Fire Enso

In this work, Setsudo Joun depicts the profoundly symbolic Zen circle, called in Japanese, enso. This image is perhaps the most condensed visualization of the Buddhist holy text called The Heart Sutra: “Form is Void, and Void is Form.” This sentiment embodies wholeness and completion, but it also paradoxically invokes the transiency of life in its ongoing fluidity.

Setsudo made several versions of this image, each accompanied by a poem. In such works, for which multiple editions exist, the uniqueness of the object matters less than the pious act of performing brushed calligraphy to declare central Zen belief, in word and image. Here, he used a broad brush, and with a single, spontaneous yet rigorously controlled action of hand, arm, and body he created a deceptively simple composition of enclosed space and defining outline.  Setsudo employed the flying-white technique, in which the bristles separate unevenly as the watery ink is discharged, allowing the white of the paper below to be partially visible. This natural process adds a note of expressiveness that complements well the thin, free-flowing cursive script of the poem inscribed above.  The poem itself underscores the spiritual paradox of the Zen circle:

But also consumed!