The Art of Calligraphy

About this book

During the twenty-year period of his remarkable proclamation of Buddhist and Shambhala teachings in the West calligraphy was a primary means of expression for Chogyam Trungpa. This book showcases fifty-eight of his brushworkspoems seed syllables and phrases as well as abstract images. Facing them are short pertinent quotations from his prose and poetry. An essay entitled "Heaven Earth and Man " based on one of Trungpas "dharma art" workshops is also included. Here he emphasizes what he called "art in everyday life": the cool peaceful expression of unconditional beauty that offers us the possibility of being able to relax enough to perceive the phenomenal world and our own senses properly. He goes on to show how the dynamic of heaven earth and man (the ancient Oriental hierarchy of the cosmos) is basic to any artistic endeavorpainting building a city or designing an airplaneas well as to perceiving the art that surrounds us. He also introduces the idea that "the discipline of art-making" can be used to organize and create a decent society.