

Therefore, you should let it have the meaning that youperceive. I think the Enso symbol can simply meandifferent things to different people. If youactually took the meanings of the two Kanji that make up the word "Enso", you could read itas "Mutual Circle" or "Circle of Togetherness". He produced most of his works in his 70s and 80s including manyenso.Collection conectionsSome call this "The Circle of Enlightenment". The Zenmonk Nantenbo was one of the tradition’s most prolific painters and the most important Zenartist of the 20th century. It is said that the 1st century patriarch Nagarjuna, often considered a‘second Buddha’, was transformed into a luminous circle whenever he taught in public toreveal, according to his biography, ‘the true form of Buddha-nature, that is neither large orsmall,neither wide nor narrow, neither good nor bad, neither transient nor eternal’. The realisation as anindividual of being completely empty but perfectly aware is the Zen experience ofenlightenment. Who is bold enough tostep forward to attain it?’While the Zen circle enso represents fullness, it is also empty. Onepopular inscription for enso was a line from a poem by the Zen eccentric Kanzan ‘My heartis like the autumn moon.’The inscription here also associates the moon with enlightenment as it echoes the Zenpainter Sengai, who wrote ‘Enlightenment is coming towards us.

This enso particularlyresembles the rising moon as it appears at the top of a long vertical composition.
#Enso symbol meaning full#
From the beginning of Buddhism, enlightenment has beencompared to the ‘bright full moon’ and a ‘great round mirror’. enso are often accompanied by inscriptions giving us aZen hint or question to ponder. ENSO - DER KREISThe ultimate symbol of Zen art is the enso, where an ink circle is brushed with just onestroke.
