Japanese Zen EnsoT-Shirt with Original Zen Enso Circle Calligraphy

Meditative Zen Circle t-shirts and apparel show your Zen habits in an artistic form. The popular Zen Enso Circle on t-shirts and apparel is a splendid form of Japanese zen art that will inspire you and anyone who see it when you are wearing the Zen Enso Circle t-shirt swearshirt or hoodie.

In Zen Buddhism the Zen Enso is seen as a representation of enlightenment, infinity, the universe -the ultimate meditative state, the search for enlightenment. As a matter of fact, an Enso circle can epitomize many concepts in Zen Buddhism such as the endless circle of birth, death and rebirth or form and emptiness.

There aren’t strict, fixed rules to draw a Zen Enso Circle as an ensou expresses your state of mind when you shape and create it. A Zen Circle can be peaceful or spirited, calm or energetic, exuberant or sober. There are no two ensos alike. A famous Enso Circle by Fukushima Keido, a Japanese Rinzai Zen master who passed away in 2011 had the form of a triangle, but the Zen master considered it an enso all the same.

Most enso circles start at the lower left, but they can be drawn from any point of the circle. Creating an Enso Circle isn’t about brushing a perfect; faulty  is perfectly all right, because it is people who draw the universal circle. The ink doesn’t have to be deep black all around the circle either, it can fade or vary, and can be wet or dry. Finally, the Zen circle may be open or closed as well.

The Enso Circle has become one of the most prevalent images of Zen art, at least in the West, and the symbol of Japanese Zen aesthetics and spiritual arts.

Traditionally, the tools and principles used for brushing an enso are the same as in traditional Japanese calligraphy: brush, ink and rice paper. Usually, you brush a circle in one fluid stroke and once you have created the enso, you don’t adjust it in any way. It is what it is at that moment, which is like saying the expression of your mind at that very moment.

Brushing an Enso Circle is a spiritual practice that anyone can integrate in  their lives. It is the Way of the Brush, as Japanese calligraphy is grasped.

enso symbol