This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening. It's very nice to see you. And it's so wonderful to be part of practice. Tasuhara. A few days ago, I happened to hear your cabin crew chanting. And then I... There were some words that made sense. Wonderful. And then notice that it is... It was...

[01:00]

in praise of Zazen by Zen Master Hakuin, 18th century Winsai Zen Master. And I was very happy because I've been encouraging Soto people, the other school, also chant Hakuin's in praise of Zazen. To me, it's probably the best poem about Zazen. And also, I realized that it was my translation 37 years ago. So now you can guess my age. So the book actually has a subtitle, The Splendor of East Asian Calligraphy.

[02:21]

Wonderful word, splendor. So I wanted to use this word on the cover of one of my books. So finally, explain that to you. The mission of this book is to decode and demystify various aspects of East Asian calligraphy to the general public in the West, in the Western world. Because often East Asian calligraphy, of course, it's a great art in China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and places where Chinese people live, like Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore.

[03:34]

And it is appreciated all over the world, the beauty of the calligraphy. But often for Western people, why is this regarded as a masterpiece and this is not? What is the meaning of this? What's good about it? I think there are a lot of questions. for those who are not familiar with that. So I'd like to sort of maybe open up various, you might say, secrets, techniques, aesthetics, history, and personalities of the artists who were the greatest artists. when they live and what kind of life they live.

[04:41]

So this is my issue. So why some of you living in the West like to study Caligarchy? So that's my question, actually, I'd like to ask you. Oh, by the way, thank you so much for your general introduction. What's your response to that? I started calligraphy after I started Zen training. Started Zen calligraphy after Zen training. I started Asian calligraphy after Zen training. So I was a Zen student for some time. And I was drawn to the aesthetic and was looking for a teacher. and first I was a traditional Chinese teacher, which was Confucian in nature, in excellent choreography.

[05:43]

But then I met Ka's at Crestone Mountain Zen Center, and at the same time I met Kogun Shino, who was at Pesham Bala, and worked with both of them in a bit of Ka's intersex. So Zen was my path to choreography, rather than my path to Zen. So the calligraphy is like a moving meditation. When you try, you'll know why. Drawing lines correctly and repeating, drawing similar lines. many, many times. So it becomes meditative. And often in East Asia, calligraphy is regarded as important elements of meditation practice.

[06:53]

Also, maybe... Meditation also helps the artwork. So traditionally, we grind ink. So it takes a long time, half an hour or so, doing nothing. Just grinding ink, just calming our mind. And that's meditation. And also, we try to keep the ink stick straight. that we have to be mindful. If we are thinking of something else, the ink stick starts leaning. So the teacher would say, your mind is leaning. I think maybe the difference between Zen meditation and calligraphy is that in Zen meditation,

[07:59]

Often we don't know, you know, after the meditation, was it a good meditation? Not so good. It was pretty bad. But it's hard to tell. But if you draw lines, it's very clear. Everything is there. When we are thinking about something else, the lines go somewhere else. Zig-zag. So, in a way, it's very clear, interesting indicator of our state of mind. So, let me maybe... Studying East Asian calligraphy is a cross-cultural experience for those from other parts of the world.

[09:25]

As the formation of character is unique, And the creative process in calligraphy is quite different from that employed in any other form of art. In following the predetermined stroke orders and recreating masterworks, you begin to interpret and then create your own style and work. Gentle progression of creativity allows you to gradually expand your artistic process. So it's a gentle creativity. You know, we are just copying master's works, ancient master's works, just faithfully copying. So over and over and over again.

[10:27]

So it's not like painting still life, where there is a great deal of creativity is needed, composition, colors, etc. In a way, calligraphy is very relaxing because... We have great masterpieces in front of us, and then we just copy. And now. Knowing that we'll never get close or get better. So just repeating, repeating, repeating. And gradually we get familiar with the brush movement, spacing, and even maybe the feelings and thinking of ancient masters, little by little.

[11:34]

And it's a wonderful process, and in a way, it's so relaxing because we're not trying to be better than the original. We can't. And we're not trying to be better than other people. We just can't. in a way we face ourselves. These masterpieces came from the 4th century to 10th century classical period, common era of Chinese calligraphy. All great masterpieces were Chinese. because Chinese single-handedly developed this writing system, but also this calligraphy. So we have a common standard with a calligrapher from Korea or Taiwan or Singapore or Japan.

[12:49]

The standard is Chinese classical pieces. So even though we speak different languages, but we use same symbols, and then we can appreciate works by other peoples. Also we can be critical because we have the same I think the uniqueness of this book is that we have wonderful masterpieces 150 characters and each has basic styles formal script Semi-cursive script and cursive script.

