At Chozen-ji and throughout Zen, we often talk about 妙 (myo in Japanese, miao in Chinese). It is colloquially translated in several ways: mysterious, subtle, clever, happy, strange, etc. Many Zen masters have shared their own commentaries on myo, using mysticism, mythology, and metaphor to point to a meaning that is hard to grasp in any language. But the definition that Chozen-ji founder Tanouye Tenshin Roshi adopted and that we use here today is "mysterious wonder".
Myo: Mysterious Wonder of a Small Woman
Myo: Mysterious Wonder of a Small Woman
Myo: Mysterious Wonder of a Small Woman
At Chozen-ji and throughout Zen, we often talk about 妙 (myo in Japanese, miao in Chinese). It is colloquially translated in several ways: mysterious, subtle, clever, happy, strange, etc. Many Zen masters have shared their own commentaries on myo, using mysticism, mythology, and metaphor to point to a meaning that is hard to grasp in any language. But the definition that Chozen-ji founder Tanouye Tenshin Roshi adopted and that we use here today is "mysterious wonder".