Zen Buddhism and Art

9
Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Societ y in Social Sciences A Student Paper: Zen Buddhism and Art: A Sociophilosophical Interpretation Author(s): Stuart Edward Silverman Source: Social Science, Vol. 48, No. 1 (WINTER 1973), pp. 34-41 Published by: Pi Gamma Mu, International Honor Society in Social Sciences Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41885915  . Accessed: 25/04/2014 04:48 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at  . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp  . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].  . Pi Gamma Mu, International Honor Society in Social Sciences  is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Science. http://www.jstor.org

Transcript of Zen Buddhism and Art

Page 1: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 1/9

Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Sciences

A Student Paper: Zen Buddhism and Art: A Sociophilosophical InterpretationAuthor(s): Stuart Edward SilvermanSource: Social Science, Vol. 48, No. 1 (WINTER 1973), pp. 34-41Published by: Pi Gamma Mu, International Honor Society in Social Sciences

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41885915 .

Accessed: 25/04/2014 04:48

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

 .JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of 

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

 .

Pi Gamma Mu, International Honor Society in Social Sciences is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,

preserve and extend access to Social Science.

http://www.jstor.org

Page 2: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 2/9

A StudentPaper

Zen Buddhism and Art: A Sociophilosophical Interpretation

Stuart Edward Silverman

In thisarticle,Mr. Silvermandeals withthe relationshipsf art and Zen Buddhismas a culture, religion, nd a way of life.The viewpointdeveloped is that, like allreligions, en attemptso lead its followersto the directexperience f Reality,Truth,andseeingnto henature fone'sownbeing.

Conclusionsy ntimationor urrenthoughtand life re then ndicated.

IN theORDER

topic ofTOZen

investigateBuddhism

sensiblyand art,he topic of Zen Buddhism and art,

we begin by understanding whatZen Buddhism professes and what itstenets are. This is no easy task byany means. Even before we grapplewith the complexities of its philoso-phy,we are opposed by its general an-tiliteral nature.

Suzuki justifiably criticized HuShih when he attempted to explainZen. Zen must be understood fromthe inside, not from the outside. Onemust first attain what I call prajna-in-tuition and then proceed to the studyof all its objectified expressions. Totry to get into Zen by collecting theso-called historical materials and tocome to a conclusion which will defi-nitely characterize Zen as Zen, Zen initself, or Zen as each of us lives it in

his innermost being, is not the rightapproach. 1 Yet, the remaining factis that Zen itself opposes and sur-passes explanations by its very nature,though thousands of writings havebeen presented by both Buddhists andlaymen alike.

By going both ways in this study,both from Zen to its art and from itsart to Zen, perhaps we can develop abetter understanding of the two.

I

Historically, Zen had its beginningsin the optimistic Buddhist religion inIndia. In 527, Bodhidharma, the 28thpatriarch, came to China from SouthIndia and began the Zen. It was notuntil the early part of the T'ang dy-nasty, with the teaching of Hui-neng,that Zen truly took hold in China anddeveloped into an independent Bud-dhist school of thought. Its acceptancewas immeasurably helped by its simi-larity with Taoism, which, at thistime, was firmlyestablished in China.Zen was introduced to Japan as earlyas the Nara period, but again it tooksome time, until 1200, for it to becomeindependent and solidly established.Its establishment is attributed pri-marily to the monk Eisai, whofounded the Rinzai sect. By this timeZen, though based in an Indian reli-gion, was totally naturalized.

The popularity and effects of Zengrew and deepened to an extent wheretoday, especially in Japan, Zen phi-losophy is woven and ingrained in thecommon unconsciousness of the peo-ple and has fundamental influencesupon their way of life.2 Its influencesare seen in the traditional culture of

Japan, as in art, poetry (Haiku),flower arranging, pantomime dance,cha-no-Yu, and architecture; and issubtly but substantially felt in modernaspects of the society as well. Though

Mr. Stuart dward ilvermans a senior tu-dent t Rutgers niversity,he StateUniversityof NewJersey,n NewBrunswick,ajoringnEnglish nd thehumanities,ithwork n psy-chologynd related tudies. e is planningowork or hePh.D. in thehumanities.

