Wabi-Sabi Wasabi

All I can say about this one is that when I finished this zen-like impressionistic landscape painting, I got a wabi-sabi reaction about it.

What’s wabi and sabi?
Both terms are very common in the Zen aesthetic sphere and these refer to the suggestion of feelings of solitude and desolation.
Wabi: quiet elegance
Sabi: elegant (quiet) simplicity

Zen paintings were frequently done using only sumi (ink) no colors were added and the brush work was quite simple in contrast with the kind of painting of the period. Contrary to what most people think, this sensation of loneliness is not a negative thing but a positive characteristic due to the fact that represents the simple and humble life in the mountain, therefore it is a depiction of the freedom and detachment from the material world.
According to the book “Zen and he fine arts” these are the seven characteristics of a Zen aesthetic painting:

-Asymmetry (being unbalanced)
-Simplicity (not being cluttered)
-Austere sublimity/Lofty dryness (being astringent and sublime, being astringent, advance in years and life; being seasoned)
-Naturalness (having no mind, no intent)
-Subtle profundity/Deep reserve (even one speck of dust contains everything and the “not a single thing” is inexhaustible)
-Freedom from attachment (“the rule of no rule”)
-Tranquility (not being disquieted and not being disquieting).

Hut in the mountain, snow and Haiku about loneliness.

About monkeys

One monkey has the dharma and the other is dharmaless!

Body concerns! He is looking quite pleased and what do we think about pleasure?! Aha!

Last year, I was really into the Mayan calendar thing, I found it really interesting and so with some friends we started studying it and suddenly I decided to live my life according to some things these ancient guys said about the universe and mankind. Anyway the first thing I learned is that in the Mayan calendar I’m a blue monkey, and I like blue, I really do but at first I rejected the idea of being born in the “monkey day”, because well I wasn’t much into monkeys, I didn’t like that primitive foolish animal at all, less to be one. The drawing that you can see in my profile represents the final conciliation after several disagreements. I even carved my hanko after this mayan sign, but now I don't like it at all because I found out that in Zen the monkey represents the deluded human being attached to the material stuff!.

Thief! thief! Monkeys are known for their skills to steal things, food most of the times.

Three monkeys, ones deluded, the other awaking.

Calligraphy too

Hakuin dedicated most of his life not only to painting but to calligraphy too and so there you go; when I told the sensei I wanted to write this haiku, he laughed;

野も山も
雪にとられて
なにもなし
-丈草

field and mountain
taken by the snow
nothing remains
-Naitou Jousou(1662-1704)

While writing this, he told me to think about the poem I was writing. A haiku about snow, a poem about nothing.

At first I found myself scrutinizing each character, its traces and position, how big it had to be, what direction should have, the balance of the whole etc… constantly looking at the example from the teacher. Well yeah, this technical approach didn’t turn out right. I was over thinking the whole thing; my traces seemed really awkward and then I realized what the teacher said, that I should just let it be, start writing straightforwardly without too much effort, and after that it started to work, pieces falling into place finally.
I felt I got it, this was not about kanjis, meanings, it wasn’t about words but about an image or more like an insight being exposed. So it turned out that if I wanted to write it properly then I had to let the brush slide without forcing it, reminded me of Dogen’s Instruction for the Cook really, lately everything remind me of Dogen.

What I learned from the sensei while doing this is that although there is a correct way to write in Japanese; a right way to depict each character following the order of its traces and all; it is also about catching a feeling and letting it out in the paper.
Among the last ones I did suddenly I realized there was a space in which the snow flakes fall down from the sky, there is a hint of perspective, but above all there is a feeling, a light feeling of cold white snow. Yatta!

Everything is light! everything is true! n_n

Paatii!

So I was talking the other night with my tai Buddhist roommate -who I love by the way- and we were talking about Zen... well, I was studying for the midterm and talking about Zen, she asked me If I knew Ikkyu-san’s cartoon, and yes, I couldn't resist telling her innocent being about some omitted facts about this priest’s life (like the blind girlfriend and the erotic poetry thing and all) and she got really stunned! It made me realize how crazy this people was xD but in a good way, I kept on telling her about other priests we’ve studied because I thought it'd be really interesting to see her reactions after all she is a Buddhist and suddenly it hit me!.
How about getting some of them together?
We talked about that and the whole situation suddenly turned hilarious and well we end up laughing with the absurd possibilities. Anyway, here it is... a Rinzai Soto Obaku veggie bosatsu Pure land party.Smile.

Radish

This image would enter in the category of a genre that depicts Buddha themes using vegetables called Yasai Nehan.There are many and really funny paintings of vegetables by Ito Jakuchu that you can search online, I did this because I truly think those are very, very zen in every sense, so I recommend you see Ito Jakuchu’s Yasai Nehan, they are hilarious. "Parinirvana (Death scene - Liberation)" is the name of the most well-known painting by this artist and it depicts the death of Shakyamuni who is represented by a japanese daikon sourrunded by his disciples depicted as different kinds of vegetables, some twisting and rolling like the followers in despair. (kawaii!)

