Visiting Enso Art by Casey Shannon

Enso One

Here's a nice collection of Zen Enso Art 

by Casey Shannon

Enso Spring

Enso Willow Bud

Camel River Peace

Enso Kaori

Sudden Enlightenment One

Enso Snow

Enso Aven

Enso Sudden Enlightenment

All These Forms

The following song, by the Tibetan teacher Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, advises us - in the face of the arising and dissolving of myriad forms - to "just let go, and go where no mind goes."

All These Forms 

All these forms - appearance emptiness

Like a rainbow with its shining glow

In the reaches of appearance emptiness

Just let go and go where no mind goes

Every sound is sound and emptiness

Like the sound of an echo's roll

In the reaches of sound and emptiness

Just let go and go where no mind goes

Every feeling is bliss and emptiness

Way beyond what words can show

In the reaches of bliss and emptiness

Just let go and go where no mind goes

All awareness - awareness emptiness

Way beyond what thought can know

In the reaches of appearance emptiness

Let awareness go - oh, where no mind goes

Bamboo Enso by Deiryu

Leaf after leaf in the pure wind,

As I see you off at the gate, there are tall bamboo.

Just for you, their leaves are raising a pure wind.

Deiryu (1895-1954)

This Deiryu enso was made with a dry brush in pale gray ink. The ink has pooled beyond the lines of the enso, giving it a soft quality. The bamboo in the center may illustrate the strength and flexibility of emptiness (often the enso's center); Zen people believe this is the ground of all life.

Daruma Enso by Nakagawa Soen

Not one moment of hurry,

Not one wasted breath,

This, this is

The natural Zen state of being!

~Mitta

Daruma/Enso
by Nakagawa Soen (1907-1984)
Mitta was Soen's Zen master name.

This wonderful Zenga is combination moon-mind enso, wall-gazing Daruma,  self-portrait, and Dharma talk. The inscription sums up Soen's Zen teaching--so simple to say, so hard to do. It is an inspiring and instructive work of Zen art.

About the Artist

Zany Nakagawa Soen was one of the pioneers of Zen in the United States. He was abbot of Ryutaku-ji in Japan where a number of prominent Western Zen elders trained, and Soen also visited the United States on a number of occasions. Soen was extremely unconventional leading students out of the meditation hall to dance together beneath the moon, installing a pumpkin in the abbot's seat, conducting "tea ceremonies" with instant coffee and Styrofoam cups, cracking jokes during his Zen talks and thus somewhat controversial. Nevertheless, Soen was an excellent poet and accomplished Zen artist.

Enso by Miura Joten

Within not one thing are inexhaustible treasures--

there are flowers, there is the moon, there are pleasure pavillions.

~The old fellow Hekiun

of Matsushima.*

Enso by Miura Joten (1872-1958)

Hekiun was Joten's Zen master name; Matsushima is the location of Zuigan-ji, the temple where Joten served as abbot.

This is a "not one thing" enso with  the often used inscription that tells us :"Yes, all things are empty, but that does not mean nothing exists--the world is full of delights that we should enjoy but not cling to." Joten was quite skilled with a brush, and did many interesting and unusual Zenga during  his long life. This is a fine example of his work.

About the Artist

Miura Joten was long-time abbot of Zuigan-ji in Matsushima, and also served as Primate of the Myoshin-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. Joten was a prolific and creative Zen artist

A Collection of Zen Enso Art

Belonging to Zen Buddhism, the Enso is a circle, drawn quickly and simply with a brush stroke although years of practice in the art of calligraphy are likely to have preceded the ease with which the symbol can be drawn. The Enso symbolizes eternity, the perfect meditative state, the "no thing," and enlightenment.

What follows is a collection of Zen Enso Circles in a variety of styles and interpretations:

From: Darma Art Fragments

Toyokuni Toshidama
Prints of Japan

Dragon Enso
by Catherine Jao

Enso Blu

Zen Circle

From Misija Komunikacije

Enso Circle

Rainbow Enso

Found at Pics Box

Found at Body of Work

Kusho

Zen Circle by Peter Cutler

Painting After John Cage

The Simplicity Of A Circle

A circle is one of the simplest forms imaginable, yet Zen Buddhists believe this unassuming shape holds great meaning. For centuries, Buddhist monks and artists have created these brushwork circles to express their truth. Some of these artists even hold that the Enso, or Zen circle, is a graphic depiction of enlightenment itself.

Take a moment and contemplate this circle, and notice that it is not perfect, nor does it have to be. Each brush stroke is unique, like the fingerprint of the artist and mind that created it.

Some Enso paintings are loose and elliptical, and some are painted in a slower, more deliberate style. Yet each represents the same thing, the simplicity of the curved line, closing in upon itself. The center is a void of space, blank and empty. Try not to concern yourself with trying to unravel its secrets, rather passively absorb the image, and let it speak directly to your heart. Know that the curved line is the building block of all living things, from the single celled organism from which we all come, to the curve of the mother's womb.

The Zen Buddhists sometimes wrote short passages to accompany these circles, and all gave the same advice in different words. "Make your heart child-like, and you will understand." Take a moment to peruse this small gallery of Enso images. Let the images speak to your heart, and not merely to your mind. Take a little enlightenment into the rest of your day.

From the Daily Om

The Moon Cannot Be Stolen

A thief entered the little hut of a Zen Master,

but discovered there was nothing to steal.

The Zen Master discovered the thief.

"You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler,

"and you should not return empty-handed.

Please take my clothes as a gift."

The thief was bewildered,

but he took the clothes and slunk away.

The Zen Master sat naked, watching the moon.

"Poor fellow," he mused,

"I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon.

- Traditional Zen Koan

I've been thinking

I've been thinking about that old Zen conundrum: what's the sound of one hand clapping? My personal opinion--nothing. You don't have two hands, you don't have any clapping. It's as simple as that. Stars, galaxies, clapping hands, what's the point? The point is that we all need somebody, whether you're a supercluster or a little proton, a yin or a yang. Everybody is hooked into everybody else.

~Geoffrey Neighor, Northern Exposure, Duets, 1993