George Breeden Blog 8

Outside Reading: Daisetz T. Suzuki. Zen and Japanese Culture.

How art is Zen

Suzuki writes: “The artist’s world is one of free creation, and this can come only from intuitions directly and im-mediately rising from the isness of things, unhampered by sense and intellect. He creates forms and sounds out of the formlessness and soundlessness. To this extent, the artist’s world coincides with that of Zen.” (17) This quote gives the impression that it is art without distinctions is the best art of all. The idea of creating forms and sounds out of what is formless and soundless seems a little bizarre at first. However following in the mindset of Zen it makes perfect sense. Zen is a tradition about abandoning the conventional, so it would make sense that it would encourage a form of unconventional art. The question is, what how this art truly look like or sound like? It might be that the answer to that question is impossible to find without out enlightenment. After all how does one experience anything that is spawn from formlessness or soundlessness?