A Newborn Baby

My first art teacher said, “A work of art is finished when none of the original idea remains.” I think it is the same when working with a koan. Initially I was thinking of a new born baby, not realizing that was me, being reborn over and over again. And then I was hit over the head with “no consciousnesses” in the Heart Sutra. Finally I remembered a line in Hsin Hsin Ming, “Don't get tangled in the world, don't lose yourself in emptiness...”

No Beard

“Why has the western Barbarian no beard?” How am I when the other is wrong? Yesterday someone was driving the wrong way on a one way street. How might I have responded? Was I “pulled by karma or led by vow.”

Hanging from a Branch

Kyogen said, “It’s like a man up a tree, hanging from a branch with his mouth; his hands cannot grasp a bough, his feet won’t reach one. Under the tree there is a man who asks him the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West. If he does not answer he will lose his life. What should he do?” How hard it is to accept one's condition. Or the condition of the world. It is much easier to blame others or to come up with a clever solution. As I sit, I realize that “this is it!”

Another koan, in a dream.

Another Koan: ... If you cannot answer it, the teaching of the Buddha is worthless.

Koan: A man asked Ummon, “How do Buddhas appear?” Ummon answered, “The eastern mountain moves along the stream.”

Absorbed in the flight of birds, he sees mindlessly.

Koan: Through the flowing murmuring waters he walks leisurely.

Koan: Empty handed—yet holding a rake.

Incense Powder Koan

Beginningless 3: The striking of thunder has opened the gate of the head's crown.

Beginningless 4

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