Jiangnan Metropolis Daily: Zen Painting: Understanding Zen from Zen Painting
-Mr. Chen Dongyou interviewed Mr. Fang Yun, a Zen artist.
Fang Yun Zen painting
First, from Zen to painting: ink dyes empty dust
China's traditional ink and wash art has something in common with Zen, which can convey infinite charm through limited pen and ink. If you simply look at your own merits, then everything is in vain. Zen painting is one of the unique art forms of Chinese painting and the unique Zen art in China.
Chen Dongyou: China's Zen is profound, and China's paintings are full of artistic conception. You are now engaged in the research and creation of Zen paintings. Dare to ask: What is Zen painting? As an artistic expression, what is its relationship with Zen? What are the unique reasons for Zen painting and Zen Buddhism and our Jiangxi?
Sifang Fang Yun: Zen has two meanings: First, it advocates to summarize all the teachings and practices of Buddhism from the viewpoint of Zen. Second, it refers to the Buddhist sect in China, which started with the Buddha's blossom and the smile of Mahayana at Lingshan meeting, regarded Dharma as the ancestor of China, and took awakening all beings as its main purpose. The inheritance of Zen is mainly through the communication between heart and heart, and the way of heart and heart, that is, "don't teach others, don't write words, point directly at people's hearts, and see nature become Buddha." Zen is not for words, but against the "reason" contained in words. After all, each of us has our own perspective and the limitations of our knowledge.
China Zen culture originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, developed and evolved in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and became an extremely important part of China traditional culture. Among them, the development of Zen culture in Jiangxi is of decisive significance. There is a saying in the history of Zen Buddhism that "one flower leaves five leaves", which means that China's early "Buddhism" began to enter "China Buddhism" and spread into "five schools and seven schools", among which three schools and five schools originated in Jiangxi, namely Luyang, Lin Ji, Cao Dong, Huanglong and Yang Qi.
For example, the famous Zen master Mazu Yi Dao did two great things, one was to create the jungle, and the other was to create ideas. He taught in Kaiyuan Temple, now Youmin Temple, and believers from all directions gathered in Hongzhou, making Kaiyuan Temple the center of Buddhism in the south of the Yangtze River. Hongzhou Zen originated from this, and its theoretical core is "normal mind is Tao" This proposition has far-reaching influence in the history of Buddhism in China and even in the world. Let people who study Zen understand that Zen is a way of life. "Normal mind" and "no affectation" are the core of Zen Buddhism: "Rest when sleepy, eat when hungry", everything goes with the flow, "Sleep whenever you want, sit whenever you want", and "true colors" are pollution-free and unattached.
China's traditional ink and wash art has something in common with Zen, which can convey infinite charm through limited pen and ink. In my opinion, the paintings drawn by Zen people, which express Zen things and principles in a simple and ethereal realm, should be called Zen paintings. If you simply look at your own merits, then everything is in vain. The brushwork and theme of Zen painting is the essence of Zen state of mind, which conforms to the characteristics of Zen, that is, "there is no fixed method for law, and all kinds of methods are born in mind". What Zen painting expresses is to return to unrestrained freedom from the shackles of "self-holding" and "law-holding" and to return to a calm and dust-free self from an impetuous and utilitarian society. From a certain point of view, Zen painting is a creative process jointly completed by Zen practitioners and painters. Zen painters use pen and ink to write the voice of the soul, creating a vast and boundless realm in a limited life. However, the viewer "takes Zen as the flavor", and has a light and quiet feeling towards the ethereal spirit of Wan Li in the picture, and his body and mind are comfortable, just like smiling at flowers at the Lingshan meeting. This is the unspeakable Zen realm at the top of the perfect height.
