Art & Buddhism
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Sho calligraphy mark making
Making some marks with fude brushes and fudepen using Japanese sumi ink. Beginning practicing for a series of three Drawing and Painting Studio workshops. Experimenting with the brush stopping and flicking, speed of the marks and energy. In the first Shodo group the Kanji characters ten – heavens/ sky and shin or kokoro – heart/
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The light will not break – Kusen Collaboration with John Fraser
John’s Kusen Book Of Serenity, Case 36: Master Ma Is Unwell The Case: Master Ma was unwell. The monastery superintendent asked, “Master, how is your venerable state these days?”The Great Teacher said, “Sun face buddha, Moon face buddha” Commentary: “unwell” is a euphemism. Master Ma (Baso) was mortally ill, and died the following day. Sun
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Beyond Kyoto on the Nishiyama mountain trail
off the beaten track, drawing through the dense foliage impenetrable undergrowth seeking colour and light blasting – near the magical ponpon yama hills
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Body of the Ground – Kusen Collaboration with John Fraser
John’s Kusen No. 91 “Those who fall to the ground get up relying on the ground” Interdependent origination is difficult for us because we have an unexamined idea of time: it is like an arrow, going from past to future, yet past, present and future don’t have equal weight. The past is like an accumulating
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Momentary State – Kusen Collaboration with John Fraser
John’s Kusen Zazen is often called the mountain still state, the balanced state. What we need to understand is that the state is momentary. It is a quality of this moment. Not the person, the moment. This moment rolls in and out of balance. When out of balance, self, world and linear time all arise,
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Windswept Carn an Tuirc and Glas Maol
waga iho wakoshi no shirayamafuyugomorikouri mo yuki mokumo kakari keri my Koshiwhite mountaincozy winter denice and snowoverlaid by clouds Eihei Dogen The voice of the valley is endlessly preaching.The colour of the mountain is nothing but pure body.During the night, I heard eighty-four thousand verses.How shall I expound this to others? Su Dongpo, composed when
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Transient worlds within worlds, and divergence – with translations of Basho and Ryoukan
within the thin covering snow Three Thousand Worlds again inside this world fragile snow falls Ryoukan vision of decay in mind, the wind permeates the body Basho at the month’s end moonless – a one thousand year old cedar is hugged by the storm Basho Diverging Contained – Spaciousness Tranquil – Distorted Phenomenon – Concept
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Listen with Our Listening – Kusen Collaboration with John Fraser
John’s Kusen A pernicious and invisible delusion for practitioners is that there is an inside and an outside to experience: We should cleanse inner experience by eradicating thoughts and noise, and our experience of the world will be transformed. But of course, there isn’t an inner and an outer, there’s just this experience, within which
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Smeared Across Time – Kusen Collaboration with John Fraser
John’s Kusen Poetry Dogen’s ‘Everyday Life’ [adapted] On Unseen MountainA scarecrow isNot in vain Commentary: The scarecrow standing over a small rice paddy would often be dressed in black, like a monk. He protects that which feeds all beings. So, Dogen is talking about the practitioner and the dharma, and the relationship between them. Because