"This is my renunciation." Part 4 of the series

Learning from 'One-Stroke Painting': Delete Thinking to Instantly Let Go of Past Failures.

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"I want to erase myself already."


Have you ever thought that?

It is by no means a desire to deny your very existence, but a desperate wish to reset all the noise accumulated within you—the "regrets," "pride," and "how things should be."

In this installment, we will learn about that "reset" from the life of the Edo-period Zen monk Hakuin Ekaku and the "one-stroke painting" style of ink wash painting.

Hakuin Ekaku, "Bodhidharma with One Shoe"
The "Restorer of the Sect" was a man who was pushed into the mud

Look at this "Bodhidharma with One Shoe" at the beginning.
Bodhidharma walks away barefoot, with one shoe hanging from his staff. This lightness is the state of mind Hakuin reached.

Hakuin is currently revered as the "Restorer" who rebuilt the Rinzai school, which was on the verge of collapse.

However, he was not a perfect saint from the start.

When he was young, he was arrogant, thinking, "I have attained enlightenment!" and became a mass of self-consciousness (ego).
His master pushed him into the mud and shouted at him.

"What you have seen is just logic; to hell with such things."


At this moment, he was forced to delete the package of the "perfect self."

This painting is not art meant to be left for posterity. "Cast off the self (ego) and let the brush run while covered in mud." That purity was the true nature of what he called "restoration."

Practice: 3 Steps of "Delete Thinking" to Lighten Your Heart

The world of "one-stroke painting," which Hakuin painted tens of thousands of times in his life, is packed with "brain deletion techniques" that we can apply today.

1. Silence your self-consciousness with a "one-shot" approach

Replying to emails or creating documents. The more we think "I don't want to fail," the more we rewrite, and as a result, the noise of "the me who wants to look good" grows larger.

[How-to]

Dare to set aside time for "no drafts, no revisions." In the tension of a one-stroke painting, there is no room for regret or anxiety to enter. What comes out first is your current "truth."

2. Detach from attachment with "Ah, I see"

There is an anecdote that when Hakuin was falsely accused, he did not argue but simply said, "Ah, I see," and accepted the situation. He deleted the (self) that was trying to protect him.

[How-to]

When you make a mistake, try saying "Ah, I see" before sinking into the quagmire of self-reflection. This allows you to separate the "fact" of the failure from "yourself."

3. The purity of the "empty shell" taught by anecdotes

This "Bodhidharma with One Shoe" painted by Hakuin is based on a famous legend.
It is a story where, after his death, Bodhidharma was seen walking with only one shoe hanging from his staff, and when the surprised people opened his coffin, only the other shoe was left inside.

Through this traditional motif, Hakuin expressed the essence of Bodhidharma.

[How-to]

Let's apply this image of "a single shoe left in the coffin" to delete-thinking. When a line becomes distorted in a single-stroke drawing, that line is the same as the "shoe left in the coffin." It is a husk left behind in the place called the past, which no longer has anything to do with the you of today.
You should cast off the "other shoe" of attachment, and as the true you, proceed without hesitation to the next stroke (the next action).

Is it okay to do it in a "single stroke"?

"Is it really okay to do it in a single stroke? Shouldn't I be doing it more carefully and perfectly?"

When you hear that voice of "me," please look at the eyes of this Bodhidharma.

There is no such thing as attaining enlightenment while alive. Even after death, people just assume you attained it on their own.
If that is the case, you should just use up today like a "single stroke," and at night, delete yourself without carrying anything over.

To keep breaking down old attachments and returning to a blank state (a blank sheet of paper).

What I am facing in this series is not the creation of a finished work, but a quiet training in forgetting, meant to make myself lighter with every stroke.

Why don't you also start a dialogue with yourself?

■ Used Illustrations

Illustration 1
Hakuin Ekaku, "Bodhidharma with One Shoe," Edo Period, Ryugakuji Temple
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The link is below.