The iconic Ensō – admired for its classical bold expressive simplicity of black ink on white paper.
Although the concept of ensō originates from the Japanese Zen Buddhist tradition – as a Dharma artist and Tibetan calligrapher, Tashi includes Shodo creation of ensō into his own practice.
More importantly, he considers the creation of an ensō to be less about the end result of creating a pleasing circle, but more about the process itself.
As Tashi’s calligraphy disciplines, an ensō is created as a much a meditative exercise, which is called ‘meditation in action’.
Like daily meditation, one could also create an ensō as a daily practice.
Outwardly – an ensō is in essence a pure and simple one stroke mark which illustrates nowness. Beheld as a beautifully handsome creation, even if the circle is not perfectly round, the perfection is in the non-judgmental imperfection.
Inwardly – the creative process is dealing with that naked state of mind with nowhere to hide, as once the brush strikes the paper there is no turning back, one is committed to follow through – fully exposed with the quality of ones mind in that moment, evident within the circular made mark.
It is a readable recording of that very moment in time it is created. As any distraction in the mind, hesitation, or trying too hard, is clearly seen in the quality of the ensō produced.
For the reasons above, the practice of an ensō is a wonderful learning tool of self awareness.
Over the past several years, Tashi has been developing and leading ensō workshops, which he finds suitable for anybody. Chosen as an effective method, because of the ensō’s straightforward simplicity. Creating an ensō is beyond any need to learn the complexities of a foreign language such as Japanese or Tibetan.
Participants who join, find that they are not just learning the mindful ritual in creating an ensō, but also learning the values and qualities of meditation practice, such as learning to relax and let go of expectations and fears of creating an unsatisfactory looking ensō, is one of the challenges we face in the creation process, in meditation and in dealing with life’s challenges in general.
