With Each and Every Brushstroke: When Art & Meditation Come Together

Doing Calligraphy for Thay is a practice of meditation

Each session of calligraphy begins with the tea

I never write calligraphy without having a cup of tea first

I always mix...

tea with ink

Therefore when you look deeply into the ink

you see the tea inside

and when I hold the brush

I begin to breath in

and for making this circle I begin here,

and I breath in mindfully

so you can see my in breath

in this circle

there is a calm, there is a concentration

there is mindfulness and there is love

The 'me' is made up of 'non me' elements

and that is why when you practice calligraphy

you can touch the insight of no self

of interbeing

because you can not be by yourself alone

you have to inter-be with the whole cosmos

and that is why calligraphy can be a deep practice

and while you do calligraphy you get concentration

you get mindfulness

you get the insight

and the insight of interbeing, the insight on no-self

has the power to liberate us

from fear, anger, suffering, separation

and discrimination