Zen Board

I got this Zen Board (from “Santa Barbara and Sun” it says on the back) given to me by a patient if I recall correctly. It’s great for writing on it with the brush dipped in water. At first, I used to write a greeting in English for the patient like “Welcome Bob!” The small difficulty was that if the patient did not arrive promptly at their time, then the water on the board would form drips – not pleasing. The very good news is that the writing in water evaporated quickly so that I could use it again within a few minutes.

It’s really quite excellent at writing brush strokes to practice calligraphy.

7,000/161

The characters are formed out of the magical seven strokes which we know are the seven mysteries. It is said that the horizontal stroke should be like a cloud that slowly drifts across the sky, the dot should be like the falling rock, the vertical stroke should have the growth of a strong vine stem, the sweeping stroke should rise and fall like the ocean waves, the hook should be like an animal’s claw and the diagonal stroke should have the energy of an arrow.

The Aucpuncture Points Artwork Site

     You can buy copies of acupuncture point artwork in some sort of format if you desire. These works are done by two artists, Brooks and Tu. Marlow Brooks honours traditional oriental calligraphy as a strong practice of being "on the spot" with her entire body, mind and spirit, and is delighted to blend this ancient art with her love of colour and painting. A devoted artist, Harrison Tu has created numerous works of calligraphy, many of which have been selected for exhibition in the United States, Japan, Korea and Singapore. Between the two of them, they have produced a stylized version of each of the points, all 365 of the grneral ones. Here's an example for the site,  www.worsleyinc.com/spirits/artwork.shtml, it's Lesser Palace, Heart 8.
     These are a bit hard to interpret in their form, as in there's a lot of flourish, but they're very nice looking. All artwork consists of original pieces, elegantly presented on rice paper in various sizes. The largest is 15" x 19" matted, and the smallest is 12" x 17" matted. Each is matted in acid-free mats of appropriate color, backed with acid-free foam core, and packed in clear cellophane. Matting protects the piece during shipping and gives a beautiful finish in the home or office.

4,500/162

Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your gold and good health have vanished. - Og Mandino

Chinese Language

     I'm starting my most recent Chinese language class this month at the local community college. I seem to be fascinated with how the characters are formed. It's like each character is a puzzle in a box and when you open it, it's never the same.

     There is the story about the development of the Chinese language, maybe between Huang-Di and his advisor, I could look it up I guess, who shows the Yellow Emperor the footprints made by different birds in the sand along the beach. In a similar vein, he offers that a written language could be created by constructing a graphic for each different word in the same way.
     Now, after you get past tree and river and house and leg, the language is a lot less precise on the face of it, but the ambiguity of the needed modifiers renders a great banquet of nuanced meanings, once you get to that point of course.

2,500/162 lbs

Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit. - William James