[13:57]

And then pronunciations in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. So in a way, it's inclusive. It's not Japanese calligraphy or it's not Chinese calligraphy. People in Korea practices same calligraphy. So we acknowledge and we include by saying these are pronunciations in different languages. So making a close study of ancient Chinese masterpieces is the most advanced study of calligraphy. So when people become really serious, started maybe more advanced studies or teaching.

[15:00]

Maybe the master will say, now he might like to find classical work and then start studying it by basically calling. And I think maybe I can tell you about Japan's case. Like calligraphy school is like industry. Okay, you kind of start from the beginning and then you get better and then get sort of higher status. You know, it's like a martial art, done, you know, degree. first degree and second degree and so forth. And then you become sort of maybe a teacher and a more advanced teacher and so forth.

[16:02]

So in a way it's maybe good for the industry to have this hierarchy. Okay, you study this maybe formal script for a few years and then you're allowed to study it. semi cursive script for a few years. And then you are allowed to study classical masterpieces and so forth. So that way, kind of, you know, a school can sort of maintain the populations. But to me, I'm not interested in kind of keeping students and so forth. In fact, I say I don't have any students. I have friends who study calligraphy with me, but they are not my students. So I'm more interested in showing the best of learning experience and drawing experience to beginners.

[17:17]

So a weekend workshop or maybe even two hours workshop. I like people to experience the most advanced way of practicing, which is looking at the ancient masterpieces and studying it. And then you could see the difference between by studying the manuals by a kind of contemporary master or looking at the ancient Chinese master's works. And also there are different masters so we can see the different ways of drawing even horizontal line. There are many ways, beautiful ways of drawing. And we get used to the entire field One difference of studying together with people in the Western world is that we don't use the entire text, you know, like, let's say, imperial edict or poems or something written by ancient masters.

[18:46]

I just picked maybe one character. And then so different masters work so that we can concentrate on small things to study. If you have any questions or comments or objections, please raise your hand. So what does make a piece a masterpiece? You know, what does make it good? Yeah, I think, you know, well, there are two types of masterpieces. Maybe if you create something beautiful, it could be a masterpiece. But traditional masterpieces are traditional masters.

[19:49]

people who maybe opened up a field, like, okay, how to do the semi-cursive script different from earlier masters, you know, maybe a little bit thinner lines, kind of round lines, and then, so creating a style like that, or maybe bold style, bashi movement or wild bashi movement or each master of course it should be beautiful but create something unique historically and so it's very hard to say okay maybe showing you a photograph of the kind of masterpiece and say well this is a great piece and you might say oh yeah okay but you may not understand why it's beautiful so what i did here is picked just one character the moon formal script and then i was explaining

[21:18]

Maybe this is too small, but you can see in one column by different masters. The first one is the 3rd century master Zongyao, and he was the founder or inventor of the formal script. So after that, that became a real every most common universal script. So I showed you the character Moon, how he did it, and then how one siege, the fourth century sage of calligraphy, did the Moon. And then how, I think, four people in the seventh century They were sort of in the same court of Emperor Tai, the second emperor of Tang Dynasty.

[22:28]

How they did it different. They were kind of in the same court but different. The last one was Emperor Tai himself. He loved and collected a great deal of ancient masterpieces and he himself became one of the best calligraphers in the history of East Asian calligraphy. So we can show that. And how someone else did it are really different. Yes. Any other? Yes. Can you tell us about the calligraphy on the wall? Like it's huge. These are my pieces. For this left one, the top means now, and the bottom means heart or mind.

[23:44]

So the mind of the present moment. That is mindfulness. The next one is one. The number one. This is my most favorite character. It's the simplest. And then I just draw one line and say, this is my artwork. But also it is very difficult. These are all done on canvas with acrylic paint. It's supposed to represent a complete experience of each moment.

[24:45]

You might call it enlightenment. heaven, and then compassion, and then other so-called answer. I started doing this Zen circle with colors. I thought maybe our society is and a society of diversity. So we may not have to be confined to traditional ink drawing of the circle on white paper.

[25:51]

Yes, it's a little bit different, and also maybe I like that one, that circle is very chaotic. I think peace should be actually chaotic. If it's very orderly, it's more like a dictionary or something. real kind of democratic peace is always chaotic, I think. So maybe enlightenment can be chaos, I guess. Yes. Is it necessary to go through the years of copying masters before you find your own style and abstraction, or can people just go directly to the abstraction? I think that's a kind of interesting question.

[26:57]

Can you skip classical training and then create something beautiful? It's like, you know, okay, can you skip like learning maybe classical music? maybe even including, like, jazz or something, then creates beautiful music. By large enough, I guess, you know, you have to be well-versed in performance, whether it's music or dance or painting or anything. But nowadays, it's like... you know, the contemporary art is like an invention. You know, you kind of make something new, you know, like paint an entire sort of canvas with one color.

