The art practice assignment during this ninety day training period is to take up a passage by Dogen and to explore it using the creative process. Dogen was the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, and one of the most profound thinkers and influential teachers in our lineage.
In the fasicle we were given, Dogen speaks of intimate language:
At the very moment when you do not understand Buddha-dharma, that is a moment of intimate language.
My gut tells me to get out of the way, that this simple quote is just that, simple. Can it be simple?
Not concealing is already present. You should investigate the very moment when nothing is concealed.
This is my first look, my first encounter within this passage, this teaching. Over the next few months I will absorb it, and let it permeate my practice. I’ll come back to it again and again allowing it inform my writing.
Investigate it in detail little by little, hundreds and thousands of times, instead of trying to understand it all at once. Do not think that you understand it right away.
Writing is my chosen medium for art practice though I decided not to pick a specific form, but to just let it go where it will. The writing will be done daily in my journal, pen on paper, tactile and concrete. I’ll post the highlights here every week or so.
Entries (RSS)