When you think of the word Zen, what images spring to mind? Perhaps you might imagine a dry garden of raked sand and rocks, a graceful black circle penned in ink on white paper, a black-robed monk seated in the lotus position with eyes half-shut, or the ripples created when a drop of water falls from a bamboo pipe into a stone basin… Such images may seem deeply Japanese, and … [Read more...] about The Origins of Zen – A Flower and a Smile
Zen
Ikkyū
Ian Ropke writes... Ikkyū was a Zen monk who was famous for burning the candle of life at both ends. By day, he was devout and extremely accomplished monk and scholar. By night, he reveled in the so-called “floating world” of drink and women. He lived in tumultuous 15th century Japan at a time when most of the country was ruined by civil war. Ikkyū was born the … [Read more...] about Ikkyū
