DOKU is a digital avatar created by the artist Lu Yang, developed since 2020 with a team of 3D animators, digital technicians and scientists using motion-capture technology.Sharing Lu Yang's facial features but built as a non-binary character,DOKU embodies digital reincarnation and consciousness through themes drawn from Buddhist philosophy,,and has since been presented as an autonomous artistic entity in its own right.,
DOKU's name comes from the Buddhist teaching Dokusho Dokushi, Dokukyo Dokurai, meaning “we are born alone, and we die alone”.,Lu Yang has described DOKU as a virtual avatar that traverses simulated realities, embodying the dissolution of fixed identity and the recursive nature of consciousness.
DOKU the Creator, the third chapter of the DOKU film series,premiered at Art Basel Hong Kong in 2025 and was shown at Art Dubai the same year,and had its Japan premiere in the duo exhibition “DOKU the Creator – 独生独死 创造者” with Lu Yang at Parcel in Tokyo.,It was also screened alongside Black and White Karma – Turning, a series of 24 digital works based on the Bhavacakra, or Wheel of Life, at Nguyen Wahed Gallery in New York and NADA Villa Warsaw; the series was released as NFTs through the platform Fellowship.
In “DOKU the Creator – Bhavachakra”, Lu Yang's second solo exhibition at Société in Berlin, DOKU's immersive title video combines post-apocalyptic imagery with the aesthetics of video games, manga, anime and Buddhist spirituality, and is paired with 24 digital paintings mapping elements of Buddhist cosmology such as the Twelve Nidanas and the Six Realms. In this body of work DOKU shifts from avatar to creator, generating a visual cosmology attributed to DOKU's own contemplative practice rather than Lu Yang's direct authorship.
