On 'Neither Born Nor Perishing'

fu shou fu metsu fu ku fu jou fu zou fu gen — Neither Born Nor Perishing.

On the origin

From the Heart Sutra (Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya), in Xuanzang’s Chinese translation: “all things bear the mark of emptiness — not arising, not ceasing; not stained, not pure; not increasing, not decreasing.”

On the reading

What is empty neither begins nor ends. It is not stained, and not made pure. It does not grow, and does not diminish. Arising and ceasing, stain and purity, gain and loss — these are lines the looking mind draws. Where no line is drawn, the thing rests as it is.

On the garment

The seal for this phrase was hand-carved in Tokyo by the artist Satake Hōsen. The front carries this phrase’s seal; the back and inside label carry the Hōsen seal (寳千), printed in vermilion.

The garment is Bella + Canvas 3001 (short sleeve) or Gildan 2400 (long sleeve). A vessel for the word, not the subject itself.

― hosen, tokyo