We had a lovely couple of hours of Shakyō Sutra copying, working on the second half of the Lotus Sutra Chapter 25 Bodhisattva of Compassion Universal Gateway (Fumonbonge). It is a fascinating, poetic and visually spectacular chapter, with many interesting characters to discover meanings from, and engage… Read More »Meditative Shakyo tracing of the universal gateway
We have a very different theme this month ? thanks to Mark, who kindly sent me a picture of his acrylic paining of a cute passenger train in the Yorkshire Dales and Ribblehead Viaduct, with lovely open space and light. Do you have a favourite… Read More »Creative Time– draw your favourite Public Transport or work vehicle!
We had a peaceful shodo calligraphy session together meditatively brushing. The theme we brushed was Zazen zen sitting meditation, and we preceded this with enso 円相 brushing, which is a great practice in itself and helps you express and feel interconnection with all things and… Read More »Brushing Zazen Meditation and Enso Zen Circle
At our Destress drawing and doodling group we relaxed with a theme of Spring growth and new life and energy emerging! Blair had some daffodils and shoots and buds to look at and we had photos too for inspiration. Some of us drew with pencils… Read More »Doodling spring joy and growth at Destress
The theme for March was 雛祭り Hinamatsuri Dolls’ Festival. Otsukaresamadeshita – well done to those who joined! Hinamatsuri was on March 3rd – it is a popular festival known as the Girls’ Festival or Dolls’ Festival. Impressive carpeted platforms display beautiful ornamental dolls of the Emperor,… Read More »Celebrating 雛祭り Hinamatsuri at Kanji Club
We investigated the main styles used in Tenkoku seal engraving, such as tensho or inten, and ancient Chinese mysterious styles such as carved into animal bones or worked into metal, discovering how these were modified and cut into stone, or also brushed onto paper. We… Read More »Exploring the inspiring styles of seal stampmaking
‘If you are cast adrift in the huge sea, bothered by troublesome dragons, fish and demons, bring awareness to the power of Kannon (Avalokitesvara Perceiver of the Sounds of the World), and the billows and waves can’t drown you ..’ We had our meditative Shakyō… Read More »Breathtaking peaks and seas pull us into meditative Shakyo
As the crocuses and daffodils shoot up and fresh green leaves begin to open, why not make a doodle or two to capture the energy of Spring! It could be a few marks or some shapes of buds, here are some examples from participants to… Read More »Creative Time – Doodling the joyful growth of Spring
At our monthly zoom shodo calligraphy group Zen Brush we embraced the spring breeze – with 春風 harukaze. There have been signs of spring here now, especially in the mild wind and sunnier days! We brushed harukaze – spring wind – in the kaisho style, the… Read More »Embracing the Spring breeze at shodo calligraphy 書道
We had a theme of night over the horizon – the deep spaces of the night sky above the city or landscape, with the vast space of the cosmos and stars and planets. It was a very chilled out relaxing group with participants working from… Read More »Cosmic doodling at the Destress drawing group