Zenga, Brushstrokes of Enlightenment

Zenga, Brushstrokes of Enlightenment PDF Author: John Stevens
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Zenga, Brushstrokes of Enlightenment

Zenga, Brushstrokes of Enlightenment PDF Author: John Stevens
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description


Zen Paintings in Edo Japan (1600-1868)

Zen Paintings in Edo Japan (1600-1868) PDF Author: Galit Aviman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351536109
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
In Zen Buddhism, the concept of freedom is of profound importance. And yet, until now there has been no in-depth study of the manifestation of this liberated attitude in the lives and artwork of Edo period Zen monk-painters. This book explores the playfulness and free-spirited attitude reflected in the artwork of two prominent Japanese Zen monk-painters: Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) and Sengai Gibon (1750-1837). The free attitude emanating from their paintings is one of the qualities which distinguish Edo period Zen paintings from those of earlier periods. These paintings are part of a Zen ink painting tradition that began following the importation of Zen Buddhism from China at the beginning of the Kamakura period (1185-1333). In this study, Aviman elaborates on the nature of this particular artistic expression and identifies its sources, focusing on the lives of the monk-painters and their artwork. The author applies a multifaceted approach, combining a holistic analysis of the paintings, i.e. as interrelated combination of text and image, with a contextualization of the works within the specific historical, art historical, cultural, social and political environments in which they were created.

The Lens Within the Heart

The Lens Within the Heart PDF Author: Timon Screech
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136866736
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description
Presenting a revised edition with a new preface of this important work, previously available only in hardback. It has long been assumed that Japan's closed country policy meant that Japan was isolated from the influence of the outside, and in particular the Western, world. However, this study of 18th century Japan, using sources wholly unstudied since their writing, reveals the profound influence that the introduction of Western technology and scientific instruments including glass, lenses and mirrors had on Japanese notions of sight, and how this change in perception was reflected most clearly in popular culture. Screech goes to the core of later eighteenth century thought through popular objects and the propositions which many considered groundbreaking on the book's first publication in 1996 have yet to be substantially challenged.

Ensō

Ensō PDF Author: Audrey Yoshiko Seo
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834805758
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
The enso, or "Zen circle", is one of the most prevalent images of Zen art, and has become a symbol of the clean and strong Zen aesthetic. This books containts examples of traditional enso art from the seventeenth century to the present.

The Zen of Creativity

The Zen of Creativity PDF Author: John Daido Loori
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307417557
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
For many of us, the return of Zen conjures up images of rock gardens and gently flowing waterfalls. We think of mindfulness and meditation, immersion in a state of being where meaning is found through simplicity. Zen lore has been absorbed by Western practitioners and pop culture alike, yet there is a specific area of this ancient tradition that hasn’t been fully explored in the West. Now, in The Zen of Creativity, American Zen master John Daido Loori presents a book that taps the principles of the Zen arts and aesthetic as a means to unlock creativity and find freedom in the various dimensions of our existence. Loori dissolves the barriers between art and spirituality, opening up the possibility of meeting life with spontaneity, grace, and peace. Zen Buddhism is steeped in the arts. In spiritual ways, calligraphy, poetry, painting, the tea ceremony, and flower arranging can point us toward our essential, boundless nature. Brilliantly interpreting the teachings of the artless arts, Loori illuminates various elements that awaken our creativity, among them still point, the center of each moment that focuses on the tranquility within; simplicity, in which the creative process is uncluttered and unlimited, like a cloudless sky; spontaneity, a way to navigate through life without preconceptions, with a freshness in which everything becomes new; mystery, a sense of trust in the unknown; creative feedback, the systematic use of an audience to receive noncritical input about our art; art koans, exercises based on paradoxical questions that can be resolved only through artistic expression. Loori shows how these elements interpenetrate and function not only in art, but in all our endeavors. Beautifully illustrated and punctuated with poems and reflections from Loori’s own spiritual journey, The Zen of Creativity presents a multilayered, bottomless source of insight into our creativity. Appealing equally to spiritual seekers, artists, and veteran Buddhist practitioners, this book is perfect for those wishing to discover new means of self-awareness and expression—and to restore equanimity and freedom amid the vicissitudes of our lives.

The Sound of One Hand

The Sound of One Hand PDF Author: Audrey Yoshiko Seo
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1590305787
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768) is one of the most influential figures in the history of Zen. He can be considered the founder of the modern Japanese Rinzai tradition, for which he famously emphasized the importance of koan practice in awakening, and he revitalized the monastic life of his day. But his teaching was by no means limited to monastery or temple. Hakuin was the quintessential Zen master of the people, renowned for taking his teaching to all parts of society, to people in every walk of life, and his painting and calligraphy were particularly powerful vehicles for that teaching. Using traditional Buddhist images and sayings—but also themes from folklore and daily life—Hakuin created a new visual language for Zen: profound, whimsical, and unlike anything that came before. In his long life, Hakuin created many thousands of paintings and calligraphies. This art, combined with his voluminous writings, stands as a monument to his teaching, revealing why he is the most important Zen master of the past five hundred years. The Sound of One Hand is a study of Hakuin and his enduringly appealing art, illustrated with a wealth of examples of his work, both familiar pieces like “Three Blind Men on a Bridge” as well as lesser known masterworks.

