“From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the form of things. By the time I was fifty I had published an infinity of designs. But all I have produced before the age of seventy is not worth taking into account. At seventy-three, I have learned a little about the real structure of nature, of animals, plants, trees, birds, fishes and insects. In consequence, when I am eighty, I shall have made still more progress. At ninety I shall penetrate the mystery of things; at one hundred I shall certainly have reached a marvelous stage; and when I am one hundred and ten, everything I do, be it a dot or a line, will be alive. I beg those who live as long as I to see if I do not keep my word.”
— Written at the age of seventy-five by me, Hokusai, today Gwakyo Rojin, the old man mad about drawing (1834)
I have used this quote many times in talks and writing. Some of you may be throwing up your hands and uttering “not, Hokusai again!”. As I write this piece, it is my 82nd birthday, and this Japanese artist’s remarks are as fresh and inspiring as ever. Our practice is not just a drill — learning meditation techniques and then implanting them into consciousness. The Buddha says he is “only teaching suffering and the end of suffering.” This includes teachings and methods which help us launch and fulfill such a wonderful project, to flower as human beings.
We are now entering the world of wisdom and compassion — the art of living! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we cared about the quality of our life the way Hokusai cared about drawing? At CIMC, we often refer to meditators as yogis, those committed to skill in action. We could take the Buddha’s advice to his son Rahula (Majjhima Nikaya 61) and direct energy away from what is unskillful to what is skillful – from what is harmful to what is beneficial, for ourselves and others.
It is not a matter of just following “shoulds” and “should nots” but of fully living out our life with awareness and an interest in learning from what we see and hear, internally and externally. Please pay attention until your last breath.