Tag Archives: brush art

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enso & mu

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We end the week of enso traces in Enso: Zen Circles of Enlightenment with No. 55 Mu by Kojima Kendo who was one of the leading Soto Zen female monastics of the 2oth century.  She was 97 and in the last year of her life when she traced her Mu Enso.  The calligraphy combined the enso and the regular script for mu off-set to create white space for the mind to fall into.   Kojima Kendo dedicated her life to social service and creating equity of practice opportunities among monks and nuns.  In her time as abbess, she fought for moral and financial support of the order of nuns whose ordinations and transmissions were not recognized.  Sadly, not too much different from today.

In preparation for my precepts ceremony, jukai, at Upaya Zen Center, I became engrossed by the matriarch lineage I had to prepare.  The penetrating influence of Dragon Lady teachers like Roshi Joan Halifax and Sensei Beate Stolte intensifies the strength of being Zen Women.  Daily, I practised Kojima Kendo’s Mu Enso, starting first in the tradition of calligraphy students by copying it as faithfully as I could.

But mu and enso don’t lend themselves to being borrowed.  Eventually, Kojima Kendo’s playful and energetic enso gave way and set mine free to be just what it is.

Of course, no enso practice is complete without a bow to the ultimate process enso: the Ox Herding Pictures.  For that I defer to my dear dharma friend & a quietly irreverent teacher, Barry Briggs at Ox Herding who has challenged my no-mind since I entered this virtual realm.

I would also encourage reading John Daido Loori’s teachings in Riding the Ox Home:

Thank you for practising,

Genju

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enso & explaining my head

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From Enso: Zen Circles of Enlightenment, No 47 Smiling Circle by Ishikawa Bokugyu

Look at this smiling circle
it is my monastery

When I first traced this enso, it reminded me of the kid on the cover of the children’s book A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein.  I really like that kid.  He’s all gawky and that window in this forehead just screams “Enlightened!”  I could have left the enso as it was and but Bokugyu’s enso was what opened up in Seo’s book.  And I wanted to stay the course of playing with Seo and the art of enso. So, I flipped the enso 180 degrees and the smile that appeared was so compelling truth, honesty and integrity flew out the window.

This is the first time, I’ve actually modified my shodo.  It may mean I’ve lost my moral compass.  Or not.  Shel’s kid makes me smile as does this enso.  Flipping it 180 also makes me notice how hard I am on myself on matters of Truth and Honesty and Integrity.

I came across this interview with Silverstein:

Question: “Why do you have a beard?”
Shel: “I don’t have a beard. It’s just the light; it plays funny tricks.”

Question: “How do you think your present image as world traveler, bawdy singer, etc. combines with your image as a writer of children’s books?”
Shel: “I don’t think about my image.”

Question: “Do you admit that your songs and drawings have a certain amount of vulgarity in them?”
Shel: “No, but I hope they have a certain amount of realism in them.”

Question: “Do you shave your head for effect or to be different, or to strike back at the long-haired styles of today?”
Shel: “I don’t explain my head.”

—Shel Silverstein (1965) from the album I’m So Good That I Don’t Have to Brag.

Inside my smiling circle, I need not explain my head.

Thank you for practising,

Genju