Tag Archives: inspiration

Everyone Thinks They’re an Artist

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Finding your True Self through ceramics, or any other art form, takes time and focus and diligence and acceptance.

Below are excerpts from another Tricycle article by Christina Moon. Here’s hoping you also are inspired by her words and example.

http://www.cristinamoon.com/about

“Everyone Thinks They’re an Artist”

Ceramics, Zen, and the true purpose of Zen in the arts (and the arts in Zen) By Reverend Cristina Moon APR 25, 2024

The thing about approaching the arts through Zen is that, by looking at any art as more than just an art but as a Way, you start to see how the state of your mind, body, and spirit is reflected in everything you do. The product of your art is a snapshot of the state of your mind in the moments of creation. 

All of the rich and varied feedback that’s a part of Zen training told me the same thing. Because of my habits and attachments, I was far from my True Self. I was already me, of course, and perfectly so, but also just a little off. 

Nakazato Sensei likes to chide other potters, saying, “Everyone thinks they’re an artist.” Instead of trying to make art, he says, we should just make things that are useful. And we should make lots of them.

I can see clearly that my sensitivity and strength in handling the clay has grown.

As time passes, I continue to see myself reflected back in these small plates, which is to say that they are more straight, upright, sturdy, and striking—but still have a lot of room for improvement.

Reverend Cristina Moon lives and trains at Daihonzan Chozen-ji in Honolulu. Her first book, Three Years on the Great Mountain: A Memoir of Zen and Fearlessness, about her first three years living and training at Chozen-ji, is being published by Shambhala Publications on June 18, 2024. Available for pre-order now. Moon’s writings can be found at http://www.cristinamoon.com

http://www.cristinamoon.com/book-event

Jan 31 – It’s all in your state of mind

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Why pay attention to what’s in your mind? Why become more acquainted with your thoughts? Why practice Mindfulness?

Here’s a response from a poet for whom little is known yet his words from 1905 still inspire today.

Thinking by Walter D. Wintle

“If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think you dare not, you don’t,
If you like to win, but you think you can’t
It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”
― Walter D. Wintle – https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/mindfulness

For a brief inspirational video see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZnxUdke3TQ

I would love to hear a nongender rendition someday.

High Coo – September 4 – What Blank Slate?

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Are we a blank state? I disagree, there is no blank slate.  We never start with nothing since we are all composites of what came before us. Today is the continuation of yesterday. My brain is a collection of neurons and the synapses that result.  This moment is filled with energy from multiple sources.

As I sit here behind a laptop computer, I see a backyard with a row of beauty berry bushes attracting birds and many trees with squirrel nests and waving branches from the breeze blowing through and…..

In this office there are many books, pictures on the shelves, more pictures on the walls, a desk, two small file cabinets, three musical instruments and a music stand close by.

How many objects are needed for inspiration?  Actually, none.  Inspiration is our life force; we can’t help but think and ponder and dream and create and….. 

We are co-creators in this cosmos.  We are holograms of the life spark. We are “chips off the old block” and the Big Bang keeps banging away. Inspiration, change, creation are all words for the same thing: life. 

As long as we keep breathing, we keep thinking, I think. I’m curious – what are you thinking right now?

Today’s haiku: What Blank Slate?

Blessed by ancestors

energy continues to

stimulate action

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