Since the Monastery’s inception as a Zen arts center in 1980, art practice/creative expression has been a gate of spiritual inquiry in the training program of the Mountains and Rivers Order. Under Hojin Sensei’s guidance, it is an area of special emphasis at Fire Lotus Temple that both residents and lay practitioners engage.
Through art practice, we learn to pay attention to the world and to let the inputs of our experience emerge into some form–sound, movement, painting, poetry or other expressive mediums. It is a process of discovery, of deeply investigating our human heart, of finding and learning new ways of being, for the creative act expresses our inherent perfection and enlarges the universe by making visible the invisible.
Anyone can access the creative process –it’s not based on technical skill, or a rarified talent for a selected few. It is unique to every individual. Though we may encounter our judging mind or inner critic that want to dampen our joy, we can strengthen our practice of releasing false beliefs about ability, successes and failures. We then can begin to trust that the process is the goal.
This process is the endless spring of creativity, always fresh, bright, and new, teaming with life—it is our life. Where it emerges from is of no such great importance. It is already present in each one of us, waiting to be uncovered. Ultimately engaging the arts is to see into our own heart and mind, and to bring to life glimpses of a landscape beyond our understanding. Perhaps we can then share this newness and collaborate with others.
Gallery of Recent Student Art
