Martinez, Esteban
See web site: Gohitsu Shodo Studio
Creator.Role: calligrapher
Title: 日々是好日
Description: "shikishi" board; ink on paper; cursive script kanji; unsigned (typewritten label on verso); three artist's seals on recto.
Type: Calligraphy—Japanese.
Type: Scroll (Visual work)—Japanese.
Culture: Japanese.
Style.Period: Modern.
Technique: painting.
Material.Medium: ink.
Material.Support: paper.
Measurements: 9 1/2 X 10 in.
Location.Current Repository: private collection, C. J. Campbell (Chicago, Ill.)
Rights: C. J. Campbell.
Record Type: work.
This phrase is recorded in a famous text, Piyenlu (Hekiganroku, The Blue Cliff Record, a collection of Zen Buddhist Koans, or a question for Zen meditation, compiled in China during the Song Dynasty). One day, a Zen priest, Unmon Bunen (864-949) asked his pupils what their state of mind would be like 15 days later. While nobody could respond, he spoke up by himself 日々是好日 . It literally means "everyday is good day". But more profoundly, it implies you have to give attention to every one moment to the utmost, because all is vanity. Not only enjoying calm and peaceful days, but you have to accept even disastrous days which you face and to appreciate them as a gift.