34

This content downloaded from 182.178.246.250 on Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:48:53 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 3: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 3/9

A STUDENT PAPER 35

Zen's influences are easily discernible,the Zen itself that influences is not soavailable to sight.

When stripped of the mysterious

and ethereal blanket in which Zen hasbeen traditionally enveloped, itemerges as being hardly that mysticalor transcendental after all. Though itsresults to the person are inexplicableand its spirit surpasses intellectualanalysis, its philosophy and tenets aresomewhat definable.

Zen, being a form of Buddhism, hasno specific philosophy of its own ex-cept what is usually accepted by theBuddhists of the Mahayana school.

What makes Zen so distinctive is itsmethod, which is the inevitablegrowth of Zen's own attitudes towardlife and truth.

The essence of the Zen method andteaching is summarized in a gatha at-tributed to Bodhidharma but no doubtwritten several centuries later : A spe-cial transmission outside the Scrip-tures, not depending upon the letter,but pointing directly to the Mind,and leading us to see into the Nature

itself, thereby making us attain Bud-dhahood. 3Analytically, A special transmis-

sion outside the Scriptures, not de-pending upon the letter, is not a dis-agreement with the scriptures' teach-ings. Bather, it is a disagreement withthe idea of scriptures, of written laws,of words, of reason based on words, ofconceptualism. Like all religions, Zenattempts to lead and direct its follow-ers to the direct experience of Reality,

of Truth, of seeing into the nature ofone's own being. One precept of Zen isthat words or literatures, scriptures,get in the way of that enlightenmentand inhibit the realization of unity ofman withnature.

II

When man uses words or ideas toexpress his Reality, the words, sup-

posedly meaning that Reality, have a

way of rapidly replacing it. Thewords then become little more thanobjects which name things without

calling up mental pictures of theirmeaning.4 When man relies on litera-

ture, literature prohibits him from in-dividual, introspective thought. Reli-gious slogans, when repeated over andover again, lose meaning. In the end,man loses his consciousness of the re-

ligion itself : the words not only get inthe way but become the way itself.(This outcome of literature is seenclearly today in churches where peo-ple repeat hymns and prayers uncon-

scious and unaware of what the wordsare, let alone what they mean.) Interms of Zen, the result of relying on

scriptures is that man uses the wordsand neglects the experience to reachwhat truly constitutes his innermost

experience.Suzuki wisely presents the faults

and failing of religious literature inZen in his finger-moon analogy. Asnature abhors a vacuum, Zen abhors

anything coming between the fact and

ourselves. A fingermay be needed topoint at the moon, but ignorant must

theybe who take the pointer for a realobject and altogether forget the finalaim of the religious life. The sacredbooks are useful; as far as they indi-cate the direction where our spiritualefforts are to be applied, and theirutility goes no further. 5 Zen abhorswords, then, because they get in' theway between man and his Reality andrapidly replace the Reality itself,

leaving man with nothing but delu-sion. Visually, Zen's reaction to liter-ature is seen in the famous 13th cen-tury painting by Lang K'ai of the pa-triarch laughing as he tears up the su-tras, knowing that the true Buddha,the true Reality, is not found in anybook but in his own consciousness.

Zen disapproved of literature, fur-ther, because it is a product of ratio-

This content downloaded from 182.178.246.250 on Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:48:53 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 4: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 4/9

36 SOCIALSCIENCEFOE WINTER1973

nality and is dependent upon rational-ity for interpretation. Rationality,with its produce of intelligence andwords, with its importance on ideas

and concepts, is in clear opposition torealizing the Reality behind what manimmediately and surfacely sees. Ra-tionality's most constant characteris-tic is its compartmentalizing for com-prehension. It is synonymous herewith discrimination, with dualitiesand antitheses. By constantly viewingthings with discrimination, Zen feelsthe mind gets bogged down with pettydifferences in attempts at under-standing and is unable to see the total

unity of the universe; and in turn,man is unable to see himself as a fun-damental part of nature. BecauseZen's aim is to make man see into hisnature and thereby attain his Buddha-hood, attain a unity, clearly rationalthought is unacceptable.

