SENGAI'S UNIVERSE

"Sengai's Universe" is based on the Japanese Zen monk Sengai's 18th-century famous brush painting of the universe. The text below, used in the book, is printed in English and Japanese.

For more interest, it is made to be invertible. It can be read from right to left, as it really should be with the Japanese text on the left. Or it can be put upside down and read Western style, left to right, with the English text on the left. Important is to maintain the sequence of circle, triangle, and square.


This is Sengai's depiction of the universe: The circle represents the infinite, and the infinite is at the basis of all beings. But the infinite in itself is formless. We humans, who are endowed with senses and intellect, demand tangible forms. Hence a triangle. The triangle is the beginning of all forms. Out of it first comes the square. A square is the triangle doubled. This doubling process goes on infinitely and we have the innumerable multiplicity of things, which is called ‘the ten thousand things’, that is, the universe.

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DIRK HAGNER • INKSWINE PRESS/INTERROBANG BOOKS

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