"Allegiance to the Most Beloved"

Alok's Zen calligraphy "The Empty Heart" served as a backdrop to Joan Sutherland Roshi exploring "Allegiance to the Most Beloved" at her Santa Fe retreat, Mar. 22-24. What is the most beloved? Is not-knowing and non-doing part of the "heart-mindfulness" for keep faith with it? Is the sinking well into "endarkenment" essential to the dharma of Enlightenment? Can we trust the creativity that self-arises from darkness into us and through us? What is the empty heart? Must not the most beloved be non-dual and embrace both darkness and light?
See her essay on "What is Enlightenment?", BuddhaDharma, Spring 2013 issue: 
http://awakenedlife.org/images/pdfs/42-Sutherland_on_Enlightenment.pdf. 
For more on alok's "Satori Art": 
http://www.zencalligraphy.com/Satori-portrait.asp?PropertyID=2764&t=dg

Peach Blossoms, Grafting Tar, and Longevity

It's Spring in Sedona and our old peach tree is beginning its 

full bloom. 

Beloved Raylene bound up the splits in the trunks with grafting tar and plumber's tape.

I tied and balanced the branches together.

Watered daily, and fertilized with two bags of manure and bone meal, 

it's now vital and set to bear much fruit.

In Chinese art and culture, peaches symbolize longevity.

My health is very good, lipids excellent and heart working well.
This body will be 75 in a few month.
I am blessed with fresh new years to fulfill my vow--

to celebrate everything and to set endless heartaches to rest.

With love, nurture, and awareness, Nature and our human lives are redeemable and new-able!

Selah

Alok's website

Zen Retreat

    

Joan Sutherland Roshi chose the title, "Allegiance to the Most Beloved" for her Zen Retreat in Santa Fe this past weekend. Raylene and I brought 6 Zen calligraphies to hang in the meditation hall. Here are two: "Dancing Guanyin" by Raylene on the left and my painting of the Koan, "Does Dog Have Buddha Nature?" on the right. Below them is the large gong that moved us from sound to silence.   

Packing goodies for workshop

Packing to teach "Zen Calligraphy: the Creativity of Non-doing" at Omega Institute this weekend! 12 rolled up scrolls of Alok and Raylene's paintings, 30 sets of student brushes made by the best brush factory in China, porcelain chopstick racks to serve as brush racks, black wool felt from India to reflect the ink back into the xuan paper, 6 27" X 54" xuan paper for each student, Alok's and Raylene's portfolios, Puer tea from Alok's home province Yunnan... Yum
http://www.eomega.org/workshops/zen-calligraphy  

What is Zen?

                                       
                                         What is Zen?
                        
                http://www.zencalligraphy.com/Satori-portrait.asp?PropertyID=2764&t=dg

Zen as Art, a meditative video

https://vimeo.com/44489611

A meditative video, created by Raylene Abbott, on the Zen Calligraphic Art of Alok Hsu Kwang-han. Alok teaches Zen as Art and Art as Zen through exhibitions of Satori Art; Zen Calligraphic Portraiture; and workshops on "The Creativity of Non-doing". He sees creativity as supportive of our healing and awakening, and our healing and awakening as supportive of our creativity! His website: zencalligraphy.com.

First post testing

This is the first blog post for Zen Calligraphic art