Zen painting is one of the unique art forms of Chinese painting and the unique Zen art in China. The first Zen painting was Wang Wei in the Tang Dynasty. Guan Xiu in the late Tang Dynasty, Liang Kai in the Song Dynasty; Four monks in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties-Shi Tao, Badashanren, Kun Can and Hong Ren; Modern Xugu, modern Hongyi and Feng Zikai are all influential figures in the history of Zen painting. "The splash is illusory, and the ink is stained with empty dust", which has made a clear Zen painting in the cultural history.
Jiangxi people enjoy the unique sound of Zen and the wind of Zen, while Badashan people in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties pushed the local Zen paintings integrating Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism to an unquestionable artistic peak through his simple and ethereal realm. Therefore, tracing back to the source, both Zen and Zen painting grew up in China and flourished in Jiangxi. As descendants, we should make special efforts to inspire the hidden virtues and bright light in Zen culture.
Fang Yun Zen painting
Second, the fusion of Zen and painting: there are more empty scenes than silence.
True art is inseparable from religious feelings. "Zen" is a kind of thinking and a method of practice; "Meditation" is a requirement for the realm of painting and also for the painter's self-cultivation. Zen and painting can only be integrated if Zen is external and internal and focuses on a situation.
Chen Dongyou: Zen pays attention to meditation and wisdom, and realizes the world consciousness in the process of meditation; Painting pays attention to personality and realm. In the process of painting, according to your own understanding and pursuit of images, you can express your charm or business position. One is abstraction, the other is image, the other is philosophy, and the other is art, how can they be integrated?
Sifang Fang Yun: True art cannot be separated from religious feelings. Zen Buddhism has abandoned the lofty philosophical superstructure and become more popular and closer to the people.
As mentioned earlier, Zen has always advocated "no writing" and emphasized that those who get the Tao can "have a heart in mind", so the realm of Zen painting is also unspeakable in essence. I think that a true Zen painter can reach the realm of Zen only if his mind is free from distractions and his truth is fully presented. The painting drawn in this state can only be called Zen painting. The external forces that change us in this world are too powerful. The first sentence of Heart Sutra is "Guanyin Bodhisattva". The so-called "view from Buddha" is to take care of whether our self-mind is still there.
"Zen" is a kind of thinking and a method of practice; Painting Zen, "meditation" is a requirement for the realm of painting, but also for the painter's own cultivation. Don't stick to worldly things, don't be tempted inside, let the chaotic thoughts calm down, meditate outside, focus on a situation, and Zen and painting can be integrated. Da Zhongguang, a painter and calligrapher in the Qing Dynasty, said: "The air in the mountains is quiet, the pen is restless, the static air is not alive, the posture of the nymphs is quiet, the pen and ink are thick, and the static posture is reduced." This is the relationship between Zen, the meditator and Zen painting.
Personally, I admire Badashan people the most. Although he has been in and out of three religions all his life, as Badashan people said in their self-titled "Little Elephant on a Mountain", "he was born in Caodong area and passed through Cao Dong area." The loneliness and uniqueness of Badashanren's artistic works (see the Eight Great Works "The Lonely Bird Picture Axis") are closely related to Cao Dongzong and Lin Ji Zen. Cao Dong Zen advocates that organs are hidden and show infinity in the limit. As the saying goes, "Knowing God is self-evident, and observing the empty environment is lonely" (see Fang Yun-Chen's painting "Knowing God is self-evident"). Lin Ji's Zen pays attention to opening and closing, emphasizing breaking, and sweeping away people's persistence by fierce means. Badashan people once expressed their artistic core pursuit when evaluating Shi Tao's paintings, that is, "the painter's east-west trace." The so-called grotesque in his paintings of flowers, birds, fish and insects is not to express obscure philosophy and resentment towards the prince and grandson, but to establish the meaning of life in the pursuit of "truth". The Diamond Sutra says, "Seeing differences makes you understand, and seeing the Tathagata." Painting and watching Zen paintings should be to see the situation, but you can't see the situation when you see your heart. In the study of China's art history, eight major studies are outstanding. But it's really a pity that Zen paintings and Zen paintings are not actually marked.
