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The soul put in a work

HAYASHI Tomoki　　　
    I use the word of "the soul" in convenience here. I think that "the heart" can be replaced for it. "The content" and "the concept" are also good. The point is that it is "something impressing a person of appreciation" which lets the work of art become the work of art. 
    There are some kinds of method to confine "a soul" into a work. Classifying it roughly, they are "expressing a soul"; "using the object or the tool which were full of a soul"; and "not to put a soul in a work itself". And our work confines the soul in the works by "expressing a soul".
    Both of us enclose "the soul" in the works of TANAKA Shinpei by expressing the various events happened in the imaginary island as "the soul". It is a strange sense we feel incidentally when Shinpei woke in the morning sunshine in the island, when a raindrop fell onto his palm, or when he exchanged words with a Tenshi. It is not too much to say that our work is produced to tell the existence of "the soul" to a person of appreciation. I believe that our work itself is not great, but "the soul" that our work expresses is great, and what are great are ourselves who know the existence of "the soul" and the people of appreciation who are able to know "the soul" through our work.
    The sense that "something important is found in a daily, trifling event" is not so mysterious for we Japanese living in the culture such as Zen / the Wabi Sabi. I do not know how do people from other countries feel. But I believe that anyone can notice one of the truth of this life if there is some help of appropriate explanations even if they do not know such a culture. We human beings can understand something beyond the logic, and the art should become a great help for that.

    Our works resemble Zen koan dialogues. Zen koan dialogues are mysterious so as to be considered to be the example of "an incomprehensible question and answer". Zen beginners even don't understand whether it is a question or not. Therefore we must tell you about Zen koan dialogues a little before telling about our works.
    Zen koan dialogues (called formally, draft of public documents) are the questions that are given to an exerciser so that he attains realization in Zen. It doesn't mean that he cannot get realization without solving the questions, but the ability to think necessary to solve the question and the wisdom attained by solving them can be help for him to get realization some day.
    Many of Zen dialogues are expressed by very simple conversation. A exerciser can find truth by thinking about the conversation. I will give you a simple example.
Exerciser: Please show me the teachings of Buddhism.
Master: Did you have breakfast this morning?
Exerciser: Yes, sir.
Master: Then wash the bowl you used.
   After thinking about this short dialogue for years, the time will suddenly come when he finds the truth the dialogue implies. It actually takes very long time to understand even a short dialogue like that. However, I know it's so unkind if I say "See you after 5 years.", I am going to tell you an answer now.
   The point is that the master faithfully answered the question of the exerciser. He firmly believes the exerciser would understand a teaching of Buddhism. Because once he was taught in the same way by his master, He found the truth by washing his bowl, as well as he knew the reason why he could do so by that. Now he is sure there is no use telling the exerciser exactly what he found by words. To know the teachings of Buddhism merely as knowledge is not enough to know them truly. The exerciser cannot find the truth until he himself understands them and engraves them in his mind.
    The next question is whether he really can understand the teachings of Buddhism by washing his bowl. To get the answer, you will need some knowledge about the teachings of Buddhism. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to attain realizations and to be freed from every desire. One of the realizations is to understand with your heart that the world consists of countless creatures and inanimate objects that are connecting closely to each other.
    "To have breakfast " is to take other lives into your body. I don't mean only the lives of animals with that word "lives". A plant has a life, too. To eat a plant equals to killing it. We human beings cannot keep our lives without taking other lives. When we die, we will return to soil and our lives will be absorbed by other lives. The master told the exerciser to understand with his heart the fact that the world is made up of various lives having close connections through "having breakfast".
    However, it is not sufficient just to understand the fact that the world exists with many lives closely connected to each other. The exerciser should know what kind of role he has in this world and then carry it out. One of what he should do is "to wash his bowl". Washing his bowl deliberately enables him to know that he is given a role of his own. Moreover, he will see what the world is like by playing his role.
    Now you may think like this; what the exerciser should do is not to wash his bowl, but to thank the lives taken into his body. The answer is "No". I don't mean it is not good to thank those lives. Or rather, it is very important action as a human being from a moral point of view. However, the world does not exist for morality. The world just exists regardless of our sense of values. The master has to oblige the exerciser to do an individual action "washing his dishes" free from morality or values, in order to make him understand the fact that the world exists with no relation to humane reasons like morals or justice.
    I will confess to you that I didn't understand the profound world that this koan dialogue implies till I wrote this sentences by myself today. I learned of this dialogue 4 years ago, so it took 4 years for me to solve this question. You will also need long time to engrave the answer on your heart even though you got it as knowledge. Some people may not understand this koan dialogue forever even if another dialogue may be solved immediately. This is the life. Life is too short to understand everything, therefore, all you have to do is to live your own life, that is, everyone has to wash his own bowl.