Mindfulness Based Art

Mindfulness Based Art PDF Author: Margaret Jones Callahan
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1460273443
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
In Mindfulness-Based Art: The SPARKS Guide for Educators and Counselors, art therapist Margaret Jones Callahan offers step-by-step instructions on bringing Mindfulness into the art studio, counselor’s office, or classroom. Here, you discover the basic principles of Mindfulness and find lesson plans for seven art projects, with guidelines for creating a safe class culture and scripts for teaching Mindfulness. Through drawing, painting, expressive calligraphy, clay sculpture, photography, and more, students learn to be in the present moment, quiet their inner critics, and express themselves authentically. Whether you’re a teacher, an art therapist, a coach, a counselor, or simply someone who wants to use art for personal growth and spiritual development, SPARKS shows you how student-artists of any age can increase their confidence and learn to trust their expressive minds. “It’s interesting to do my art this way. I feel real and I like what I’ve done.” — Grade 11 student Expresssive Art project “The mindfulness really makes me slow down and be really thorough with how I see.” — Grade 10 student mindful drawing “These are my dark thoughts. I can see them here. I’m going to cover this part and do something new over here.” — Grade 12 Student Luggage project “The art room is the only place in the school where I really relax. I can be myself here and say what I want to say.” — Grade 12 photography student “She shows us how to do it and then helps us do it our way. I don’t get in trouble for not doing it her way.” — Grade 8 student coping with learning challenges speaking about her art teacher http://www.mindfulnessbasedart.com

Storehouse of Treasures

Storehouse of Treasures PDF Author: Nelson Foster
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1645473104
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Storehouse of Treasures unearths wise and beautiful elements of Chan and Zen still little known in the West, revealing unexpected aspects of the tradition and new implications for practice. Since the dawn of Chan and Zen in medieval China and Japan, members of these schools have enlivened their teaching by creatively adopting and adapting terms, images, principles, poetry, and lore native to their societies. Unfortunately, so much of that cultural wealth has been “lost in translation” that Western practitioners have barely begun to discover and appreciate this extraordinarily rich legacy. In Storehouse of Treasures, second-generation American Zen teacher Nelson Foster makes a series of adventuresome forays into the trove of material laid up by the Dharma ancestors, bringing to light: Masters’ delight in playing with words, stories, and inherited Buddhist concepts, bending them to express the Dharma in inspired ways The powerful influence that Taoist and Confucian thought exerted in the formation of Chan and Zen The emphasis the two schools have laid on excellence of character as well as on profound awakening The experiential meaning and enduring importance to the tradition of ideals little associated with it today, like integrity, shame, and contentment How “knowing the tune” of a fellow student, a mentor, or a teacher of old lies at the heart of transmitting the Dharma Lifting to attention a diverse set of ancient yet still luminous Dharma gems, Foster urges their relevance and value to us as students of the Buddha Way and as citizens of a world increasingly fractious and imperiled.

Pictured in My Mind

Pictured in My Mind PDF Author: Gail Andrews Trechsel
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9780878058778
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
A stunning book featuring full-color reproductions of art by American self-taught artists

Daitokuji

Daitokuji PDF Author: Gregory P. A. Levine
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 9780295985404
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
The Zen Buddhist monastery Daitokuji in Kyoto has long been revered as a cloistered meditation centre, a repository of art treasures, and a wellspring of the "Zen aesthetic." Gregory Levine's Daitokuji unsettles these conventional notions with groundbreaking inquiry into the significant and surprising visual and social identities of sculpture, painting, and calligraphy associated with this fourteenth-century monastery and its enduring monastic and lay communities. The book begins with a study of Zen portraiture at Daitokuji that reveals the precariousness of portrait likeness; the face that gazes out from an abbot's painting or statue may not be who we expect it to be or submit quietly to interpretation. By tracing the life of Daitokuji's famed statue of the chanoyu patriarch Sen no Riky-u (1522-91), which was all but destroyed by the ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-98) but survived in Rash-omon-like narratives and reconstituted sculptural forms, Levine throws light upon the contested status of images and their mytho-poetic potential. Levine then draws from the seventeenth-century journal of K-ogetsu S-ogan, Bokuseki no utsushi, to explore practices of calligraphy connoisseurship at Daitokuji and the pivotal role played by the monastery's abbots within Kyoto art circles. The book's final section explores Daitokuji's annual airings of temple treasures not merely as a practice geared toward preservation but also as a space in which different communities vie for authority over the artistic past. An epilogue follows the peripatetic journey of the monastery's scrolls of the 500 Luohan from China to Japan, to exhibition and partial sale in the West, and back to Daitokuji. Illuminating canonical and heretofore ignored works and mining a trove of documents, diaries, and modern writings, Levine argues for the plurality of Daitokuji's visual arts and the breadth of social and ritual circumstances of art making and viewing within the monastery. This diversity encourages reconsideration of stereotyped notions of "Zen art" and offers specialists and general readers alike opportunity to explore the fertile and sometimes volatile nexus of the visual arts and religious sites in Japan.