The people in the Yunchan paintings I created are free, undivided and integrated. They regard mountains and rivers, flowers and trees, the sun, the moon and the stars as their friends. What I want to express is how precious it is to return quietly and without asking for anything in nature. People's life does not necessarily depend on material desires to be happy. They can settle down without desire and purity.
Fang Yun Zen painting
Third, the painter seeks Zen: if life is like clouds and smoke,
The life of Zen is not to cover up disappointment by imagination, but to illuminate and purify the mind with the wisdom of Zen, so as to reach the highest state of self-forgetting, self-knowledge in cold and warm.
Chen Dongyou: Under what circumstances would you think of combining your painting with Zen? Is there any chance or fate to melt Zen?
Sifang Fang Yun: Jia Yan was born in Huangpu. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, he made great achievements, but after the war, he idled and lived in seclusion by the lake of the wise. Jia Ci is a devout layman, vegetarian and contented. When he was in his 90 s, he still worked diligently and was very charitable. Jiangxi Sifang Painting and Calligraphy Institute co-founded by our family also has the cultural heritage of nine painters. This kind of blood inheritance has made me have some wonderful karma with Zen and Zen painting.
Jiangxi Zen culture has a long history, profound connotation and numerous ancestral temples, which is an important area to promote the development of Zen culture in China to its peak. Over the years, I have visited almost all the Zen ancestral temples in Jiangxi, studied Zen classics and recorded my experiences with simple words and empty pictures. In 2006, he went to Beijing for further study under the guidance of Professor Li Shaowen from the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. My creative attempt has been supported and appreciated by my tutor, which has strengthened my lonely and happy exploration on the road of Zen painting. Seven years later, I finished the book "Cloud Zen Painting-Nourishing Mind Zen in China's Hundred Famous Couplets". I hope people with a fast pace of life can stop here and settle down.
The real pure land is actually a pure heart. In Zen, every thought can be examined under the light of Zen.
Speaking of "Cloud Zen Painting", Gratitude and Master Xingyun have forged a unique karma.
20 13 April13 May 17, at the invitation of Foguang University in Taiwan Province Province, my "Cloud Zen Painting-Fang Yun Zen Painting Special Exhibition" was held in Foguang Garden Art Museum, Foguang Memorial Hall, Foguang Mountain, Taiwan Province Province. More than 300 philosophers and scholars from all over the world attended the opening ceremony and watched the exhibition. The one-and-a-half-month exhibition of Zen paintings was warmly welcomed by the people of Taiwan Province Province. The media in Taiwan Province Province evaluated Yun Zen paintings with "Modern Wang Wei" and made an exception to open a column of Yun Zen paintings to serialize these works.
On April 6th, 2006, at 5438+03, 16, Master Xing Yun received me in Foguang Mountain. He said: "If our life can be as carefree as clouds and water, free from the bondage of fame and wealth and self-restriction, we can live with the fate, be free and happy, and be more beautiful and free and easy." Therefore, people who love life,' Cycas blooms all over the world', have their own extraordinary aura. "20131011,Master Xingyun returned to the Foguang Ancestral Hall in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, and met me again. Master Chang, CEO of Foguangshan Cultural and Educational Foundation and chief curator of Foguangyuan Art Museum, entrusted me with how to further artistize the master's works.
Fang Yun Zen painting? Ask for it if you enter an empty door.
Fourthly, experience Zen in painting: if you don't go, you won't come to Zhan Ran.
Painting Zen paintings made me understand the world: in the secular world, if you can transcend the secular and not be vain, you will have the character of a fairy; On earth, you have pity on life, and you have the mind of a bodhisattva.
Chen Dongyou: Your understanding of Zen and your persistence in Zen painting have made you take another big step in art and a macro view of the world. If we go further and enter the micro, will there be new knowledge about the world from the understanding of Zen painting?
