At Shodō calligraphy for our first group this Tiger year (Tora in Japanese), we peacefully brushed the very airy and natural feeling Genpū 玄風 . This is a lovely zen word that can mean mysterious winds, meaning the profound teachings of the ancient zen teachers… Read More »Shodo Brushing the Winds of the Ancient Teachings
At Shodō calligraphy for our last group together in 2021, we had great fun brushing the lovely loose characters of Shikantaza 只管打坐 , about Zen sitting meditation (Zazen). We enjoyed exploring the kanji characters together in the semi cursive Gyōsho style and the quirky old… Read More »Brushing Shikantaza at Shodō Zen Calligraphy
Our Tenkoku Japanese and Chinese stamp making group explored composition and how to create movement and atmosphere. We had some images of sunshine, figures and spears too in the old tensho seal engraving characters ✨ We also enjoyed some carving, chipping away at our stones. Blair… Read More »Light and Movement at Tenkoku Stampmaking
It was a cosy and fang-tastic Halloween themed Sutra Tracing group on the 31st October, copying the famous Heart Sutra – Hannya Shingyo, known more fully as the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. We couldn’t keep away the demons from joining, but thankfully… Read More »Fang-tastic Halloween Shakyo
At our Shodō calligraphy group (on the last or second last Monday monthly on Zoom), we brushed two characters Kōyo 紅葉 , meaning Autumn Colours. The kanji literally means crimson red leaves, so we celebrated and embraced the autumn season through Shodо̄ ? We brushed… Read More »Celebrating 紅葉 Autumn Colours in Sōsho Calligraphy
At our monthly Shodo calligraphy group online on Zoom we brushed the four deep characters Soku Shin Ze Butsu 即心是佛 , a famous old zen saying – heart-mind here and now is Buddha – about being together with all things. We brushed this in the… Read More »Brushing Mind Here and Now is Buddha
At Japanese stamp making it was great to see folk experimenting with different pictures to make into stamps. We had a lovely horse that really came to life. Blair talked about stamp design layout and combining characters vertically, and we enjoyed some peaceful time working… Read More »Lively lines and animals at stamp making
At our cozy and friendly zoom Shakyo group, we copied the short Boundless Life Ten Line Bodhisattva of Compassion Sutra (Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo) 延命十句観音経 for wellbeing and meditative practice. It is a short Sutra so we had some extra time to have a chat… Read More »Shakyo practice of the Boundless Life Bodhisattva of Compassion Sutra
After the summer break we met at our online group and enjoyed brushing the characters kiryoku 気力 , which means – vitality or energy, or willpower. The first kanji Ki 気 (in the pic attached) is the same character as qi/chi in Chinese such as… Read More »Vitality of Shodo calligraphy at Zen Brush
At our Shakyo Sutra Copying group we had a very peaceful and relaxing time for practice. It was a really nice atmosphere. We followed the inspiring Four Vast Bodhisattva Vows – 四弘誓願文 Shiguseiganmon. This is a short (just five lines including the title) but deep and… Read More »Rhythm and spaciousness in Shakyo of the Four Vast Vows