    I don't want you to misunderstand, but we are not producing works to introduce the doctrine of Buddhism. I only say that the methodology to understand our works resembles that of the Zen koan dialogue closely. We express daily matter in our works by cutting off them from the world and those trivial things contain the very truth. One-day persons of appreciation will notice that the truth (the soul, mentioned in the beginning) has already engraved on his heart.
    I will take up one work as an example to understand method of Zen koan dialogue style. Originally in Japan, It is not a smart way that an author comments on his works in details. But this time I dare to adopt this tactless way.
"Spring season makes everything lukewarm, the water to wash my hands with, a cup of tea and so on."
    We have one hanging scroll with this haiku on. Firstly I will explain about the whole story the haiku describes.
    On a slight warm spring day, Shinpei was washing his hands before having a cup of tea. He happened to find the water on his hands is no longer cold different from the days of winter until the other day. Since water was not cold, Shinpei took longer time to wash his hands. Then he found his tea had already gotten lukewarm.
    The action to find out truth from this short story is completely the same method as a Zen koan dialogue. As well as a Zen koan dialogue, that I explain the truth implied in this story doesn't mean that you understand it with your heart. Persons of appreciation cannot involved in the essence of the work until they feel it in their own lives and engrave it on their own heart.
    In Japan, we wash our hands with water before having tea. It is not polite to sit down at a table prepared for the tea break without washing his hands. In fact, that kind of strict behavior is not usually demanded, simply we feel it common that there is a closely connection with washing our hands and having something.
    Shinpei in this haiku didn't aware the water was not cold. The moment he found it was not cold was when he sipped tea. Shinpei was puzzled over the unusual temperature of tea and wonder why tea had become lukewarm. The reasons he found was that he had taken longer time to wash his hands than usual, that he did so because water was not cold than usual, and that water wasn't cold because spring had come.
    This is a slightly humorous logic. We notice that spring season has come when temperature gets higher by touching something with lower temperature than the winter. Such banter is funny, too. It was very happy for Shinpei to know the arrival of springtime by such a strange way. He felt satisfaction in having accomplished the story that seemed to be the one scene of a movie.
    Then Shinpei considered about that a little more deeply. Each spring that rotates every year is not the same as well as every person is different. How can we find the difference? I think it depends on how I know the arrival of spring. From the very first moment spring comes, it is the unique spring.
    In the background of this hanging roll, Shinpei is not painted, still less a cup of tea. If I dare to show a common point of haiku and paintings, there is only water. We do not mind if the paintings and the poetry seem incoherent.　The painting doesn't specify an object as the language does. In case of the paintings consisting of the simple lines like Hazama's, we can interpret them in any way. For example, the paintings for this haiku can be interpreted like this;

Tenshi noticed the arrival of the spring seeing fish swimming in the river.
Looking at this scene, Shinpei found the answer of the koan dialogue about a cup of tea.
Looking at this scene, Tenshi are talking together about Shinpei thinking about the koan dialogue.

    I showed some ways of interpretation, all of them express the same soul as the haiku. Even if there is no haiku on it, you can feel the same soul as Shinpei do only by looking at the painting. On the contrary, I don't think you could share the "soul" without haiku if you see Shinpei drinking a cup of tea drawn on the hanging roll.
   The person of appreciation could feel the "soul" three-dimensionally by looking at the same "soul" drawn from the different points on the one screen, and could get closer to the answer of the koan dialogue. What our works can do is just to help you feel the "soul". You may find the "soul" in your own way without meeting our works and may be deeply impressed. I think that is also good. Because what I hope to do is not to let you all know myself, but to let you know the splendid "soul" I found.
    Of course I would be appreciate it if you praised me for finding the "soul", and for expressing the "soul" in the way anyone can easily understand. I love praised.

in 2007