Finding Your True Writing Self Through Zen

Many Zen parables have something to say about writing. This one seems to ask the question, who are you trying to please?

 

The First Principle

When one goes to Obaku temple in Kyoto he sees carved over the gate the words "The First Principle". The letters are unusually large, and those who appreciate calligraphy always admire them as being a masterpiece. They were drawn by Kosen two hundred years ago.

When the master drew them he did so on paper, from which the workmen made the large carving in wood. As Kosen sketched the letters a bold pupil was with him who had made several gallons of ink for the calligraphy and who never failed to criticize his master's work.

"That is not good," he told Kosen after his first effort.

"How is this one?"

"Poor. Worse than before," pronounced the pupil.

Kosen patiently wrote one sheet after another until eighty-four First Principles had accumulated, still without the approval of the pupil.

Then when the young man stepped outside for a few moments, Kosen thought: "Now this is my chance to escape his keen eye," and he wrote hurriedly, with a mind free from distraction: "The First Principle."

"A masterpiece," pronounced the pupil.

 

Think of yourself as Kosen. Like he has his calligraphy, you have your writing. The pupil is the voice of doubt that lodges into all of our heads… it is the voice that says, even as we work diligently on draft after draft, “This is no good. Nobody will want this.”

It is only when Kosen becomes fixated on pleasing someone other than himself that doubt lodges itself in his head... and his work suffers. It makes one wonder if Kosen’s first attempt and last attempt were one in the same.

Who are you trying to please? A writing instructor? A friend? An agent? The market? Some authority figure outside of yourself?

I always found it ironic that Kosen is the master, but he relinquishes aesthetic authority to his pupil, the one tasked only with making the ink.

Kosen bows to the unearned authority of a voice outside of himself. Kosen literally loses himself and frantically (and mistakenly) seeks the approval of this one person.

I don’t think this is an anti-teaching parable. It’s not trying to say that you have nothing to learn from critique… or that all outside voices are false or detrimental. That’s why I believe the writer of this parable subverts the relationship. Kosen (the master) in this situation becomes the pupil of an uninformed, unseasoned teacher.

As a master, Kosen has clearly already defeated the dragon many times. This looking to the approval of a pupil is a step backwards in his artist’s journey. Read about the Artist’s Journey: here

Kosen doesn’t take the time to say, “Wait, I know what I’m doing, and this pupil can’t possibly know what I’m trying to do.”

Be careful from whom you seek approval for your work as you might relinquish your own ability to approve of your work.

You might say, “But at the end, it’s the pupil that declares it a masterpiece. Didn’t Kosen, in the end, only stop because of the pupil’s approval?”

I would say no. I think Kosen saw by this point that he approved of what he’d done, with or without the pupil’s approval. That’s why I think the parable writer included the line at the beginning, “those who appreciate calligraphy always admire them as being a masterpiece.”

The execution of the art is admired by many more informed people than just the pupil.

Is that the point? That in the end Kosen’s hard work met with approval and praise from others?

I don’t think so. The point is that when Kosen freed himself from distraction (in this case the desire to please a false voice) he did his best work. His true self emerged and created his masterpiece.

We must create this way while we write. We can’t think, “Has this already been done? Am I being derivative? Is this something the markets are looking for? Will that one agent want to read this if I add this theme, though the theme doesn’t interest me? My friend doesn’t like first person; maybe I should change the POV.”

Write for yourself. Trust yourself. Free yourself from distraction and please yourself first with your writing and you will likely do your best work... provided of course that you have passed through the camel stage of the Artist's Journey: again here

(As a note, I do think too many people feel that they've passed through the camel phase when they haven't.)

Ironically, this effort to write for and to please yourself (and trust yourself) is much more likely to lead to the praise and acceptance of others… just as the parable suggests.

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