Sublime

In medieval Japan, under the patronage of the Zen monasteries and the Kamakura shogunate, the prevailing preference for simplicity and modesty were slowly introduced into the styles of the ceramics produced.

A number of arts in Japanese culture contain the suffix dō, which means “way,” as part of their Japanese names: kendō, judō, aikidō, shodō (calligraphy), sadō (tea ceremony), kadō (flower arrangement), and so on. All of these disciplines rely on concentration of mind as their basis. It is by harnessing the power of concentration that the Japanese

He started, “One, two, three . . .” He enjoyed the counting. There was nothing down to earth about it. The vastness of the galaxy was in each star. There were too many stars to count, and yet the count went on like a prayer. The next day he kept repeating to himself, “Count the stars in the sky.” As he drove and ate and talked to his family, he

Dogen founded the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism in 1227 after experiencing enlightenment in the Chinese monastery on Mount Tiantong in 1225. On returning to Japan,

it is clear that he and the early patriarchs of Zen preferred Gunabhadra’s version.

Khotanese monk’s name was Shikshananda,

Zen arrived in Japan shortly after the beginning of the Kamakura Era, when the military dictator Yoritomo and his samurai followers had seized power from the hands of the then somewhat decadent nobility. This historical coincidence provided the military class, the samurai, with a type of Buddhism which appealed to them strongly because of its