Sifang Fang Yun: You really asked the important place. There is a Zen poem "In Zhan Ran, there is no place to go, no place to come, no place to live, no place to live, no place to live, no place to live, no place to live, no place to live, no place to live, no place to live, no place to live, no place to live. A pure water is flawless and the light shines on the world. " In other words, the Buddha nature of human beings does not matter whether it comes or goes, whether it exists or not. It is so Zhan Ran and transparent, just like a flawless crystal, which shines with prajnaparamita all over the world. The most exquisite weather of Zen painting also lies in the word "light". The ups and downs in life are all shown under the painter's brush, and they are born in harmony. I used to draw more stone lions, which was domineering; Later, I drew Zen, and Zen was very calm. They don't look the same, but I understand that although the images are different, they are intertwined, just like the word "light" of "calmness", they are also in harmony with water and fire. Perhaps, the calmness revealed in domineering will be more real. I draw paper books and ceramics, both of which are different in texture and painting. However, between light and heavy, the scenery is the same, and I try to do it as easily as possible. See the lion Zen, there are rocks and clouds, and there is water in the mountains. If you can't stand the cold at the top, you can meditate on the lion and meditate on the heart when you are near the mountain. The most important thing is to make the opposing things become a kind of harmony in their own peace.
Shortly after I came back from Taiwan Province, I received an invitation letter, and the Foguangshan Cultural and Educational Foundation arranged the "Cloud Zen Painting-A Traveling Exhibition of Fang Yun Zen Painting Creation on Both Sides of the Taiwan Strait". It was exhibited in Suzhou Jiayingtang Art Museum from May to July this year. It will be exhibited in Yangzhou Jian Zhen Library Art Museum from July to September; It will be exhibited in Jiaxing Academy Art Museum from September to 1 1 month; After that, it will be exhibited in Taiwan Province Province, from May to August next year, at the Foguangyuan Art Museum in Pingtung, Taiwan Province Province; Next September to 1 1 month, at Foguangyuan Art Museum, Tainan City, Taiwan Province Province; Next year 1 February to 20 161month, at the Foguangyuan Art Museum in Changhua, Taiwan Province; 20 16 was exhibited at Foguangyuan Art Museum in Taipei, Taiwan Province Province from March to May.
At the same time, my fellow initiates and I painted and edited a series of books, including the 60-meter-long Chinese painting Yun Chanhua 1: Heart Sutra of Master Xing Yun, Yun Chanhua 2: Master Xing Yun is at ease, Yun Chanhua 3: Master Xing Yun says the Prajna, and Yun Chanhua 4: Master Xing Yun was tempered. This paper interprets Goodzen's poems with the French of Master Xing Yun and the paintings of Yun Chan respectively, and constructs the whole book with the logic of "observing, speaking and acting", hoping to make more readers shine the compassion and wisdom of the master.
After the manuscript was completed, Master Xingyun was merciful and sent Master Mo Bao's Heart Sutra and a sentence from the master, which was made into the frontispiece and pages of the book. Thanks to the love of Yin Quan, we were deeply impressed that the bandits in No.5 Middle School could finish their sentences. We sincerely present the long scroll of Heart Sutra to the master to thank the Buddha, and support our permanent residence with the royalties of the four books. I also hope that the compassion and wisdom of the master in the series "Prajna, the Master of Zen Painting Nebula" can also show the truth of the master in an instant with infinite life and light; In a small way, it shows the true meaning of Zen culture.
I have also been studying the great virtues of Zen in the history of Zen culture in Jiangxi, such as the Zen thoughts of Mazu Yi Dao, Baizhang Huaihai, Huang Baiyun Xi, Yangshan Huiji, Dongshan Liangjia, and Xu Yun, as well as the Buddhist sermon on the forest. I hope to sow some bodhi seeds of Zen Buddhism in the form of Zen paintings, so as to do my bit to tell the story of Jiangxi, spread the voice of China and enhance the reputation of Jiangxi regional culture.
Fang Yun's Zen painting "Nantai" sat quietly in front of the incense burner.