It is interesting that I find myself so fascinated with Muso Soseki. Perhaps it is because Musō Soseki was a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and teacher, and a calligraphist, poet and garden designer.
He is most known today for developing the art of traditional Japanese Zen gardening. Even more impressive is his creation of the institutional structure for all Japanese Buddhist temples, which still in use today.
Tenryu-ji is his temple where I attended zazen in Arashiyama.
I cannot help but feel like I am looking into a mirror.
Musō Soseki’s first poem:
Wandering
A runaway son
will never own savings
throughout his life
My treasure
is the cloud on the peak
the moons over the valley
Traveling east or west
light and free
on the one road
I don’t know whether
I’m on the way
or at home
Musō Soseki’s last poem, written on my birthday:
September 29, 1351, Rinzenji, Kyoto
In the real world
the pure world
no separation exists
Died October 30, 1351
___________________________
It would be merciful for people
not to come calling
and disturb the loneliness of the mountains
to which I have returned from the sorrows of the world.
-Musō Soseki
Zen and Ink Journals represents hundreds of hours of writing over the past decade, sometimes from a train in remote China or a coffee shop in Kyoto, a hammock in Costa Rica or a simple cabin on a mountain in Boquete, Panama.
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Zen and Ink was born over a decade ago out of my own personal journey to find peace and tranquility amidst the ever-increasing chaos of our modern world. In the last ten years, the pace of our modern world has only accelerated and we have moved further out of sync with nature and the rhythm of our souls. Zen and Ink offers a quiet space for anyone along their journey seeking more balance and Zen in their daily lives.
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