notes from the drifting spaces
Blair’s art notes…
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Reworking Dogen’s white mountain poem from Sanshodoei
From the Sanshodoei poems, I have been working on the English translations with John Fraser – 我庵は こしのしらやま 冬ごもり 凍もゆきも くもかかりけり waga iho wa koshi no shirayama fuyugomori kouri mo yuki mo kumo kakari keri my hut in the white mountain of Koshi enclosed in winter’s ice and snow wrapped in cloud Eihei Dogen
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moon cloud – secluded within snow
moon cloud softly emergingbreathing plumes of blue snow dustswirling aroundour scratched out rooftop
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Waves breaking through light – Kusen collaboration
John Fraser’s Kusen Master Dogen’s poem ‘Zazen Practice’: The moon mirroredBy a mind freeOf all distractions;Even the waves, breaking,Are reflecting its light We have a primitive idea what a symbol is. Usually, we think it’s like a code. So, in this case, ‘Moon’ will mean ‘Enlightenment’, or ‘Buddha Mind’, something like that. But a symbol
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Discovered in my sketchbook poetry notes
fragile manoeuvring through pale ochre land gaping dark blue fissure within the sky a light hole self transparent roaming path hill spontaneously becoming deer hare blown by atlantic gusts everything is shimmering temporal
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Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me – Contemplating the inward and outward journeys of the self
In Buddhism we awake to the dream and realise we are still within the dream – helping us be much more aware and open. In transcendental meditation effortless concentration is practiced, moving deeper into new levels of consciousness. The world of Twin Peaks, from the pilot to the Missing Pieces of Fire Walk With Me,
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Awakening flooding through us – Kusen Collaboration with John Fraser
John’s Kusen 131 In these days, it often feels as if we are living in a dream. But whose dream? Awakening is one of the three meanings of Satori, Enlightenment. So what is Awakening? It isn’t waking up into a different world. It isn’t, asleep, imagining that the world is flat, and waking up, realising
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Bring me your mind – Kusen Collaboration with John Fraser
John’s Kusen 130 Eko said to Bodhidharma, “my mind is not at peace, please pacify it” Bodhidharma said, “bring me your mind and I will pacify it” After a while Eko said, “I have looked everywhere for my mind and I cannot find it” Bodhidharma said, “There! I have pacified it” In Eko’s question, we
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Shodo zen calligraphy practice
Trying out the zen enso circle, symbol of universality and the idea of beauty within imperfection. Small to medium fude for sho on single hanshi sheets. Working on the character nen – commonly translated as mindfulness or mindful, also attention or care. There is a balance needed between the two parts of the kanji. The