- Chan Buddhism and Art
- Artistic principles and aesthetic ideals of Zen
- Primordial generating matrix of Dzogchen
Aesthetic principles of Zen and its |
Table 1. Artistic principles and aesthetic ideals of Zen
in the Structure of Primordial Essences and Phenomenal Worlds
WHOLE (Completeness and unity of all richness, sublimity and spiritual level of emotional experience). Social World The Four Sublime States of Buddhism 1. Loving-kindness or benevolence 2. Compassion 3. Empathetic joy 4. Equanimity Sympathetic resonance with environment MONO NO AWARE Shintō sencibility to “the vitality and mood of things” The pathos of things Refined sensitivity to things Sensitivity to ephemera “The ‘ahh-ness’ of things” Immediate emotional reaction “Oh” An empathy toward things Emotional receptivity Heightens appreciation of beauty Beauty of impermanence Sensitivity to the unavoidable transience Gentle sadness about transience. Fascination Elegance Refinement |
AVARE -YUGEN | POSSIBILITY (Emptiness–as the source for the endless possibilities, as unknown treasure and bottomless mystery). Symbolic World Miraculously Mystery Reticence Ambiguity Symbolic Indeterminacy of meaning Ineffability Inexhaustibility YUGEN Chan Buddhism concept no-mind (C.wuxin; J.mushin) – free, spontaneous mind that is related to “deep”, “shadowy-ness”, formless, “dimness” “enigma”, “profound mysterious” of “myriad things”. Mysterious profundity Subtle profundity Mysterious, sad beauty Hints at a meaning Profound grace and subtlety Weirdness Suggestiveness Inaccessibility Inscrutability Imagination |
BEING Suchness (Reality as it is) External reality Space | ABSOLUTE Awakening and approval of universal creative spirit of nature and ultimate essence of truth, innate beauty (bi) and harmony (wa) Culture Creativity FUGA NO MAKOTO Unity of truth and beauty. Genuineness of asthetic and cosmic creativity. Tranquility and creative contemplation. Furyu (“wind and stream”) Free and extravagant spirit. Creative forces of the Nature. Fūryū -“the most elegant and refined simplicity. Myo – the mysterious inner state which is related to post- enlightenment playful sense of wonder. Fueki Ryuko – constancy and change Enso – enlightenment, satory, elegance, universal strength. Creative contemplative mood, refined aesthetic sensitivity and subtle attentiveness. Beyond beauty and ugliness. | NOTHING Sunyata (Emptiness) Internal Reality Time |
INTERACTION (Interconnection of all things, generating innate fabric and “suchness” of the Being) Objective World Materiality Physicality Naturalness Substancity Corporeity WABI The object and subject in their natural austere self-sufficiency and self-worth. Austere, rustic beauty Suchness, Naturalness Earthiness Rustic simplicity Scantiness, poverty Vapidity, tarnish Artlessness Unpretentious Candor Freshness Quietness Stark beauty Refined, solitary beauty. Solitude, proud loneliness Modesty Austerity Concentration of inner strength. Courageous recipiency, non-dependence upon ego and material world. Deliverance from excessiveness Getting rid of excess, redundant and pretence | Three Buddhist characteristics of all existence and beings: 1. Impermanence: transience 2. Unsatisfactoriness or suffering: imperfect, incomplete, asymmetry, roughness, flawed beauty 3. Non-self: austerity, modesty, humility, serene melancholy WABI –SABI Palpable sense of the passage of time. Imperfection incomplete. Non-attachment Loneliness and Tranquility Simplicity, naturalness Simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty | FREEDOM (Inner freedom as a way to overcome variability fragility and irreversibility, as a chance to master time) Inner world Existentially Individual attitude Uniqueness Unconventionality Impressionability SABI Unique