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TRULY, I love this life of seclusion. Carrying my staff, I walk toward a friend’s cottage. The trees in his garden, soaked by the evening rain, Reflect the cool, clear autumnal sky. The owner’s dog comes to greet me; Chrysanthemums bloom along the fence. These people have the same spirit as the ancients; An earthen wall marks their separation from
... See moreJohn Stevens • One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan
“Cultivating mental clarity is all about your willingness to give up logical thinking and avoid getting trapped in a spider’s web of words and thoughts”, Monk Tsuda tells us as we settle on to the straw-matted floor in as close to a lotus position as we can physically manage. For more than a decade, I’ve been struggling with understanding the concept of stillness. In some way it possesses the ability to trigger peace and anxiety almost simultaneously in equal measures and intensity. Spending time with Monk Tsuda - third generation Zen Master and head priest at the Kyoto based Daishin-in temple - provided a new refreshing approach to the notion of self and how that self-realization is related to the ability to become a mere observer of your thoughts, and therefore in turn can foster stillness. “Human beings can’t learn this truth by rational thought, nor by studying scriptures, rites or rituals”, he continues. “It requires practicing stillness on a daily level in witch the aim isn’t to clear your mind entirely, but just to make mini steps towards letting your thoughts fully go”. Excerpt from a recent story on Japanese Zen Buddhism.
instagram.com“A roshi is a person who has actualized that perfect freedom which is the potentiality for all human beings. He exists freely in the fullness of his whole being. The flow of his consciousness is not the fixed repetitive patterns of our usual self-centered consciousness, but rather arises spontaneously and naturally from the actual circumstances of
... See moreShunryu Suzuki • Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: 50th Anniversary Edition
Rinzai Roku (a celebrated Zen text of the T’ang dynasty) and the teachings of Bankei, the seventeenth-century Japanese master who, for me, represents Zen at its best.
Alan Watts • In My Own Way: An Autobiography
respected Tanchiu Koji Terayama, director of Hitsu Zendo. The English translation of his book’s title is Zen and the Art of Calligraphy (transl. by John Stevens; Penguin Group, 1983).
Sato,Shozo • Shodo: The Quiet Art of Japanese Zen Calligraphy, Learn the Wisdom of Zen Through Traditional Brush Painting
