Beginningless 4

Beginningless 3

Beginningless 2

Beginningless 1

Art Class

My first art teacher, Robert Erickson, would tell us that a work of art is finished when none of the original idea remains. This started as a test for writing words directly with my digital tablet. Then it morphed to these eight figures.

My second art teacher, for basic design, spoke of repetition and variety. Too much of one leads to boredom, and the other to chaos.

Five Storied Pagoda 3

Is it enough to just do a job? What state of mind is required?

Five Storied Pagoda. 2

Five-Storied Pagoda 1

Koan, 2nd try: How do you get out of a stone grave which is locked from the outside?

Version 1—What to do when you are in a stone grave and the key is on the outside.

Koan: Bring me the peel of orange you ate yesterday.

Koan: Bring me the peel of orange you ate yesterday.

When the world was created #3

When the World was Created #2

When the world was created...

Feed the Hungry Ghost

River #2

River Koan

Ol' Monk

Sibling 2

 

Siblings

Vimalakirti 10'x10'

Show Me an Immovable Tree in an Heavy Storm

How do you become one with a sailboat?

What is the Proper Way to Display the Flag?

How's the Practice?

No Imagination

After being married to my imagination for 3/4+ of a century, I'm having trouble not doing that. When I try to become one with the sounds of the world, I have no trouble imagining horrific and pleasurable sounds (the sirens) from the past present and future. But what about dropping the stories and just being with the sounds themselves in this moment?

Buzzing, Rain on Roof, Wife's TV, Phone Ringing, More Buzzing, Clipboard Hitting Table, Coffee Mug Making Noise As Lifted Out From Holder

[With] Each with these I drop self and hear sound.

Wash Your Bowl

The Sound of the World 2

What came together today was shikantaza (just sitting), buddha fields, and the world. All are just this... whatever is right here right now (as the cliché goes). Sound is sound, but it is also any phenomenon that creates a sensation [IMHO]. The five-clouded world is on top of my ear. It is exploding my ear drum. Someday it might be so quiet that I could hear a pin drop [which I've never heard [yet].

Become 1 with the Sound of the World 1

Opps. 6 fingers. Earth on 5 GIANT cloudy day. Buddha Dharma Sangha (3 treasures).

They told us in school [with a straight face] what was the world. It wasn't where I road my bike [in the alley]. I heard sirens and saw Patty the One-arm who had a difficult birth. She reminded us how privaledged we all were. I can still see her every day walking down the street...always alone, with one arm dangling. [Next life I'll buy her a milkshake at Walgreens.]

My first intensive was at a Vietnamese monastery. I asked if you can be in the present thinking about past. A monk took an hour to answer me. He said yes, you could.