Explorations to Expressions

All artists face that question: how to live and express a meaningful life. How does one manage the true giving of one's gift?

Masters of antiquity resorted to radical ways of using language to communicate their teachings. They sought endless ways to pursue a pointed answer.

Layman Dongpo, Chinese essayist considered, "A dragon in the sea of letters," felt enlightened when writing:

The sound of the valley stream
is exactly his broad, long tongue.
The form of the mountain
is nothing other than his clear, pure body
Through the night,
the eighty-four thousand gathas.

He worked with words in the challenge to articulate the inexpressible. In these explorations he found ways to present insight.

Responses with direct and practical details pulsed into the esoteric questions.

Matsuo Basho, asked by his Zen teacher, "What is the reality prior to the greenness of moss?"
responded by staying in the moment. He wrote of an actual occurrence of silence broken by a splash.
                 
                   The ancient pond
                    a frog leaps in
                    water-sound

Capturing moments in movement wrangle the mind into the present.

Master Eihei Dogen was asked upon his return from China, "What did you realize?"

Dogen said, "Eyes horizontal, nose vertical.''

Gray feathers arise
   A flutter of blue bubbles
        Melted in the satin sea
















Discover!  Stay with the details and obvious in each delicate moment.