subjective view toward an objects. The unity of object and subject internal life. Desolate, subtle beauty Archaic, natural patina, “rust” and aging. Patina and wear as evidence of impermanence. Serenity that comes with age. Pensive sheen of antiquity. Serenity impermanence. Elegant withering Subtle melancholy feeling. Intuition. Transcendence Perfection of imperfection Authenticity intimacy Genuineness Tranquility, aloneness, deep solitude esolateness. Existential loneliness. Receptive state of mind. Uniqueness of human experience Loneliness as liberation from a commonness Contemplation of the “bloom of time”, its flows and creations |
Table 2. Manifestation of Zen aesthetic principles in painting
AWARE | YUGEN | |
FUGA NO MAKOTO | ||
WABI | SABI
|
Table 3. Manifestation of principles of Zen aesthetics in daily life
AWARE | YUGEN | |
FUGA NO MAKOTO | ||
WABI | SABI |
Table 4. Manifestation of Zen aesthetic principles in Haiku poetry
AWARE A monk sips morning tea, it’s quiet, the chrysanthemum’s flowering. Matsuo Bashō (1644 – 1694) Scent of plum blossoms Ballet in the air!― My eyes, having observed Covered with the flowers, Observe: A white swan parts the cherry-petalled pond Wild roses in bloom Blossoms on the pear tree, lighten by the moonlight, and there With sorrow while coming Morning glories – Blossoms at night, In the thicket’s shade In these latter-day, | JUGEN Snow-obscured heights, mist-shrouded slopes: this spring evening. Ilio Sōgi (1421–1502) Soundlessly they go, A fallen blossom In my hut this spring Spring: The sea darkening, In the dense mist The sea darkens — From time to time Harvest moon . . . Useless dreams, alas! Leaves, Ah butterfly, Coolness– Rowing through A gold bug – Pulling light | |
MONO NO AWARE How I long to see Seek on high bare trails sky-reflecting For a while A lovely thing to see: Trusting the Buddha, A world of dew, Buddha Law, O snail In this world No sky, no land: | ||
WABI Winter solitude– in a world of one color the sound of wind. Matsuo Bashō (1644 – 1694)Spring rain leaking through the roof dripping from the wasps’ nest. Matsuo Bashō Awake at night- the sound of the water jar cracking in the cold. Matsuo Bashō Cold night: the wild duck, sick, falls from the sky and sleeps awhile. Matsuo Bashō Coolness of the melons flecked with mud in the morning dew. Matsuo Bashō Moonless night… a powerful wind embraces the ancient cedars. Matsuo Bashō Moonlight slanting through the bamboo grove; a cuckoo crying. Matsuo Bashō It has rained enough to turn the stubble on the field black. Matsuo Bashō A wild sea— stretching to Sado Isle the Milky Way Matsuo Bashō Sea darkens calls of the wild ducks go faintly white Matsuo Bashō This road: no one to go with autumn dusk Matsuo Bashō The lillies! The stems, just as they are, the flowers, just as they are. Matsuo Bashō First snow falling on the half-finished bridge. Matsuo Bashō Snowy morning– one crow after another. Matsuo Bashō The pine-tree of Karasaki More dim and vague than the cherry-blossom. Matsuo Bashō Around the town the smells of things – summer moon. Nozawa Bonchō (1640–1714) At an eagle’s nest on dead camphor branches the sun goes down. Nozawa Bonchō Throwing away the ashes, The white plum-blossoms Became cloudy. Nozawa Bonchō Stillness: a single chestnut leaf glides on brilliant water Ryuin (?