"All sentient things without exception have the Buddha-Nature. "

- Nirvana Sutra

Do vegetables have Buddha-nature?

The first thing I thought about when I did this is how lucky a radish is, he can’t speak. We provide names for things to take over these, and so we are deluded; instead of experiencing things just as they are we tend to define it using our functional conventional system of signs. We are tied to words, not only because there is a need for communication but also because language is the ultimate instrumental tool to manipulate others and reality.

It makes me wonder about… is language an external phenomenon, or is something internal, inherit?
Before learning, are there words in our minds from the beginning? What would happen if we were to turn off the language switch? Is that what enlightenment is about? Is that what happened to Jill Bolten Taylor?

Basically what I understand about Zen till now is that maybe if there were no words then we would become one with all of the things there will be no separation, classification nor delusive interpretations of things, just experience.
Because we can’t be aware of thing’s true essence, we just provide names for these perceptions, it is convenient.
In our present society Language is a way to authenticate things, therefore “give them existence”. Something that is not labeled has no existence to us, if we were to encounter an unknown object we would try to dissipate its mystifying veil by relating it to the pack of things we already know in order to mistakenly comprehend it and take control over it by means of a word. It’s just what we do, because we like to be in control of our surrounding.

But vegetables don’t do that, do they? They just are, and stay there... growing happily with their Buddha minds experiencing events immediately, bugs, earth, rain… and What is true self according to Dogen but the pure experience itself. So here are some points that I've come up with about this topic and surely anyone thought of these before, these being,

A radish can’t name things (not that we know anyways).

It cannot kill…unless... they are decayed or infested, or we don’t prepare them properly! Still is not their burden, it is not intentional so it doesn’t count.

Intellection is the biggest obstacle to Zen experience, and… well radishes don’t have intelligence, vegetables don’t think, so they don’t have deluded minds (do they have minds!?), anyway the point is that maybe they experience things just as they are, because they just are.

So they grow and vegetate, being still and silent (very zazenish of them) and later they provide us with delicious healthy zen vitamins. How great, unselfish, enlightened beings ne! '

And finally if we really think about it, there is no nourishment in the world better for us than vegetables; they provide us with what we need to function in this world, and maybe, why not, with some Zen sprinkle as well.

"Seeing forms with your eyes, hearing sounds with your ears, smelling odors with your nose, tasting flavors with you tongue, every movement or state is all your mind. At every moment, where language can't go, that's your mind" -fragment of The Zen teaching of Bodhidharma.

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight

"Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another"

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

At the 9.35 min. she reaches in lalaland... at 15.15 she says she found Nirvana...

...

Tomorrow I'll upload the text...

Meanwhile what do you think is about?

Tomorrow never came, of course, what did ya expect! In Zen there’s no tomorrow. But really, summarizing some points I did this while reading the Ikkyu text. It mentioned a lot about emptiness, void, and skeletons and Voila!

I was painting an Enzo and while doing this it turned into a skull. I thought it was very appropriate for the whole Ikkyu thing because of his emphasis on the nothingness. It’s difficult to talk about this one, reducing it to words and explanations I just see it and get it but maybe if I were to explain this one I would just say that is about impermanence and well the meaning depends on each person’s insight.

As I said before, It doesn't require much rationalization, I expected to be comprehended in a much more individual level, so whatever you think of this is ok and if you feel like telling me it’s great.

By the way the haiku talks about impermanence as well.

“All things come to naught. For death is a return to one’s original state.”
-Skeletons by Ikkyu

Chopping the kitten in Two

I found this zen painting in a book, and it's based on the Zen priest of T'ang China who is said to have cut a kitten in two to illustrate the escence of Zen. Artists who painted this kind of zen scenes were required to have not only a natural gift for art but also a personal experience of Zen enlightenment, therefore there were a lot of zen priests who dedicate time to this particular practice.

However I just copied this one to upload it here due to the fact that we already discussed this koan in class. The real painting has two more monks on the right looking scared and just starring at Nen as if there were nothing they could do. I find interesting that the cat doesn't look like a kitten at all, isn't it? Anyways, a simple non-verbal response would saved his life.

"The monks of the east and west halls were arguing about a cat.
Nan Ch'uan picked it up and said:

If you can tell me something, I will spare it: & if you
cannot tell me anything, I will kill it.

No one replied: so Nan Ch'uan killed the cat."

Ensō

The first image I painted I think it gathers three of the ways depicted in the previous post, it seems easy, but actually beneath this simple appearance there is a lot more going on. Basically it’s made with a single unplanned calligraphy brush stroke, it is said to represent enlightenment or void, or just the "expression of a moment" that is always different for our impermanent nature.

Walking around I’ve seen it printed outside some houses in little signs with the family's name, is this a way of letting others know that they practice Zen Buddhism? Nowadays sometimes it's found in advertisement pieces such as a company logo (Lucent technology), or even in publicities; getting in the commercial world I wonder how much of its meaning has lost, how far away from its true escence it went?