In Zen, nature transcends inconsis-tencies, discriminations are annihi-

lated, and the universe is not split upinto myriad fragments, but viewedwith its primal unity and harmony, a

unity inclusive with man. For exam-ple, the whiteness of the heron and theblackness of the crow are identical inthat both are natural, neither is onedyed nor the other bleached. In Zenart, with no distinctions or deludingdualities, there is no distinction madebetween Spirit and Matter, for it isthe fusion of these that results in amind prepared for sudden enlighten-ment. The effectof this lack of distinc-tion inherent in Zen art is a constant

point of significance,for outside of ra-tionality is unity,withnature resultingin oneness with Buddha, the secondreason for being outside the scrip-tures.

A third reason for being outsidethe scriptures is that giving the igno-rant lessons in them cannot enlightenman nor give him any real under-

standing of the ultimate truth.6 In

fact, such dead weight as explanationswould actually inhibit him from en-lightenment rather than help or teachhim. This final reason for disregard-ing the scriptures has important im-plications.

In accordance with its antiliteralstand, Zen holds no formal teachingmethods. It is meditative, egocentric,and intuitive. The resulting direct-ness, simplicity, and self-disciplinewhich corresponded to the warriorcode appealed to the samurai andhelped Zen to be firmlyestablished inthe Kamakura period with its warriorruling aristocracy.

Its antibook manner resulted inthat one learns Zen not by studying itso much as by being it. Where mostreligions are objective, Zen is totallysubjective. In place of strenuous,structured learning resulting in a de-veloping awareness, Zen stressedwhat is called satori, the suddenschool, the immediate experience ofultimate truth, a state of conscious-ness in which the duality of the worldhas ceased to exist. All traditional

paraphernalia of Buddhism, not onlythe scriptures but also the icons, thechanted rituals, the structured mo-nastic discipline, are no longer of anyimportance. Satori, the spontaneousopening of the third or spiritual eye,is the prime aim of Zen and it embod-ies all its tenets and precepts. The ab-sence of icons in the paintings, thefrequent scenes of monks carrying onnot contemplation but common labor,and the like, all reflectthe Zen philoso-

phy. Satori, in short, is pure con-sciousness, pure communication, whennature spontaneously comes to itselfand becomes man, the goal of Zen.

The final two lines of the Bodhid-harma's declaration essentially definethe satori. The ideal of Zen is, then,when the mind becomes one with na-ture itself, when unity is trulyachieved and discrimination com-

This content downloaded from 182.178.246.250 on Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:48:53 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 5: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 5/9

A STUDENTPAPER 37

pletely conquered, man attains Bud-dhahood and takes hold of Reality.

From an analysis of Bodhidharma'sdeclaration we see also the basic ten-

ets of Zen. It is antiliteral due to liter-ature's rationality and deluding ofReality and because the scriptures donot help the ignorant achieve enlight-enment anyway. It stresses approach-ing Reality with a faculty higher thanthe intellect, joining with nature, see-ing the world with a sense of unity,and in the end suddenly realizingone's own Buddhahood through theundisciplines and spontaneous satori.

Of course, this is not what Zen

means altogether, but merely some ofits doctrines. From this startingpoint, however, we can now begin toconsider the more subtle ramificationsof the religion and hopefully gainsome understanding of the effect ofZen on art and art's ability to expressthe more subtle yet substantial as-pects of Zen. We consider now the es-sence of Man and Nature by Zen.

Zen principles regarding Natureand Man, as we have seen, are of cor-

nerstone importance in the religion. Itis for this reason that a still morecareful investigation of this area isnecessary if we hope to understandZen and its art at all.

Ill

Nature and Man are fundamentals.We may differ on our definitions ofthe two, on our philosophies of thetwo, on our suggestions for their coex-istence or our fears for their mutual

destruction, on our theories of theirbeginnings and of their ends. Yet, onone point all philosophies agree: Na-ture and Man are fundamentals. Nogreater dichotomy in interpretationexists on Nature and Man than that ofZen and of Western thought. And asthe national mind is reflected in thenational art, the art that depicts theassociation is radically different in

the West as compared to that of Zen.Let us first consider the Westernideas, and then see how they comparewith the Zen ideas.