[28:09]

And then if you go to another country, maybe in museum modern art, there's another color, same thing. And then Tsurigabe does... maybe contemporary serious painting, you know, kind of hanging in a museum. So in that case, you need almost any skill or knowledge of paintings. Calligraphy may be something. However, I think calligraphers are more like a classicist. If you don't study seriously, especially classical masterpieces, your work may look inadequate or may look clumsy. Sometimes people don't know whether it is good or bad, so often

[29:20]

In the Western world, like the logo is, you know, characters in the logo. And sometimes just they look horrible. One of my books are published actually by a publisher and then the publisher's logo is, you know, some character. It's not done properly. So, you know, people can tell. I mean, almost all East Asian people can say, oh, this is good, or this is, you know, not good. But people in the West may not know. So, you know, oh, this is good, you know. Like Alan Watto was saying.

[30:21]

People say, my calligraphy is good, and then he published it in his book. But maybe he was not studying so much. So people can say, oh, that's wonderful. So it's quite tricky, I think. Yes? were describing how through the process of copying you can really relax. It's very relaxed because you don't actually have to come up with anything new. But then when you're making new pieces, you color and experiment in yourself to say it's less relaxing, it's less to do with meditation. Well, I think after a certain amount of really surrendering to great masterpieces. And then you start interpreting, kind of maybe exaggerating one part or pressing too hard or very hard.

[31:33]

In different ways, you do it in your own way. And then you create maybe more expressive work. Well, when you are doing your own expressive work, it's more relaxing to think, you know, there's no kind of master is saying, don't do this, do this, do that, and so forth. So it can be relaxing anytime. Of course, you know, we can be nervous if we are being judged by people. How does acceptance and perfectionism enter into all this kind of just working with what is and not limiting so much what you've created? I think that's a very good maybe learning is trying to notice problems and reduce problems.

[32:45]

So there's always kind of learn always self-criticism. I think self-criticism is good, noticing problem. But if we are unhappy about problems, that's the problem. You know, we don't have to be unhappy about the problems. This can be reduced. We can never perfect anything with a brush because, you know, there's always some kind of... If you look carefully, maybe there's something a little bit not straight or not clean enough. Something is a little bit... The brush is broken and so forth. It's part of the beauty. Maybe we need to...

[33:48]

be inclusive of imperfection. However, there is something called good calligraphy and bad calligraphy. So that's something else, too. Yes? As someone who's starting a workshop, I am very much impressed with the difference between the formal way one creates the characters and the result. The result when you're done. And as a beginner, there's this terrible tension between trying to make it correct in that form. But I'm wondering, is it for you a kind of performance art in a way that in a moment you are trying to maybe capture something.

[34:58]

Does that make any sense? Yeah, I think maybe, you know, okay, so there is no perfection. But there is something like, okay, this is maybe this can be sort of, you know, let's say, acceptable, you know, presentable. So after doing some years, maybe everything you do, hopefully, is acceptable, presentable. So in a way, demonstrations, public performances, In a way, very relaxing. Just kind of know that maybe you can sort of at least go above the acceptance level.

[36:02]

Does it make sense? I think we have like nine more minutes. So if you have maybe two more questions, if you have any comments. Yes. You are historically known for these very large answers for peace, but you did do those public ones in this social action. And I'm curious to know what, on reflection or at the moment, what the feeling was, what the participation of others was in those performances. Usually, you know, we're artists, so it doesn't matter you don't like it or like it. It's also my own art. But in the public performance, like we did for the United Nations signing charter, 50th anniversary in San Francisco, in a way,

[37:18]

It was a public performance, and then it was going to be installed in front of the War Memorial building where the charter was signed that the UN was born. So we had this big rush, and seven people from different parts of the world did the circle together. So we poured the paint first, So to do that, we did a lot of rehearsals, small things, put the paint here and then do the brush and then see how it looked. We did many, many studies. And then when we actually did the kind of performance outdoors, I said, okay, If we don't like it, we'll touch up.

[38:21]

Because it's important that it should look good. So we all relaxed. And then we said, okay, smile and enjoy. There was music, drumming going. And then we didn't have to touch up. So it was wonderful. Finally, I'd like to read a passage from this book. In East Asia, calligraphy is regarded as one of the highest arts, along with poetry and music.

[39:29]

Although it requires skills, aesthetics, and creativity, what is most appreciated is beyond these elements of art. Brush lines in calligraphy honestly reveal the artist's personality, level of art. accomplishment and presence of heart and mind. This is a higher criterion for appreciating and valuing the work of art than aesthetics and technical excellence alone. This being so, cultivation of profound realization And the wholesome way of life is the ultimate practice of calligraphy. Thus, the presence of the artist is appreciated even when the artist is no longer physically present.

[40:37]

Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge, and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit SSCC.org and click Giving.

[41:05]

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