SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

c. What are the Cultural Influences of Zen? 125Master D‡gen, the founder of the Japanese S‡t‡ School, andthere, under the influence of Buddhist practice, grasped theessence of pottery craftsmanship and art. Much of the Japanesepottery now enjoying favor in the United States is producedin Seto.The practice of serene reflection meditation, which hasan inseparable connection with the Japanese term mono noaware (the ah! ness of things), has produced an original,profound and vitally free art based on a refined and elegantsimplicity. Some scholars have attributed these characteristicsto art thus influenced by Zen: 1) asymmetry (freedom fromform), 2) simplicity, 3) unpretentiousness (or wizened austerity),4) naturalness (no-mind), 5) profundity, 6) transcendence(no hindrance) and 7) serenity (immovability). Thesecharacteristics are said to be inseparable and unified by spiritualenlightenment inherent in the training of the serene reflectionpractice. In my opinion, however, the characteristics ofZen art can be summed up by simplicity, profundity, creativityand vitality.