Jim O'Neil's photos with the keyword: zen

On 12 by 12 inch card stock

#6 of ten bulls (十牛) -or ten ox herding pictures. The earliest sketches of same were probably drawn by the Chinese zen master, Kuòān Shīyuǎn, in the 12th century. Wikipeda lists the ten ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Bulls ): In Search of the Bull (aimless searching, only the sound of cicadas) Discovery of the Footprints (a path to follow) Perceiving the Bull (but only its rear, not its head) Catching the Bull (a great struggle, the bull repeatedly escapes, discipline required) Taming the Bull (less straying, less discipline, bull becomes gentle and obedient) Riding the Bull Home (great joy) The Bull Transcended (once home, the bull is forgotten, discipline's whip is idle; stillness) Both Bull and Self Transcended (all forgotten and empty) Reaching the Source (unconcerned with or without; the sound of cicadas) Return to Society (crowded marketplace; spreading enlightenment by mingling with humankind) Soft pastels on colored card stock, 12 by 12 inches.

A blind man, an ant and a serpent crossing a chasm on a log. Slightly after Hakuin Ekaku,(白隠 慧鶴), 1686 - 1768, Zen Buddhist monk/artist. (He painted Two Blind Men Crossing a Log Bridge) Hum. The snake will make it across OK, as will the ant -but the blind man? Perhaps it as Goso said, “To give an example, it is like a buffalo passing through a window. Its head, horns and four legs have all passed through. Why is it that its tail cannot?” (By the way: Hakuin Ekaku felt this one one of the eight brain frying koans {Hachi Nanto} necessary to understand if one wants to get their journeyman union card as an enlightened Buddhist.) Brushed ink (sumi-e) on "rice" paper, 13 1/2 by 24 inches. Unmounted.

OK, the story behind this goes back a ways, to at least around 1100 AD, -when a guy in China named Kakuan, or Kuokan painted 10 bulls based on earlier works. In the 15th century a Japanese Zen monk named Shubun re-drew them. Watercolors (Createacolor bricks) on Canson's XL recycled Bristol paper. 11 by 14 inches.

Watercolors on Canson's 140 pound cold pressed paper, 9 by 12 inches

Sumi-e; Ink on 'rice' paper (ぎょくひん　てんこう gyokuhin tenkou), unmounted, appox 13 by 14 inches.

2011 is the year of the rabbit. Daruma, 達磨, is credited with being the founder of Zen Buddhism. Faber Castell 'big brush' pens and soft pastel on Bee's 'bogus rough sketch' paper, 9 by 18 inches.

Faber Castell artist pen"big brushes" and colored pencil on 12 by 12 inch colored card stock.

High on a mountain, lived this here hermit. Well, come one night he was sitting, drunk, singin' to the moon when along came this here thief. The thief stole his whiskey and his rags, beat him with a club until he screamed like a baby and cried like a littl' girl! Next 'morn the hermit, one cave down and to the right , came along up to his cave and say to him: "Hey bro, here you 'sposed to be the sagest of the sages, the mos' venerable of tha venerables, divorced from the world, free of all attachment, above it all, loose from all mundane illusion, ya da, ya da, ya da, but here you be, when the thief beat you, screamin' like a baby and cry'en like a littl' girl! Uncool, man, uncool!" He said right back at him; "Yo bro, Cool, I be cool, you don't know cool, you don't understand cool! Yes I screamed like a baby and cried like a littl' girl but you never ever heard anybody any time any where any place, scream like a baby and cry like a littl' girl any better than I did, now did you?" Sumi-e Ink on 'rice' paper, unmounted. 13 by 20 inches