Stewart W. Holmes - Zen Art for Meditation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to use reproductions of the paintings included here:

Kozan-ji, Kyoto: plate

Nanzen-ji, Kyoto: plate

Ryusen-an, Hanazono Myoshin-ji, Kyoto: plate

Mr. Nagachika Asano, Tokyo: plate

Mr. Sotaro Kubo, Izumi: plate

Mr. Takaharu Mitsui, Tokyo: plate

Mr. Tomijiro Nakamura, Tokyo: plate

Mr. Fumihide Nomura, Kyoto: plate

Hakone Museum: plates

Maeda Ikutoku-kai, Tokyo: plate

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: plates

Tokyo National Museum: plates

Yamato Bunka Museum, Nara: plates

For permission to use quoted passages acknowledgment is also made to the following:

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., for a passage from A Farewell to Meng Hao-an on His Way to Yang-Chou, by Li Po, translated by Witter Bynner, quoted from The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology (New York: 1929).

Rider & Co. and the executors of the late D. T. Suzuki, for the passages quoted from Essays in Zen Buddhism, first series (London: 1970), and Essays in Zen Buddhism, second series (London: 1970), by D. T. Suzuki.

We wish to thank Mrs. Yasuko Horioka for creating fresh translations of the haiku. Her scholarship and empathy were invaluable in finding the right haiku and in establishing an authoritative version of each.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Published by Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Co., Inc. an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK)Ltd., with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759, USA.

Copyright 1973 by Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Company,. Inc.

All rights reserved.
LLC Card No. 73-78279
ISBN: 978-0-8048-1255-9
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0297-2 (ebook)

First printing, 1973.

Printed in Singapore.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

INTRODUCTION

This book is meant for those who wish to own reproductions of some of the finest pictorial art in the Zen tradition, in a format favorable to participation in the artists vision.

Hundreds of pictures from the canon of classical Chinese and Japanese ink painting were examined to find thirty-one that would appeal to Western viewers and would also present a wide spectrum of subjects and styles. The originals of this gallery-without-walls exhibition are in collections all over the world. These private and national treasures are widely considered to be not only great works of art but also portraits of various faces of mans soul.

From this it follows that this book is also for those who wish, by meditating somewhat in the Zen way, to experience certain insights into human nature and the universe. To this end it provides for each picture a commentary focused on a Zen tenet and illuminated by haiku poems. Thus great masterpieces by Zen-inspired artists and poets, used and preserved for centuries by followers of the Zen Way, are here made available to Westerners as stimuli to expansions of consciousness. The book may function as a substitute (admittedly quite inadequate) for the guidance of a Zen master.

Using the Book

Whether you are primarily interested in enjoying great examples of the Chinese and Japanese art of ink painting ( sumi-e ) or in achieving expansions of consciousness and preconsciousness, this book opens doors.

If you wish to use it as a meditation instrument, the following sequence is suggested as a model on which to build your own practice. You will doubtless make your own adaptations as time goes on.

Place: a softly lighted room, moderate in temperature, quiet, and otherwise suitable for a serene state of mind.

Clothing: loose, comfortableor none.

Mode of sitting: the nearest possible approximation to the lotus position (see pictures of statues of the seated Buddha). Even if you find a chair more comfortable at first, try to get accustomed to sitting cross-legged on the floor.

Sit on a thick, firm pillow so that your buttocks are higher than your knees. If you can finally manage to sit with your left foot on your right thigh, you will find that putting a thinner pillow under your left knee will help to keep both knees on something firm.