View Single Post
  #7   Report Post  
Old 12-01-2004, 11:08 PM
Kitsune Miko
 
Posts: n/a
Default [IBC] Non-traditional forms {WAS: [IBC] good quote (non-bonsai, but related)}

Peter,

It is not easy to answer your question of what is Zen
to me, and how it applies to bonsai, but I will try.

To me one of the major concepts in the study of Zen is
the concept of “Beginners Mind” or the mind of a
child. In this state one looks at everything as if
they are seeing it for the first time, with no
preconceived notions. So if you look at a bonsai or
suiseki (viewing stones) and your breath is taken away
to the point that your mind clears of anything else in
the moment, of any preconceived notion, this then to
me has a Zen quality, peace and tranquility. When you
begin to think and distill what you are viewing from
past experience, you loose beginner’s mind, does it
follow a formula.

Strange, one develops beginners mind from past
experience. This is similar to playing scales on the
piano to give your fingers strength and agility to
play from your heart. It is like Montana and Rice
(the San Francisco 49ers football team quarter back
and receiver Super Bowl winners more than any other
team) working out in order to have the tools for
voiceless communication when it is time to interact
with pass (throw) and receive (catch). Each pass and
receive in football is a new experience, but not
everyone can make the pass or receive. If one is not
focused in the moment the football is thrown, one is
distracted from that pass at that moment. It also
takes practice to clear your mind so you can use a
fresh approach.

To work in bonsai or any other art from in the Zen
manner requires one to look at material or the plant
in front of you as if seeing it anew. What does the
here and now, in the moment, viewing tell you? Do you
still see the old plan or does a new plan present
itself from this open, fresh viewing? Again the
practice of knowing the material before hand allows
you to have vision in the moment. If you have a new
plant you know little about, I would suggest having
the practice to know the material better, at least for
a year before the intimacy of changing the plant into
a bonsai.

This to me, briefly, is how Zen applies to bonsai and
suiseki.

Kitsune Miko


Dear Kitsune Miko:

Could you please define for me what you consider
"zen quality" as used in
the above statement. Would you consider that the
term also applies to bonsai
and suiseki? And if your answer is affirmative,
could you define that for me
also.

Appreciate your answer in advance. Thank you.

Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma


************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Mark Zimmerman++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --

+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++