns the artist's care for life and his breaking off the shackles of suffering. The artist said he had gained a profound "insight" into the infiniteness of life: "Life fades away in one way while transforms itself in another. Constant transformation is the nature of life. " As this work shows, with the seemingly brilliant sunset on a long summer day as the background, the beauty of minimalism and a whole new perspective of life on the canvas go along with the essence of the artist's life.