Tiger!

Four Dignities That Bring Confidence into Everyday Life 
By Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche:

"The Shambhala teachings introduce four mythical animals—the tiger, lion, garuda, and dragon—which represent the principles of confidence that the ruler develops in order to bring wisdom and compassion into daily life.

The confidence of the tiger is contentment. Contentment comes from discernment, the virtue of touching our feet to the earth of every moment. As we slow down and consider our thoughts, words, and actions with the question, “Will this bring happiness or pain?”, we become like tigers who carefully observe the landscape before pouncing. In looking at what to cultivate and what to discard, we are remembering our precious human life and deciding to use it well."

Chinese calligraphy: "Tiger" in cursive (grass) style. Original work. Unframed. Sumi ink on textured Chinese rice paper. 14" by 19". Signed with the seals of the artist.

Peace of the World

US Presidential Election Day. May peace come to this country, and the world! May we treat ourselves and each other genuinely, love and understand each other. May earth heals its wound from human greed.

Chinese calligraphy: "Peace". Original work. Unframed. Sumi ink on textured Chinese rice paper. 12" by 9". Signed with the seal of the artist. The calligraphy itself is professionally double-mounted on another piece of thicker rice paper, so the surface is totally flattened. Ready to be put into a frame.

The artist seal is: Buddha's Mind.

Orchid - Simplicity

Simplicity - apply mindfulness and awareness on the space of the paper. Mindful of the brush strokes; aware of the space in between.

Nothing extra. Nothing mechanical. Always keep a fresh perspective. Always flow, always alive, always changing. Keep precision and warmth both.

Original Chinese line painting - brush work: "Orchid - Simplicity". Unframed.
Sumi ink on textured Chinese rice paper. 12.5" by 22". Signed with a seal of the artist: "Emptiness and existence are one."

Alone in the World

As much as we don't want to see the truth, we are here, we experience everything on our own. We do have love ones, and we do share everything with them, but everyone has their own lives, their own karmas, their own joy and sorrow, pain and happiness to bear. That is the fact of existence. We are alone after all.

Alone, but not lonely. We can be experiencing all things alone, but not feeling lonely or abandoned.

This Chinese calligraphy, "Alone in the World", extracts from "Sutra of Immeasurable Life", 無量壽經 - 人在世間，愛欲之中，獨生獨死，獨去獨來 - roughly translated as "As a human being, we live in the love and desire realm. We are born alone, we die alone; going and coming alone." Sumi ink on rice paper. The size is 28 by 24 inches.

The Beginner's Mind

Don't forget your "beginner's mind", always go back to the beginner's mind. The first moment of freshness, the first inspiration, the first touch, the first sight, the first love - remember that!

In Shunryu Suzuki Roshi's book: "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind",  he said: "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.”

This work - Chinese calligraphy, "Beginner's Mind" - 初心. Sumi ink on rice paper, mounted on board. The size is 9 by 12 inches. The seal is an image of a bird, and my name "Chin".

Purchase this piece on Etsy

• Calligraphy Now!

Water Dragon 2012

Turquoise water dragon will be the year of 2012 - it will be a "Yang" Water Dragon (not Yin) - starts January 23, 2012, and ends February 9, 2013, according to the lunar calendar (Tibetan calendar will be one month later this year).

Since it is a yang water dragon, it is full of possibilities - it can go any where in a positive sense. It has no bounds. How nice to welcome the Water Dragon!

Chinese calligraphy: (wording) Dragon, 龍. Sumi ink and acrylic color on rice paper. The size is 14 by 16 inches.