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zen arts
what is the self that
expresses in self-expression? This page links to the only place we are aware of that offers an approach to art and creativity in the context of zen: Zen Mountain Monastery. We'd be grateful for info on any other courses and workshops within this context. Please contact us with links.
John
Daido Loori - author, artist, Zen Master - was the founder and abbot of
Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper, New York. Under Daido Loori’s
direction, Zen Mountain Monastery grew to be one of the leading Zen
monasteries in America, widely noted for its unique way of integrating art and Zen practice. Daido Loori
was also an award winning photographer and videographer, with dozens of
exhibitions to his credit and a successful career in both commercial and
art photography. ~ In Zen, we say that each one of us is already a Buddha, a thoroughly enlightened being. It's the same with art. Each one of us is already an artist, whether we realize it or not. In fact, it doesn't matter whether we realize it – this truth of perfection is still there. Engaging the creative process is a way of getting in touch with this truth, and to let it function in all areas of our lives. If I was asked to get rid of the Zen aesthetic and just keep
one quality necessary to create art, I would say it's trust. When you
learn to trust yourself implicitly, you no longer need to prove
something through your art. You simply allow it to come out, to be as
it is. This is when creating art becomes effortless. It happens just
as you grow your hair. It grows. One has not understood until one has forgotten it. Naturalness, spontaneity, and playfulness are all aspects of the ordinary mind that catches a glimpse of the world of things just as they are. To live this life fully means to see all of it. The doorway to this experience is the creative process. Please delve deeply into it. Give it a chance to do what it is capable of doing. Engage it fully with the whole body and mind. If you do, sooner or later, this limitless way of being will be your own. It will never make sense, and you'll never be able to explain it to anybody, but you will experience it, and by so doing, you will make it real. Ibid ~ Our creativity and spirituality share a common source. From its inception, training at Zen Mountain Monastery has included the study of both the traditional Zen arts, as well as contemporary art forms, to delve deep into the self. Art practice deals with the elements of the creative process: the artist and the tools, the relationships between artist and subject, artist and object, and object and audience. Together, these interactions show us that creativity is an inherent human process, not distinct from life itself.
In the training program of the
Mountains and Rivers Order, the Zen arts
are taken up as a powerful and subtle way of realizing the Buddha Way in
one's own creative expression. The implicit question, What is the self
that is expressed in self-expression? not only addresses the creative
process but the ultimate nature of reality itself.
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the zen arts
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