On 'Awakening at a Sound'

mon shou go dou — Awakening at a Sound.

On the origin

From the Record of Yunmen (Yunmen Guanglu): “hear a sound and awaken to the Way; see a form and the mind grows clear.” It echoes the old accounts of Xiangyan, awakened by a pebble striking bamboo, and Lingyun, awakened at the sight of peach blossoms.

On the reading

A single sound, and the Way opens. Water in the valley, a pebble against bamboo — in that instant the shape of things is seen through. What is sought does not lie elsewhere; it arrives in whatever now reaches the ear.

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