We have seen that the West is char-acterized by Rationality. In the under-standing of Nature, as the nationalmind is rational, the West accordinglyconsiders Nature in this context. TheWest correctly sees that Nature is notrational. It is without concreteness, adefinable purpose. The West is ratio-nal: it is concrete, definite, discrimi-nating, has purpose, and is intelligent.Rationality and nonrationality cannotcoexist as equals in the rational mind ;

they are utterly irreconcilable, forthere is no means for communicationand no basis in common for under-standing. In this lies conflict. Thischaracterizes the association of Na-ture and Man in the West.7 The rami-fications of this coexisting inequalityare patent for the social scientist.

Man views Nature as the otherworld of raw power. Perhaps due tohis ego or fear of this awesome un-known, Western Man conquers Na-

ture and exploits it. Much of the his-tory of Western Man is little morethan a chronicle of his conquering ofthe unknown wildernesses, whether itbe man climbing a mountain or land-ing on the moon and having it re-corded as Man conquers Moon, or, in asubtle sense, Man conquering, civiliz-ing, and then exploiting people towhom he cannot communicate or whoseem not intelligent. In terms of Na-

ture, Man's misunderstanding and his

attempts at exploiting are all too evi-dent in view of the rampant pollutiontoday. Again, as in World War II, wesee that when two irreconcilable, non-communicating worlds of strengthmeet, mutual misunderstandings anddestruction result.

Western Man's religions furtherseparate Nature and Man. We aretaught that God created Nature, that

This content downloaded from 182.178.246.250 on Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:48:53 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 6: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 6/9

38 SOCIAL SCIENCE FOR WINTER1973

Man is made in the image of God;therefore, by Western rationality,Man is the controller of Nature onearth. Nature is considered to be thelowly passions, the flesh, while Manresides in the transcending spirit.In order to protect himself from theevil of Nature, Man must control it,with resulting trouble again. (It is cu-rious to note that the few times thatWestern Man attempted to join withNature, it was done not with a lessen-ing of rationality but with a strongerassertion of it.)

In the West, the wedding of Manand Nature was called Romanticism.

What it called for was a return tothat other world outside of mankindand civilization called Nature. It wasas much an embrace as an escape.With its constant use of images, inno-cence, and a pastoral quality, it isclear that Nature was consideredunattainable if not without a reality.The ego crops up again, for the inter-est was not so much in Nature for Na-ture's sake, but in Man's being unableto achieve something unachievable. In

short, Western Man has little under-standing of Nature, and limited senseof communion with it.

In comparison to the West, Zen be-lieved that, when the problem of na-ture was solved, so was the problem ofMan, for Nature and Man are one.Zeň: felt that the reality of Man wasdefined as the same as the reality ofNature, so there were only feelings ofequality between the two resulting inharmony and communion on equal lev-

els. And, conveniently, Zen addition-ally felt that true communion couldexist only between equals. BecauseNature has a reality the same as Man,it could be understood on its ownterms there was no need for personi-fication, conquering, denials, escapesor embraces. Without the pressure ofdoing the will of God or servingprogress and other dualities, Zen,

with introspection, found satisfactionin the unity itself ; and this differencein the conditioning of pressure to con-quer versus harmony is fundamen-tally clear in Zen art.

Artistically, the Romantic's aware-ness of the sentimentality of be-ing surrounded by Nature is clearlyshown to be in opposition to Zen'ssimple yet total experience with Na-ture, seen clearest in the paintings oflandscapes. In no Zen art will you findengineering feats which would implyMan's conquest of Nature, nor naturalcalamities which would imply Na-ture's conquest of Man. Many paint-ings show men in direct activities withNature, like farming or fishing,whichlead the spectator to a new awarenessof the coexisting relationship. Andfurther, in landscape painting thepresence of the human element is di-minished in order to heighten thesense of cohabitation of Man and Na-ture. Similar habits are seen in Zen'sworking with Heaven and Earth, andHuman and Divine themes, themes sodistinctive in theWest.

