Happy Holidays

As we zoom through Christmas and into another year, we here at Blogagaard tend toward reflection. 2010 hasn't been the greatest year, though it had some high points, and now we start to look ahead. Today I came across a nice little article about Hakuin Ekaku in the New York Times. The NY Times states that Kakuin was "a man of transcendent character who made commensurately wonderful art. Such a rare case is that of Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768), the Japanese calligrapher and draftsman, who is regarded by those in the know as the most important Zen master of the last 500 years. It was Hakuin who came up with the koan “What is the sound of one hand?” to which popular imagination has added “clapping.”"

Here are three of his paintings not directly shown in the article, though linked to, that I liked best:


"The Monkey" aka The Furry Spy

"Monkey and Tortoise" aka Look at That, Dude!

"Hotei on a Boat" aka Japanese Santa!