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Shōgen Blair Thomson

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Tag archives: Soto Zen

Snow Chanting

Walking in Glasgow in the beautiful soft snow chanting the short Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo Sutra 💚❄️ Please join me and friends from the Glasgow Zen Group on Sunday 7th of March @12.30pm UTC+0 …

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18 February, 202118 February, 2021Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: Buddhism, Chanting, Glasgow Zen Group, Scotland, Soto Zen

Shakyo – bringing the Sutra to life with each brush stroke and pen mark

Our first online Shakyo 写経 practice event saw us come together from Scotland, and elsewhere such as the rest of the UK and Canada, forming a lovely group of sutra …

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11 June, 202016 June, 2020Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: Glasgow Zen Group, Shakyo, Shodo calligraphy, Soto Zen

Tracing the heart of the Heart Sutra – Tokyo 2019

Towards the end of the year as the dry leaves rustled across the pavements, Blair practiced Shakyo Sutra tracing at temples in Tokyo, working mainly from Genjo’s version of the …

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5 February, 202011 June, 2020Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: Shakyo, Shodo calligraphy, Soto Zen

Kusen

After zazen when we chant the Heart Sutra we are chanting the short condensed version – heart/essence – of the massively longer Great Real Wisdom Perfection Sutras (an early Mahayana …

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14 August, 201915 August, 2019Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: drawing & painting, sketchbook, Soto Zen, Zazen

Limitless – Kusen collaboration

John Fraser’s Kusen No. 197 “A teacher and his student were standing by the shore. In the distance was a boat. The teacher said to the student ‘forgetting about your …

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11 May, 201822 June, 2020Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: Dogen, John Fraser, Kusen collaboration, Soto Zen

Reworking Dogen’s white mountain poem from Sanshodoei

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From the Sanshodoei poems, I have been working on the English translations with John Fraser – 我庵は こしのしらやま 冬ごもり 凍もゆきも くもかかりけり waga iho wa koshi no shirayama fuyugomori kouri mo …

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1 March, 201825 November, 2019Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: Dogen, Poetry, Soto Zen, Waka

Bring me your mind – Kusen Collaboration with John Fraser

John’s Kusen 130 Eko said to Bodhidharma, “my mind is not at peace, please pacify it” Bodhidharma said, “bring me your mind and I will pacify it” After a while …

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15 April, 201722 June, 2020Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: Kusen collaboration, photography, Soto Zen

Shodo zen calligraphy practice

Trying out the zen enso circle, symbol of universality and the idea of beauty within imperfection. Small to medium fude for sho on single hanshi sheets. Working on the character …

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30 March, 201729 July, 2019Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: Shodo calligraphy, Soto Zen

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 …

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5 March, 201730 July, 2019Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: Shodo calligraphy, Soto Zen

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 …

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28 June, 201622 June, 2020Posted inArt & BuddhismTags: John Fraser, Kusen collaboration, Soto Zen

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