In Zen art, with the antidiscrimina-tory doctrine at work, there were nosordid scenes or episodes, like Boschor Grunwald, no swamps, terrors, orcrippled trees to make the spectatorespecially aware of earth. Likewise,unlike the Byzantines, there were nopictorial inventions used to direct theimagination toward other-worldliness.Zen art avoids the too heavenly anddivine, and the too earthly and human.The most popular religious subject

was Bodhidharma; and even in thepaintings of this most holy man, hewas not shown as a God dwelling inparadise but as a man close to nature.As Suzuki again says, Zen broughtGod in Heaven down to earth. Paint-ers often were spontaneous, undigni-fied, even drunk, in order to give thefeeling of spontaneity and lack of dig-nity to nature and life itself. Most im-

This content downloaded from 182.178.246.250 on Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:48:53 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 7: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 7/9

A STUDENT PAPEB 39

portantly, the painters, aware that na-ture is life and life is growth andmovement, tried to include a feelingof rhythmto their strokes and a con-

stant underlying rhythm of natureto all aspects of the scenes.

An important associated idea ofman and nature and one which dis-plays itself beautifully in art is thetopic of naturalism and idealism. Letus define naturalism as things asthey appear to be, with the control-ling emotion being sensual appeal ofactual nature ; and let us consideridealism as things as they ought tobe, with the controlling emotion being

intellectual satisfaction of perfectednature. In both the West and Zenthese two isms are certainly consid-ered, for in art, as in philosophy, suchissues have far-reaching impact. It isinteresting to note, however, how thetwo are dealt with so very differentlyby Zen and by the West. In doing so,we gain insight into Zen by both con-trast and enumeration.

It was said by a Len artist thatWestern painting is painting of the

eye, Zen painting is painting of theidea. It can be added that Westernpainting is painting of the ideal whileZen painting is not. In Western artgreat emphasis was placed on stimula-tion of the sense with lavishness andrichness. Rationality again reared itshead and desecrated the idea ofbeauty by Zen standards. This is seenclearest in the apex of Western soci-eties, the Greeks, and their handlingof beauty. Beauty was rationalized in

terms of mathematical proportions,and as a result Aphrodite was createdfrom a culmination of many beauties.Beauty was categorized and associ-ated with such other ideals as good-ness and truth. In the rationalizing ofbeauty, as with Western art in gen-eral, naturalism was overruled byidealism, which, in its execution, hadno hold on nature and therefore no

idea or presence of nature. Zen art farsurpasses the West in catching anddefiningthe inner spirit of the subjectwhich eluded the Western portraits.

We have seen that nature is a fun-damental idea in Zen and without aclear understanding of its ramifica-tions much of the understanding ofZen is lost. Further, nature, symbol-ized in the form of landscapes, is thesupreme art subject.

IV

We come now to another importantpoint in our examination of Zen andits relationship to art. We will focus

primarily on the supreme theme ofZen art, the landscape, and will con-sider the importance and ramifica-tions of the sense of space, what themethod was, and why the choice ofbrush-and-ink media. Concurrent withthis will be the art's basis and depen-dence in the Zen tenets, as we now un-derstand them.

By the manipulation of the subjectmatter, of perspective, and by its verynature, Zen landscape art showed the

insignificance of man in relation tothe cosmos and his very personalunity with nature. Zen preaches that

only by losing oneself in the vastnessof nature is one able to findoneself, todiscover what the Zen masters wouldcall one's Buddhahood-nature. Justas the reality of the unity was basic toZen, the implying of that reality wasbasic to its art. As the Zen used the

symbolic nomenclature of reality to

express the idea which we have noted

repeatedly, the Zen artist used limitedspace to express the same symbolic re-

ality, which is the culmination of Zenitself.

This space, this economy of means,is at the heart of the Zen art. Just aswith their portraits, Zen artists werenot concerned with the lavish appear-ances of forms which the senses per-ceived but with the reality which lies

This content downloaded from 182.178.246.250 on Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:48:53 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 8: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 8/9

40 SOCIALSCIENCEFOR WINTER 1973

beneath the surface. The envelopingspace in the landscapes, the sense ofpoverty, became like an echo or a re-flection of the great incomprehensible

void. The simplicity of the art, theharmony, the lack of complexitieswith their rational and intellectualovertones, the lack of clear distinc-tions between water, land, and sky, allhelp involve the viewer in thinking inrelative terms and lead him to anawareness of the spirit of the unity. Asingle flower s as a forest a speck ofdust takes on the importance of amountain. The void, like the religionitself, is optimistic and positive in

that it signified not nothingness butan infinity,an alive emptiness. Theartists were, in a sense, displayingmore by the absence of brush and inkthan by their presence. Painting waswhere not to paint as much as whereto paint.8

