Its only purpose was to point to the nature of reality. It suggested a new way of seeing, and a new way of being that cut to the core of what it meant to be human and fully alive. Zen art, as sacred art, touched artists and audiences deeply, expressed the ineffable, and helped to transform the way we see ourselves in the world.

To study the Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things. EIHEI DOGEN

“Whole body and mind seeing,” as Master Dogen refers to it, is the total merging of subject and object, of seer and seen, of self and other.

Minor was guiding us to go beyond simply seeing images. He was inviting us to feel, smell, and taste them. He was teaching us how to be photography.

Later, I would see how he had readied me, once again, to see what was right in front of me. He helped me to return to a state of “not knowing,” a willingness to trust what the next moment would bring.

Venture into the landscape without expectations. Let your subject find you.When you approach it, you will feel resonance, a sense of recognition.

In chado, the way of tea; shodo, the way of the brush; kado, the way of the flower, and kyudo, the way of the bow, the suffix “do” means “way.” These arts were called ways because they were disciplines or paths of polishing the artist’s understanding of him or herself and the nature of reality.

When thoughts finally disappear, the thinker disappears. Thought and thinker are interdependent, mutually arising. No thought, no thinker is called the “falling away of body and mind.” This is absolute samadhi, single-pointedness of mind. In single-pointedness there is no observer. There’s no awareness of time, self, or other. However, we can’t ope

To be still means to empty yourself from the incessant flow of thoughts and create a state of consciousness that is open and receptive. Stillness is very natural and uncomplicated. It’s not esoteric in any way. Yet it’s incredibly profound.