At our recent Zen Brush calligraphy group we brushed a lot of strokes and had fun laying out the kanji. The text we copied was the first line of Chapter seven of Lao Tzu’s mystical Tao Te Ching (道德經 The Way of Virtue Classic, expressing… Read More »Heaven and Earth in Shodo calligraphy
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 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
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
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
At our recent seal engraving group we welcomed some new faces, helped them get started with their designs, and we also spent some extra time looking at 基本形 Kihonkei – the basic form. We found many options in the possible forms for 2, 3 and… Read More »Finding balance and space in seal designs – Tenkoku stampmaking
Shodo returned again in the new year of the cow! This month we brushed the characters from the spacious 初心 shoshin meaning first time, heart mind, or commonly as ‘beginner’s mind’. Writing this and discovering more about the deeper meanings of the kanji characters in this… Read More »Shodo calligraphy – brushing Shoshin beginner’s mind
At Shakyō Sutra copying practice (online on zoom) we traced or copied two short verses which are often read or chanted in zen and other schools – the Kaikyōge Opening the Sutras Verse and the Fuekō Turning of Merit. They are deep and inspiring short verses, the Fuekō directly coming… Read More »Unsurpassed and deep – tracing the Kaikyōge and Fuekō
We looked closely at the styles of in 印 stamps at the Tenkoku 篆刻 seal engraving group, particularly at Japanese Master Wakabayashi. Wakabayashi Shūjō was like a grandfather to Blair who started studying shodō calligraphy with him in 2002. He kindly introduced Blair to Tenkoku seal engraving and the materials… Read More »Discovering beauty in Japanese and Chinese stamps