Archive for zen arts
great work comes from self-forgetting
Mindfulness, or awareness, does not mean that you should think and be conscious “I am doing this” or “I am doing that.” No. Just the contrary.
The moment you think “I am doing this,” you become self-conscious, and then you do not live in the action, but you live in the idea “I am,” and consequently your work too is spoiled.
You should forget yourself completely, and lose yourself in what you do. The moment a speaker becomes self-conscious and thinks “I am addressing an audience,” his speech is distributed and his trend of thought broken. But when he forgets himself in his speech, in his subject, then he is at his best, he speaks well and explains things clearly.
All great work–artistic, poetic, intellectual or spiritual–is produced at those moments when its creators are lost completely in their actions, when they forget themselves altogether, and are free from self-consciousness.
~ Walpola Rahula, in What the Buddha Taught
vale Daido, Roshi
John Daido Loori, Roshi, has left us. He died on Friday morning.
Gratitude for this extraordinary being and all that he gave to us.
“Tears like falling petals …”
Deep within wild flowers,
Partridges cry out.
Tears like falling petals
Blow in the Wind.
Eternally and Everlastingly,
It is Revealing Itself.
Above the Bare Branches,
Whistling at the Moon, Playing in the Clouds,
The Golden Phoenix Soars hand in hand with
Dharma Brother Daido.
~ Bernie Glassman
source – Zen Peacemakers
hearing with the eye
How can we hear with the eye and see with the ear? We must first set down ‘the pack’ – the ideas, notions and positions that separate us from reality. We must take off the blinkers that limit our vision, and see for ourselves that originally there are no seams, flaws or gaps between us and the whole phenomenal universe. The 10,000 things are in reality neither sentient nor insentient; the selfish neither sentient nor insentient. Because of this, the teachings of the insentient cannot be perceived by the senses.
John Daido Loori, Male Stone
16 x 20cms
Fujix Print
~ rock and water
ceaselessly
practice together ~
Many people think the teachings of the insentient are similar if not equivalent to the teachings we receive from sentient beings. But hearing the teachings of the insentient is not a matter of ordinary consciousness. How then can they be heard? When body and mind have fallen away, in the stillness that follows, the teachings are intimately manifested in great profusion. Whether we are aware of it or not, they are always taking place. The teachings of the insentient are about intimacy, not words.
~ John Daido Loori, Sensei. From his book “Making Love with Light”
Text and image copyright John Daido Loori.
Find more wisdom and photography from John Daido Loori at the awakened eye website.
the artless arts of zen
The arts of Zen are not intended for utilitarian purposes, or for purely aesthetic enjoyment, but are meant to train the mind, indeed, to bring it into contact with ultimate reality.
~ D.T. Suzuki
The Artless Arts of Zen: Zen Aesthetic and Your Everyday Life
A retreat at Zen Mountain Monastery with John Stevens: July 10-12
The creative process, like a spiritual journey, is intuitive, non-linear, and experiential. It points us towards our essential nature, which is a reflection of the boundless creativity of the universe. Zen Buddhism and, particularly, the Zen arts are a rich source of teachings to help us understand and cultivate our creativity. They contain a treasure house of techniques and insight into the creative process. And they point to a way of living that is simple, spontaneous, and vital.
Although Zen mind is expressed in many art forms, the primary vehicle for manifesting the Zen spirit is calligraphy and painting. There are few teachers in the West more capable in transmitting the spirit of this artless art of Zen than John Stevens. The main themes of Zen calligraphy and painting will be discussed and we will have a look at numerous examples of Zen art, past and present. The afternoon sessions will be hands on. We will brush most of the “one-word barriers” central to the Zen tradition: ichi (one), mu (no!), do (way), ku (empty), shin (heart), and others. The characters themselves are simple to learn — most of them belong to the group of kanji taught to Japanese first graders — but profound in meaning from the Zen perspective. There will also be a chance to practice brushing enso (Zen circles), paintings of Mount Fuji, and creating portraits of Bodhidharma. At the conclusion of the retreat, each participant will brush a subject of his or her choosing on clean white paper to serve as an object of personal reflection — even a single brushwork perfectly reflects one’s state of mind.
From the Zen Mountain Monastery website.
