At the end of last month and start of March we brushed the illuminating kanji characters of the word Godō 悟道 , meaning the way or path of satori/ enlightenment. It was great catching up with everyone at the monthly Shodō Japanese calligraphy groups in person at Kagyu Samye Dzong and at Zen Brush on Zoom.
After some fun mark making and then some stroke practice, we worked on the characters together in two styles (kaisho standard script, and sōsho cursive ‘grass’ style). Blair discussed their visual background, including the pictograms of the foot at the crossroads and also the heart-mind, and the meanings of the phrase in zen ✨
Here is a short waka poem by Master Dogen (translation by S. Heine) on the theme of ‘satori’ and the ‘way’:
seeking the way
Master Dogen (translation by S. Heine)
amid the deepest mountain paths,
the retreat I find
none other than
my primordial home: satori!
Many thanks for joining and also to participants who shared their calligraphy for this post.
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