{"product_id":"hell-und-deutlich-mei-rekireki-明歴々-omori-sogen大森曹玄-rinzai-priester-1904-1994","title":"\"Clear and distinct\" mei rekireki 明歴々 | Ōmori Sōgen 大森曹玄 (Rinzai Priest) | 1904-1994","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eŌmori Sōgen was a Japanese priest of the Rinzai Zen school. He was a supervisor of the Tenryū-ji line in Arashiyama and became president of Hanazono University in Kyoto in 1945.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThe calligraphed maxim on this scroll painting is popular among Zen priests. Especially in this spiritual-religious discipline, the demand for \"clarity and distinctness\" (which is associated with notions of logical dispute) may at first seem surprising. However, the Zen understanding of clarity and distinctness is a mind purified by meditation, which intuitively and instantaneously recognizes the world and existence in their true nature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThe most important character for Ōmori Sōgen in this maxim is the first: \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e明\u003c\/span\u003e. It is a combination of sun \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e日 \u003c\/span\u003eand moon \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e月\u003c\/span\u003e. These two celestial bodies combined guarantee brightness. It is astonishing that the calligrapher heavily distorts the character, one might say makes it \"indistinct\". The sun part \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e日\u003c\/span\u003e looks like a mouth \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e口\u003c\/span\u003e, and of the moon \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e月 \u003c\/span\u003enot much is recognizable for the normally educated person.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eBut calligraphy is not \"writing as correct communication\". Calligraphy aims and should point beyond the \"communication vehicle\" that a character is - not to inform about a content, but to make it perceptible with mind and soul. The left half here represents, as it were, only an opening from which a light suddenly escapes with a straggly brushstroke. (Note on this straggly connection: The calligrapher lived in the 20th century and, as an educated person, must be aware that the moon only shines because it receives light from the sun. Whether he was aware of this during the calligraphic process cannot, of course, be verified)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThrough the deep black arc, we perceive a glow that this black arc – almost returning to the opening on the left – encloses. Here, the term \"bright\" is therefore not written with \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e明\u003c\/span\u003e (the sun-moon combination), but is made perceptible as a light source emotionally through an empty form.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe much more complex character for \"distinct\" \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e歴\u003c\/span\u003e is rendered much smaller and (despite sweeping simplifications) more clearly as a character to its left. Its repetition is an abbreviation commonly used in writing \u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e々\u003c\/span\u003e. The use of abbreviations may seem surprising in calligraphy, but here we are back in Zen thought: one wants no unnecessary embellishments (characters); what can be said briefly (as an abbreviation) should be brief.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Guignard Kyoto Collection","offers":[{"title":"48cm x 124cm \/ Paper","offer_id":55927436050817,"sku":"230817 H4","price":2400.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/3092\/9452\/files\/IMG_6995.jpg?v=1784288456","url":"https:\/\/guignard-kyoto-collection.ch\/en\/products\/hell-und-deutlich-mei-rekireki-%e6%98%8e%e6%ad%b4%e3%80%85-omori-sogen%e5%a4%a7%e6%a3%ae%e6%9b%b9%e7%8e%84-rinzai-priester-1904-1994","provider":"Guignard Kyoto Collection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}