jzahir

Shakyou is the zen meditation practice of writing the sutras out by hand.  For me, the meditation includes the feel and smell of grinding the ink and the feel of the limited interaction of brush with paper as I recite the sutra.

I spent the summer of 2007 building the floor lamps, altar, collection box and seiza tables you see here for the use in the Buddhist Church of Spokane, Washington.

I bought ink suzuri stones, brushes, paper and other supplies for 18 seats and made fancy wooden boxes for each set.

When people entered, they were greeted with a warm, damp cloth to wipe their hands and face with and to sit by a hako niwa.

Each participant then picked their supplies from a table and sat down in a chair or on a zabuton to begin their meditation.

Because this was done in a lunch area, the fluorescent overhead lamps and paraphernalia around the area were distractions.  I purchased table lamps for the tables and made traditional Japanese lamps for the seiza tables and turned off the overhead lights.

On the far right of the picture you can see a hanging curtain with the symbol for this church.  These were screen printed in gold on moleskin fabric and hung on rolling coat hangers. There was a wall of 6 alternating black and white curtains-on-rollers that walled this space off from the greeting area and the kitchen storage that was visible next to the space.

The carpets and runners I brought from home finished the space and completely converted the space from a lunch room into a magical space for meditation.