Ensō (円相) is a japanese world meaning "circle" and one of the deepest symbols in Japanese Zen. Zen Buddhists believe that the character of the artist is fully exposed in how he paints ensō, and that only one who is mentally and spiritually whole can paint a true ensō. When man becomes empty of illusion, he appears to himself in the clearest light, it is this state what can be reflected in this single simple ink trace; or at least that's what every book I read says, but can you really tell in which state I was while painting this ensō? Maybe a zen monk would know just like they intuitively know if the student has the right answer to the given koan or not.
You can leave suggestions about how you feel about this ensō, if you sense anything, what do you think of it?

It is said that some artists will paint ensō daily, as a kind of spiritual diary due to the fact that It could be thought as an exteriorization of one's intimacy, a wordless discourse, a graphic demonstration of one's what... self? state? interior being? Does Dogen talk about images?, he does talks about language and how it is used for teaching purposes, he talks about wordless actions, gestures, maybe a painting could belong into this category.

Should the circle be complete? while I was writing the ensō, my shōdō sensei said that the circle shouldn't be close, that there should be a space between the beginning and the end, however I've seen different circles and some have an opening and others are totally completed; If I were to analyze this in a much more semiotic approach, considering some basic zen thoughts, I would have to say that the opening makes much more sense. Yes, life is suffering, is a vicious circle that never ends, we are born, pursue thousands of different things we'll never get and then we die, however if there is an opening... at least a couple of millimetres space between the point where it all start and where it all ends, then we could think about the enso not as something closer to the Ouroboros jurisdiction but as a possible definition for what is zen. So the begining and ending of this image doesn't symbolize neccesary life and death or an infinit continum but the moment when you engage the way or realize the truth, that moment is the stop, the void.
In my own personal opinion having painted quite a lot of this intimate circles, I realized that the most important thing about the whole brush stroke is that white little tinny space, that simple gesture one makes while reaching the beggining to stop before, and... white. Somehow, not being completed gives me the sensation of a profound pause, the feeling of being out, thinking only about the now, out of the conventional definition of time. To me this could be one graphic definition of what zen is.

Researching in the web about this matter, it is said that some artists paint ensō with an opening in the circle, while others complete the circle. For the former, the opening may symbolize various ideas, for example that the ensō is not separate, but is part of something greater, or that imperfection is an essential and inherent aspect of existence.

I would like to finish this post with a fragment of a text that I really liked about ensō, it's from a book called Zen Paintings and you can find it in the library in the reserve section of Prof. Swanson

"This form is also simplest representation of the experience of the absolut Void; it encompasses the universe with one endless line. As such, it also served the purpose of a Koan for the Zen initiate. This kind of simple circle would seem extremely easy to draw, but in fact is one of the most difficult of Zenga; it is not a product of chance, but expresses fully the enlightenment and profundity achieved by the artist. No deception is possible in painting an enso, for the character of the painter is fully exposed in its nakedness. The enso is the revelation of a world of the spirit without beginning and end, and can be said to transcend anything that qualifies as art in the ordinary meaning." - Zen paintings

Any ideas?,

welcome

How to start a Zen Blog and not die in the intent!
At first, when I read about the topics we could choose for the paper I was immediately attracted to the idea of creating a Blog about Zen images, actually it is about one’s own images of Zen. But then again the big question kept popping in my head What qualifies an image as zen? What is Zen?!

The next step was doing some research, at that time I didn’t know much about it, neither zen nor its paintings, but I do recall thinking first about the Enso* maybe the main symbol or at least the easiest graphic sign to relate with this particular school of Buddhism. Anyway, not knowing where to start, I decided to consult some teachers about it. Prof. Scott showed me a book of Zenga, with many paintings of Hakuin Ekaku, then I realized that maybe what makes the image a zen one is the subject of it. A very common topic is the daruma, intense brush traces get together to represent this old grumpy looking old man. After going through the book, she told me Prof. Barry made a really interesting research about darumas in particular and so I went to talk with him. Prof. Barry recommended me to read a book called “Zen and Fine Arts” first and so then he could talk to me about some main points of his thesis; In this book I found a list of 7 characteristics that a zen painting should have.
At this point I found out that I had too ways of carrying on with the task. On the one hand I could make it about a zen subject, such as monks, objects, or just creating something with a minimal expressionist aesthetic would be fine, would that fulfill the requirement? Maybe. On the other hand I could just have in mind the main principles that a zen painting have, wait, Have in mind? and there comes the third way; according to a text I read somewhere in the internet there is no planning, no thinking nor struggle in the process of creating this types of images.
So, three different alternatives of dealing with this assignment -all seem fairly valid- However, one last thing to consider is a four way to proceed (according to this quick draft of how to make a zen image) and that shall be discarded due to the fact that a zen image can only be made by someone who practice zen and truly understand the escence of it. I struggled with this idea a considerable amount of time, but for the sake of this project it was indeed necessary that I put an end to those thoughts, if not I would had get a really bad grade.

Finally I do think is appropriate to state that the images produced and being expose in this blog are merely illustrative (illustrative illustrations!) I don’t think I would ever be able to create a true real zen image (whatever that is!:)) and therefore the ones in here are to be thought only as examples... perhaps someday I will...

Thank you, and feel free to comment!