Sublime

“Perhaps no Sakya has ever done so before, but all bhikkhus have. Father, begging is a spiritual practice which helps a bhikkhu develop humility and see that all persons are equal. When I receive a small potato from a poor family, it is no different than when I receive an elegant dish served by a king. A bhikkhu can transcend barriers that discrimi

Haruko left a tiny laughing brass Buddha up high, in a corner of the attic, where he is still laughing to this day.

Soon this short verse sprang free from renga and began to articulate aesthetic qualities, such as a sense of beautiful aloneness (sabishisa) and restrained elegance (furyu).

The division of the text into thirty-two chapters was the work of Prince Chao-ming (501-531), who was the eldest son of Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty. This was the same Emperor Wu who asked a visiting Indian monk named Bodhidharma what merit he acquired as a result of all his religious philanthropy. The Zen patriarch told him, “None.” Ironically,

change in the order of strokes is acceptable, as is adjusting brush strokes to suit one’s own style, and for artistic creativity. This flexibility in gyosho allows the shodo artist the opportunity to produce remarkable works. For this reason also, most Japanese calligraphy is done in gyosho, including bokuseki writings by Zen priests.

the ishitateso, “the monks who place stones,”

“Please forgive me,” and died.