Sunday, March 16, 2014

A Zen master of the Thu Phap brush


I recently visited the monk Minh Duc who founded the Nuyen Khong pagoda and its gardens some 25 years ago.  I first found his work on the Internet, and after writing him a request, was honored to use it in my book Learn Calligraphy on page 78.  

My second visit included a camera crew that is shooting a program about calligraphy—mine and his—for broadcast in early April 2014 on VTV4.  The workshops I teach in basic Roman calligraphy seem to have raised general interest.  

Meanwhile, here is a demonstration of his technique, though he demurs at the term.  He says he harmonizes his writing with the landscape around him; certainly he has shaped the pagoda's landscape to harmonize with a Zen outlook on life.  “The present moment,” his follower explains to me, is what guides all good Buddhists.  


If the video does not play, view it here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203191905860353&set=vb.1289278197&type=2&theater

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