“Zen (and Not)”
Painting by John Diamond, M.D.
D. T. Suzuki writes that artists influenced by Zen “tend to use the fewest … strokes of the brush to express their feelings.”[1]
In that case, my paintings – now – are certainly Zen: very few strokes, so many only one.
But, to go further: what feeling to express?
The only one that really matters is Matrophilia. Well, I may not express that feeling – but at least I do acknowledge my mother and the need to express gratitude for her love.
Is there a haiku – even one – about the poet’s mother?
So, I am Zen
(sort of)
– and not.
–
[1] Zen and Japanese Culture (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970), 257.
