For Father’s Day 2019 my son, Morgan, created a website for my hobbies of experimenting  with Japanese brush painting (sumi-e) and Japanese calligraphy (shodo).  It has become a home for the antique Japanese  scrolls (kakejiku) that I have collected over the last 15 years, and of course my photography, of which I have been a devoted amateur since I was a teenager.   

 

I work full time as a psychotherapist and for many years I have been a student of Buddhism.

In the Tibetan tradition I studied with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and then for two years lived with Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche at the Ewam Choden Tibetan Buddhist Center.

 

I have been practicing the last six years with the EveryDay Zen Sangha in Northern California and Norman Fisher is my teacher.  In April of 2021

I received the Buddhist Precepts in the Jukai ceremony and was ordained as a lay Buddhist monk. 

 

I have always been interested in questioning “what is life all about?”  Zen has been a welcoming home to the great questions of “life and death.” How do I live a life of meaning? How can I be helpful in this world? What am I doing here anyway!!!? 

 

A spiritual practice is more than studying a wisdom tradition, it is a daily practice. For Zen it is Zazen, sitting meditation with no goal, just sitting quietly and observing what happens... something I do everyday. But it is not just sitting on the cushion or the chair in my case. 

 

Zen philosophy and Zen aesthetics hold a unique position in the history of world culture. I found my practicing shodo and sumi-e and also Ikebana (flower arranging) are a way to discover a release from certain attachments, in particular, a materialistic approach to life. The Zen arts reveal the dynamic process of the Zen tradition. 

 

There is a great beauty and charm in the Zen brush and many monks and nuns and priests

of Japanese Zen have found it was also a way to deepen their spiritual practice. If you include

cooking and landscape gardening you find a complete discipline to engage the awakened mind.   

Every action and reaction we have is significant…can I pay attention! As calligraphy teacher

Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi says “every brush stroke is your life.” 

 

Thank you for visiting my “Floating World Studio.”  I am happy to share my art and practice with you. 

 

And thank you, Morgan,  for the great Father’s Day present!

 

Calligraphy, sumi-e, and photographs are not for sale. Some of the Antique Japanese Scrolls will be available for sale in November 2021.