Thank you for this lovely post. The shortness of the beautiful poem stopped me in my tracks. As did your Ensō. I ve not encountered zen calligraphy before (is that the right term?) and got sucked into a lovely rabbit hole. Do you draw such things on the regular? Is it a kind of reflective practice? It feels like it could be a kind of somatic meditation. Thank you!
Thanks Gillian. It is a beautiful poem. I've only recently started reading about haiku, Zen, Bashō and the Ensō myself, so I'm no expert (I became curious after reading Richard Flanagan's 'The Narrow Road To The Deep North'). That was my first time painting an Ensō (I painted five and picked my second one), but I think I will make it a more regular practice. It was very meditative to paint. I'm finding Zen philosophy quite interesting, but I've only really scratched the surface.
Thank you for the mention, Alia, and I hope your computer issues are resolved soon!
You're most welcome, Paul.
And, thank you... the computer is slowly spinning through its uploads, returning my programs and files to where they used to be. We'll get there :)
I’ve had similar issues in the past myself. Not fun. To spread myself out on the grass and listen to birdsong seems quite reasonable.
Thank you for this lovely post. The shortness of the beautiful poem stopped me in my tracks. As did your Ensō. I ve not encountered zen calligraphy before (is that the right term?) and got sucked into a lovely rabbit hole. Do you draw such things on the regular? Is it a kind of reflective practice? It feels like it could be a kind of somatic meditation. Thank you!
Thanks Gillian. It is a beautiful poem. I've only recently started reading about haiku, Zen, Bashō and the Ensō myself, so I'm no expert (I became curious after reading Richard Flanagan's 'The Narrow Road To The Deep North'). That was my first time painting an Ensō (I painted five and picked my second one), but I think I will make it a more regular practice. It was very meditative to paint. I'm finding Zen philosophy quite interesting, but I've only really scratched the surface.
Oh,lovely! thank you for the recommendation.
At the moment I am in caterpillar mode looking forward to being a butterfly. Tech issues are most annoying, may they be resolved soon.
Thanks Marjorie :)
Caterpillar mode is very important - it can't be skipped. And it hopefully involves lots of good food and cocooning.
🦋