Dynamic balance

Our calligraphy submission for official grading, the first one since resuming practice after a substantial break, is completed. I am submitting a mandatory kaisho (formal script) of the specified assignment and an optional gyosho (semi-formal script) of the same text (see images above and below, respectively).

I wrote earlier that of the most challenging elements of these calligraphy exercises is compositional balance of the overall image and that of the individual characters. I find that it is somewhat easier to achieve this balance in gyosho than in kaisho. This is a little counter-intuitive, since gyosho is less structured and more reliant on the speed of the brushstrokes. So achieving balance in gyosho is a bit like riding a bicycle – you are never perfectly balanced (in a static sense) at any given moment, but are always applying small corrections for the overall dynamic balance.

I think there might be an analogy for many other life activities here (these kinds of Zen-based Japanese “Ways” – kendo, shodo, etc. tend to have plenty of them.) Achieving a perfectly balanced state at any isolated moment of time is often exceedingly difficult and (as a result) stressful, but if we are willing to sacrifice the absolute immediate balance by recognizing that there will be plenty of opportunities to apply small corrections, the result can be a smooth and even graceful ride. The important thing, of course, is to avoid excessively large deviations from the balanced condition, which could lead to an unstable situation when recovery is no longer possible.