-1690) The bitter winter wind ends here with the frozen sea Ikenishi Gonsui (1650-1722) An autumn eve; There is joy too, In loneliness. Yosa Buson A harsh-rasping saw… music of cold-poverty in the winter midnight Yosa Buson Washing the hoe– ripples on the water; far off, wild ducks. Yosa Buson Fruitless blossoms Are beaten by the rain In the melon fields. Yosa Buson The moon and just myself remain. evening coolness on the bridge. Tagami Kikusha-Ni Even wearing a staw raincoat I like to travel – rain on the blossoms Tagami Kikusha-Ni Autumn wind – mountain’s shadow wavers. Kobayashi Issa Everything I touch with tenderness, alas, pricks like a bramble. Kobayashi Issa Over the wintry forest, winds howl in rage with no leaves to blow. Natsume Soseki (1867 – 1916) The crow has flown away: swaying in the evening sun, a leafless tree. Natsume Soseki At the full moon’s rising, the silver-plumed reeds tremble Masaoki Shiki Night; and once again, the while I wait for you, cold wind turns into rain. Masaoka Shiki After the thunder-shower one tree in evening sunlight a cicada’s cry Masaoka Shiki The moon hovering above the snow-capped mountains rained down hailstones. Sekitei Hara (1886–1951) The frozen moon, the frozen lake: two oval mirrors reflecting each other. Hashimoto Takako (1899-1963) |
Painting by Morikawa Kyoriku 枯枝に烏のとまりたるや秋の暮 On a bare branch 古池 Furuike ya Old pond, | SABI Life: a solitary butterfly swaying unsteadily on a slender stalk of grass, nothing more. But so exquisite! Nishiyama Soin (1605-1682) The dragonfly can’t quite land on that blade of grass. Matsuo Bashō The pine tree of Shiogoshi Trickles all night long Shiny drops of moonlight. Matsuo Bashō Autumn moonlight– a worm digs silently into the chestnut. Matsuo Bashō A bee staggers out of the peony. Matsuo Bashō Atop the mushroom who knows from where a leaf! Matsuo Bashō Heat waves shimmering one or two inches above the dead grass. Matsuo Bashō First whiteSnow of fall just enough to bend the leaves Of faded daffodils. Matsuo Bashō Mountain-rose petals falling, falling, falling now . . . Waterfall music. Matsuo Bashō No one walks along this path this autumn evening. Matsuo Bashō The year’s first day … thoughts come, and with them, loneliness; dusk approaches. Matsuo Basho The first soft snow: leaves of the awed jonquil bow low. Matsuo Basho Like a heavy fragrance snow-flakes settle: lilies on rocks Matsuo Basho Now the swinging bridge Is quieted with creepers Like our tendrilled life. Matsuo Bashō Dead my old fine hopes And dry my dreaming but still… Iris, blue each spring. Ume Shuushiki (1668-1725) I go, you stay; two autumns. Yosa Buson Before the white chrysanthemum the scissors hesitate a moment. Yosa Buson Lighting one candle with another candle– spring evening. Yosa Buson Blow of an ax, pine scent, the winter woods. Yosa Buson My arm for a pillow, I really like myself under the hazy moon. Yosa Buson Evening wind: water laps the heron’s legs. Yosa Buson Not quite dark yet and the stars shining above the withered fields. Yosa Buson This being alone may even be a kind of happy autumn dusk. Yosa Buson Winter rain on moss soundlessly recalls those happy by gone days. Yosa BusonThis world we pass on a rush leaf – not one thing. Tagami Kikusha-NiThe first firefly… But he got away and I… Air in my fingers. Kobayashi IssaA huge frog and I, staring at each other, neither of us moves. Kobayashi Issa Ducks bobbing on the water-are they also, tonight, hoping to get lucky? Kobayashi Issa At sunset this fall Evening, I wrote on a wall: I’ve gone on ahead. Kobayashi Issa Dew evaporates And all our world is dew . . . so dear, So fresh, so fleeting. Kobayashi Issa Grazing my fishing line – the summer moon. Kaga no Chiyo (1703-1775) My life, – How much more of it remains? The night is brief. Masaoka Shiki First autumn morning the mirror I stare into shows my father’s face. Murakami Kijo (1865 – 1938) Winter waves roil their own shadows Tominaga Fûsei (1885-1970) Pale mountain sky: cherry petals play as they tumble earthward. Kusama Tokihiko (1920-2003) |
Sources:
http://hellopoetry.com
https://www.poemhunter.com
http://www.thehypertexts.com/Best%20Haiku.htm
https://wkdhaikutopics.blogspot.com