BoSt Galleries-Realism 2

In Dreamland

A disciple of Soyen Shaku once related how his schoolmaster used to take regular naps every afternoon and, when a curious pupil once asked the master why he had this repose in midday, he was told, “I go to dreamland to meet ancient sages like Confucius. When Confucius slept, he would dream of the sages and later tell his followers about them.”

It so happened that one a real scorcher of a day some of the pupils, unable to help themselves, took a nap under a huge and ancient tree where they benefited from the delightful breeze. The schoolmaster, chancing upon them, scolded them for being lax in their duties.

“We went to dreamland, the same as Confucius did, to meet the ancient sages.” a few of them protested.

“I see,” The master pursed his lips. “What was the message from those sages?” he called their bluff.

The bravest of the bunch responded with a serious demeanor, “When we were in dreamland we asked the sages how well they knew you since, according to your claim, you visited them every afternoon. Oddly enough they said that they had never seen any such fellow.”

Zen Story

BoSt Galleries- Realism 1

“In the autumn and winter, water begins to freeze into ice. When the warm

breezes of spring come, the rigidity is dissolved, and the elements that have

been dispersed in ice floes are reunited. It is the same with the minds of the people. Through hardness and selfishness the heart grows rigid, and this

rigidity leads to separation from all others. Egotism and cupidity isolate men.

Therefore the hearts of men must be seized by a devout emotion. They must

be shaken by a religious awe in face of eternity-stirred with an intuition of the One Creator of all living beings, and united through the strong feeling of fellowship experienced in the ritual of divine worship.”

I Ching

BoSt Galleries-CG Art Exhibit 1

A monk once drew four lines in front of Ma-tsu. The top line was long and the remaining three were short. He then demanded of the Master, “Besides saying that one line is long and the other three are short, what else you could say?”
 Ma-tsu drew one line on the ground and said: “This could be called either long or short. That is my answer.”

Zen mondo

Nature's Abstract Art- 5

“If one overshoots the goal, one cannot hit it. If a bird will not come to its nest but flies higher and higher, it eventually falls into the hunter's net. In times of extraordinary salience of small things one who does not know how to call a halt, but restlessly seeks to press on and on, draws upon himself misfortune at the hands of gods and men, because he deviates from the order of nature.”

I Ching

The End.