Jon Muth inspirations
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
1 like•820 views
This document provides short excerpts from several Zen masters and poets. It includes quotes and poems from Sengai, Soen Nakagawa, Ryokan Taigu, and an untitled poem about an orchid. The excerpts illustrate themes of Zen, simplicity, nature, and finding serenity in solitude.
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
More from Mary Alice Osborne
More from Mary Alice Osborne (15)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Jon Muth inspirations
- 3. Zen
- 5. Roasting The Buddha Intense frigid cold winds, Need fuel for the hearth. Call this roasting the Buddha?! Your eyebrows and beard will be singed off! Sengai
- 6. Kyohaku Courtyard Blues Sengai I was born alone I will die alone In the interim Dawn to dusk... alone
- 8. “Universe”
- 10. "Every stroke of my brush is the result of energy deepest in my heart." Sengai
- 11. a frog farting -this too is thevoice of Buddha Sengai
- 12. Soen Nakagawa Roshi (1907 - 1984) was known to conduct 'tea ceremonies' using instant coffee and Styrofoam cups.
- 13. May 1938'Looking for serenityyou have come to the monastery.Looking for serenityI am leavingthe monastery.Kwatz!Stop running about seeking!The dusty affairs of the worldfill the day,fill the night.' SoenNakagawa
- 15. On his travels, Soen Nakagawa Roshi liked to pick up pebbles from the different countries he visited and place them in a bag. Swinging the bag around, he would listen to the sound they made.
- 16. Who says my poems are poems?My poems are not poems.When you know that my poems are not poems,Then we can speak of poetry. RyokanTaigu (1758 - 1831)
- 17. At duskI often climbTo the peak of Kugami.Deer bellowTheir voicesSoaked up byPiles of maple leavesLying undisturbed atThe foot of the mountain Wild peoniesNow at their peakIn glorious full bloom:Too precious to pickTo precious not to pick O lonely pine!I'd gladly give youMy straw hat andThatched coatTo ward off the rain ORCHIDDeep in the valley, a beauty hides:Serene, peerless, incomparably sweet.In the still shade of the bamboo thicketIt seem to sigh softly for a lover
- 18. Books by Jon Muth
Editor's Notes
- Presentation about children’s author/illustrator Jon Muth and some of his inspirations.
- Zen is a Japanese word that simply means meditation. In Zen, the teachings of the Buddha have always been passed down from teacher to student.The Buddha’s method of meditation was to sit very still, yet remain completely alert, allowing first one thought and then another to rise and pass away, holding on to none of them.
- This brush painting by Sengai is about the story of the Chan monk 739-824. One frigid cold winter evening Tianran was staying at a temple in Changan. Chattering with cold he took one of the wooden Buddha images from the altar and burned it in the stove to warm his backside. When the temple director saw this he was shocked and exclaimed, 'How can you do such an onerous thing?’ Tianran replied, 'I'm collecting sarira from the Buddha image's ashes'. 'How stupid to think you can get sarira from a statue!, retorted the monk. 'Then please hand me another, it's a cold night', replied Tanxia.
- Rich flavor of humor in its witty refreshingly unrestrained that preach the spiritual state of Zen simplicity, people have been widely loved.
- An extraordinary Zen master and key figure in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from Japan to the Western world. A man of many faces, he was a simple Japanese monk, a world traveler, a poetic genius, a creator of dynamic calligraphy - and a notoriously eccentric teacher Soen followed the spirit of his own heart, dancing to his own music, without a care as to whether he was in or out of sync with the Rinzai orthodoxy. His liberal, open minded approach toward teaching is one reason why he was so effective at attracting a Western audience.Soen Nakagawa chose to view himself as a monk, and was never entirely comfortable with his role as a roshi. A free spirit, a creative and sensitive man who loved all things beautiful,
- ...Kwatz! It is a sound, found by Zen, that shatters your mind. At least for a moment you simply remain silent, amazed. Because it is not language. You have not expected it. But it shatters you and that is thewhole purpose of a master – to destroy thedisciple so that the disciple himself can riseas a master of himself. Only pseudo mastersgo on forcing disciplehood on people. Theauthentic ones initiate you just in order todestroy you, because unless you aredestroyed you will never be your real self.You will always remain a persona, a personality… --Osho
- RyokanTaigu was one of Japan’s best loved poets.Ryōkan spent much of his time writing poetry, calligraphy, and communing with nature. His poetry is often very simple and inspired by nature. He loved children, and sometimes forgot to beg for food because he was playing with the children of the nearby village. Ryōkan refused to accept any position as a priest or even as a "poet”. In the tradition of Zen his quotes and poems show he had a good sense of humour and didn't take himself too seriously.