Art 107 Japanese Art

Amida Buddhism: Amida with bodhisattvas

Buddhist Art: Visible manifestations of faith (not art)

Zen Buddhism (contemplation) Goal: enlightenment (not ecstasy) reached through silent meditation and selfdiscipline (without the help of mandalas, deities, or magical chants)

Zen Buddhism Transcend the world by replacing passions with an intuitive and unconscious acceptance of the oneness of universe Spontaneous intuition: immediate, intuitive, personal response Intuitively merging oneself with nature & universe (lose one s sense of identity; experience unification with the Oneness that is reality)

Concepts: Zen Buddhism (and the arts) Transcendental naturalism (experience unification with Oneness; borders are illusory) Spontaneous intuition (no planning, overpainting, or building up) Simplicity and understatement Art Forms: Sumi-e (ink paintings) Zen gardens Zen cha-no-yu (tea ceremony) Martial arts (including archery and sword-making) Flower arranging

Zen Sumi-e lines If your heart is clouded, you can t draw a pure line. If you re shallow in experience, you can t draw a line that reveals depth. Constantly strive to be a better person because character shows through in your work.

Sumi-e (ink paintings) Concepts Experiencing unity with oneness (set aside your passions and be one with the universe) Spontaneous inspiration (no planning, overpainting, or building up) Simplicity (viewer s intuition supplies the color and details) Suggest the invisible world of true Buddhahood Mujo Mono-no-aware Ma Yugen

To become one with the brush Forget the brush. Eliminate yourself. (and the universe): Infuse the ink & brush with your spirit to make each brushstroke resonate with vital energy. Be in the moment! Invest your body and soul in the task before you. (When writing ichi, focus only on ichi, etc.) Study meticulously and practice relentlessly; this comes only with dedicated practice

Zen artists: Only when the artist s mind is as calm as the surface of a mirror can the real nature of the outside object be grasped.

Use the brush to liberate self from distracting and petty thoughts.

The art of brush painting aims to depict the spirit, rather than the semblance of the object. In creating a picture the artist must grasp the spirit of the subject. Sumi-e attempts to capture the Chi or 'life spirit' of the subject, painting in the language of the spirit.

Dream

What is the first principle Of Buddhism? Daruma (founder of Zen): Nothing sacred. Vast emptiness, Absolutely nothing!

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Mujo The impermanence of life; the world and life are transient, endlessly changing and disappearing; all beauty, wealth, success, life fades and disappears. Mujo is clearly seen in the transience of spring blossoms and autumn colors, flowers in blossom, between growth and decay.

Four Gentlemen Plants Bamboo reflects summer, strength and balance Orchid represents spring, happiness, grace and inspiration Chrysanthemum autumn, coming of winter Plum blossom winter, reemergence and continuity of life (Cherry blossom- spring and transience)

Musubi (Masubi) The Shinto creating and harmonizing power that includes and unites opposites Generates change, expansion, contraction, evolution Personified in the rising sun

Mono-no-aware sensivity to the sadness of things; intense, nostalgic sadness one s reaction to the ahness of things; an exclamation of surprise, awe, or delight, or pity and sympathy; connected with autumn, the brief cherry blossom (which falls from the tree at the height of its beauty), and the vanishing away of the world through this reaction, one touches true meaning

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Ma- blank spaces in paintings, pauses in No drama, controlled breathing; implies something immeasurably large (not empty)

Yugen Individual s unconscious emotional response to an aesthetic situation; sudden perception of something mysterious, hinting at the unknown Suggested in clouds veiling the moon, autumn mist swathing scarlet leaves, autumn sky at dusk, with no color or sound

Catching a Catfish in a Gourd, by Josetsu. Zen riddle (Koan) Sumi-e (monochrome ink painting)

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The professor is THINKING too much! AARGH! I don t know!!!

Shin Style Sumi-e Sharp, jagged, angular, relatively stiff lines relatively complex brushwork axe-cut rocks Meant to look spontaneous, but more mannered

Autumn Landscape, by Sesshu. Sumi-e, Shin Style.

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Sumi-e Landscape, by Sesshu. Haboku (flung-ink)style/so style.

Haboku/So Style ( flung-ink / splashed / broken ) Done rapidly, directly Soft, wet, blurred Ultra-simplified, minimalist Rather explosive, gestural More abstract Extreme tonal ranges

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Keene s list of 4 Japanese aesthetic tendencies: 1. Suggestiveness 2. Perishibility 3. Irregularity 4. Simplicity

Suggestiveness in yugen (emotional reaction to mysterious in aesthetics) in ma ( empty space) in Buddhist concept that the visible world is illusory only a suggestion of true Buddhahood; intuition supplies details in Shinto concept of depicting the essence of nature; also in Zen

Slide 15 Pine Trees by Tohaku. Sumi-e on screens.

Snow falling on Mt. Fuji

Perishibility Perishibility of love,beauty, and life: The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty. in mono-no-aware (reaction to the ahness, including sadness about life s changes and losses) in mujo (life s impermanence) in masubi (Shinto s creative opposing forces that create change) in nature, seen tangibly in seasons

Perishibility In yugen (emotional reaction to the mysterious, including things only temporarily hidden) in Buddhist spontaneous inspiration (brief and sudden) in Shinto belief that we touch true meaning through feelings (as experienced through our reaction to perishibility)

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Irregularity in nature (and age) in asymmetry in wabi (Imperfect, unique, irregular, disappointing, insufficient, sad objects suggesting an eternity of experience)

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Simplicity in Shinto purity & cleanliness (in plain, clean whiteness) In Zen lifestyle, sumi-e, and spontaneous intuition in shibui (subdued and restrained, eloquent silence, inner radiance, understated; understood through intuition, seeing the right now ) in ma

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Principles of the Tea Ceremony (cha no yu) Harmony Purity Respect Tranquility Aesthetics of modesty, refinement, and rusticity

Zen gardens Tea houses Tea ware Tea ceremony The Tea Ceremony Cha-no-yu art