We gently traced and copied the famous and inspiring Mahayana Buddhist Heart Sutra, or to use the full title, the Great Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra.
After Blair and the group discussed about the Shakyo practice and some of the meanings and structure of the sutra, which can often seem very mysterious and baffling, and the fun history bit, he gave a short demo of how to practice, whether tracing or copying using a brush and solid ink, or simply a pen or pencil freehand.
Blair lit the incense, rang the bell and some of us read or chanted the Kaikyoge verse for opening the sutras. Then we practiced meditatively, taking time and talking here and there about how to copy certain kanji characters or strokes, or about some meanings.
Here are some pictures from some of the participants. It was a lovely group, many thanks to all who wholeheartedly took part ?
Also here is a delightful short haiku by Andy Kokuu inspired by ink and brush:
ink brush
night wraps paper
wraps stone
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