The Beauty of Imperfection

Enso

Artist: Martha Ekyo Maezumi

This Enso is the work of Ekyo Maezumi, the widow of Maezumi Roshi, my Dharma grandfather. Sadly she passed away in 2022.

She attended my Dharma Transmission in 2017, and regular sitting gatherings I held at my home years ago. This enso was included in a workshop she and I did on Meditation and Zen Art.

According to the author Audrey Yoshiko Seo in “Enso, Zen Circles of Enlightenment,” the Enso is “an open or incomplete circle” and "represents the beauty of imperfection, whereas a completed circle represents perfection”

It is a representation of who we are, perfect within our imperfection, complete and yet incomplete. This is the beauty, our very own imperfection is perfection. Take a moment to feel the gentleness that arises when we acknowledge that just as the Enso, our beauty lies in our imperfection - being human, and all that entails, the joy, the sorrow, the disappointment, the gratitude, all the difficulties we face and create.

The Enso is complete and yet incomplete, just as we are. Just as the circle is, we are perfect, whole, and complete, and yet there is always more to do, to continuously refine our lives. This is our practice, it is endless.