Beginner’s Mind study

A study piece for a larger commission for the HeadSpace headquarters in California.

The brief was to created a piece meaning Curious Mind, in other words, a fresh state of ‘beginners mind’ – shoshin in Japanese.

The term ‘beginners mind’ is an important value for meditation practitioners. A popular quote originating from Shunryu Sazuki Roshi’s Zen literature Classic on meditation: ‘Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind’

Although this term translates well in English from Japanese, a direct translation in Tibetan is not quite as straightforward.

After much investigation, it was agreed that the best translation of ‘beginners mind’ was inspired from one line found in the famous Dorje Chang Tungmo, which reads In the very freshness of the essence of thought – གང་ཤར་རྟོག་པའི་ངོ་བོ་སོ་མ་དེ།

The key word in this sentence being so ma te – སོ་མ་དེ་ meaning that freshness of mind – Illustrated here as the primary calligraphy in a fresh, free and brisk moment of totality.

Below which is another line of Tsugtung script, acting as a foundation – which translates as to remain in a state of natural freshness – སོ་མར་བཞག་པ།