The methods used to produce thiseffect are, in part, based in Zen. Toproduce the sense of void and not sim-ply blank space, a three-depth designwas used. An illusion of depth was

produced by overlapping rocks, a feel-ing of height was produced by juxta-posing the big with the small, say awaterfall with a hut, and the combin-ing of these elements with differentpoints of focus in the same piece giv-ing a moving picture type effect.

In order to achieve the sense of co-hesion, as in a man's life, the outlinesof the paintings were done first. Thebrushwork related the spirit only ifthe brush, imbued with a sense of

unity,was in Ching Hao's words, anextension of the arm, the belly, andthe mind. The completed work musthave the feeling of naturalness and ef-fortlessness. It is no wonder that Zenart portrays an underlying uniformsense of life rhythm n its landscapes.Essentially, then,we see again, in this

interpretation, the sociopsychologicalimplications for our contemporarysociety.

The manner of painting is well

founded in Zen philosophy, too. Thespilled ink style, for example, empha-sizes the idea of sudden enlightenmentand ultimately life itself.

Suzuki summarizes the method ofbrushwork and its association to Zenin this manner : Life delineates itselfon the canvas called time; and timenever repeats ; once gone, forever

gone ; and so is an act : once done, it isnever undone. Life is a sumiye-paint-ing, which must be executed once and

for all time and without hesitation,without intellection, and no correc-tions are permissible or possible. Lifeis not like an oil painting, which canbe rubbed out and done over time and

again until the artist is satisfied. Witha sumiye-painting, any brush strokepainted over a second time results in a

smudge ; the life has left it. All correc-tions show when the ink dries. So islife. We can never retract what wehave once committed to deeds; nay,

what has once passed through con-sciousness can never be rubbed out.Zen therefore ought to be caughtwhile the thing is going on, neither be-fore nor after. It is an act one instant.. . . This fleeting, unrepeatable, and

ungraspable character of life is delin-eated graphically by Zen masters whohave compared it to lightning or

spark produced by the percussion ofstones. 9 Sociologically, there are in-timations here of values and attitudes.

As we have seen, one basic underly-ing principle of Zen is its antidiscri-minatory nature. In that view, trueZen art, art conceived, created, andconsidered in Zen. is Zen itself. The

religion and the religious art are one.This is the truest relationship be-tween Zen Buddhism and art.

This content downloaded from 182.178.246.250 on Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:48:53 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 9: Zen Buddhism and Art

7/27/2019 Zen Buddhism and Art

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/zen-buddhism-and-art 9/9

A STUDENTPAPER 41

Finally, Zen, in its truest sense, ex-ists only in the living of it. Once wearrest living ideas in words, like flow-ers in amber, the once living part,though intact, is dead. And again, likethe space in Zen art, what is not sug-gested, not said, is more importantand expressive than what is. Forthese reasons, it is better that Zen re-main undefinable in words and remainvoid of rationality. And, after all,is not life, too, antiliteral, undefinable,and, especially, irrational? Zen findsits communion with life preciselythrough that irrationality and gives

the Zen peace of mind and wholenessof life.

Notes*D. T. Suzuki, tudies n Zen, New York:

Dell,1955,p.136 f.2H. Munsterberg,en andOriental rt,Rut-land,Vermont: uttle, 965, . 101.

O. Sirén, heChinesentheArt f Painting,NewYork:Schocken,963, . 93.

E. Blair,Politics nd theEnglish anguage,NewYork:Harcourt,946, . 173.

D. T. Suzuki, ssays n ZenBuddhism,ewYork:Grove, 961, p.11ff.6Sirèn,p. cit., p.53ff.

G. Rowley, rinciplesf ChinesePainting,Princeton, ew Jersey:PrincetonUniversityPress, 959, . 20.8Ibid., . 33.9Suzuki,p.cit., p.300ff.

This content downloaded from 182 178 246 250 on Fri 25 Apr 2014 04:48:53 AM