Nature’s Ensō
Stillwater River, Montana
2026
Per Wikipedia: In Zen art, an ensō (円相; “circular form”) is a circle hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express the Zen mind, which is associated with enlightenment, emptiness, freedom, and the state of no-mind.
Flanked by two simple patches of flowers, perhaps this is an example of Mother Nature engaging in Zen practices.
I like both the image and the description of Enso. Your photo seems a good example of the concept, though I had to search for the 2nd bunch of flowers.
Thanks Kathy. Your comment about the search for the second bunch of flowers made me think there must be some relevant Zen related comment about searching. I’m no expert in Zen, not even close, but I looked around on the internet and found this:
“By letting go of the urge to search, you often find exactly what resonates.” I’m not sure what that means exactly nor how relevant it is to your search, but like the sound of one hand clapping, isn’t that the way Zen is?
I would like to have seen the image in color. The rock is most likely sandstone isn’t it? And the flowers would add some interesting contrast. That’s just me and you are the artist so your view takes precedence. It takes a sharp eye to notice something like the enso.
I think the rock is probably granite. Perhaps you saw how gritting the rocks looked, which would suggest sandstone? But in fact that gritty look was more due to the sharpening I did on the photo than the actual texture of the rock surfaces. I thought about posting the photo in color but did not for two reasons. One is that the flowers didn’t stand out much more at all in color. (They were yellow I think.) And the other reason is I thought that the flowers in color might detract from the main reason for the photo, i.e., the strange circular ensō mark. The rocks were grey in color and the circle white so, other than the flowers, it was a pretty monochrome image anyway.