The meaning of the Zen Circle (Enso)

Faena Aleph (faena.com/aleph...); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Zen circle or enso (lionsroar.com)

“A circle as a vast space, which does not lack anything, nor does it have too much.”

These are the words used in the Shin Jin Mei, a text dating back to the 6th century, to describe the great path of Zen.

This Japanese discipline, derived from Mahayana Buddhism, was founded by the monk Bodhidharma, who imported Buddhist dhyana (jhana, channa, ch'an, seon, zen “meditation or absorption”) practice to China.

Some say that Bodhidharma sat facing a wall in a Shaolin cave for nine years, meditating, until he reached true understanding.

According to legend, his shadow was impressed upon the rock, leaving the indelible proof of a serene figure in a meditating pose.

Just like that image, projected by the insistent presence of Master Bodhidharma’s shadow, enso (which in Japanese literally means “circle”) embodies the act of imprinting the artist’s essence through a single stunning circular stroke.

The interior of enso, as described in the verse in the Shin Jin Mei, is a space that symbolizes, in addition to vacuity, the inexistence of the mind as proposed by Bodhidharma, the essential void of which reality is comprised.

The Zen monk, after meditating with extreme discipline in zazen (“sitting”), holds the paintbrush firmly, drenches it in ink, and promptly exhales a perfect circle that represents... More