Calligraphy: The Mindful Art of Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh
Doing calligraphy for Thầy is a practice of meditation
Each session of calligraphy begins with the tea
I never write calligraphy without having a cup of tea first
I always mix ……
tea with ink
Therefore when you look deeply into the ink
You see the tea inside
And when I hold the brush
I begin to breath in
and for making the circle I begin here
and I breath in mindfully
So you can see my in breath
in this circle
There is a calm, there is a concentration
there is mindfulness and there is love
Brother Phap Huu: When we practise calligraphy
our teacher would explain it is an expression of mindfulness
We are in the Sitting Still Hut (Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France)
This is where Thầy, our teacher, Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh
would do a lot of his calligraphies
or we can call it the wisdom of our teacher’s practice
as well as the wisdom of our teacher’s insight
So calligraphy is one of the ways of expressing art
and it is also a very beautiful mindful practice
For example, when our teacher writes
“I have arrived. I am home”
So in the time of writing
we are also practising that Dharma
“I have arrived. I am at home” in every brushstroke
Calligraphy is an art
and one thing that Thầy has told me is that
whenever he practises, he likes to practise no self, non-self
Sometimes when Thầy would do a circle
he would invite his teacher to do the circle with him
or he would invite the Buddha to do the circle with him
So in that way, in that practice
our teacher is comtemplating continuation
“I am the continuation of my teacher.”
“I am the continuation of the Buddha.”
And if they do the practice of calligraphy
then the circle, the calligraphy would be done much more beautiful
Thích Nhất Hạnh: the “me” is made of “non-me” elements
and that is why when you practice calligraphy
you can touch the insight of no self
of inter-being
because you cannot be by yourself alone
You have to inter-be with the whole cosmos
and that is why calligraphy can be a deep practice
and while you do calligraphy you get concentration
you get mindfulness
you get the insight
and the insight of inter-being, the insight on no-self
has the power to liberate us
from fear, anger, suffering, separation
and discrimination
“Vượt thời gian” - Beyond time
Thích Nhất Hạnh: Do you understand this verse?
Listening to the Dharma in the ultimate dimension
I see the autumn leaves fall
occupying the whole sky
I see the autumn moon
on every path, old path
but the Dharma is neither full nor empty