Zen of Seeing: Seeing/Drawing as Meditation

by Frederick Franck

Book Overview

Seeing/Drawing is spiritual discipline, a Zen method admirably suited to the active temperament, and a way of contemplation by which all things are made new, by which the world is freshly experienced at each moment. A renown Dutch artist offers his concept of seeing and drawing as a discipline by which the world may be rediscovered, a way of experiencing Zen.

Drawn and handwritten by Frederick Franck

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394719689
• ISBN13: 9780394719689
• Release Date: September 1973
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 130 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.1" x 11.1"

Customer Reviews

Don't ever let it go.

Where has this book been? I started drawing and painting a few years back and have bought lots of books, but none like this! I don't think of myself as a Zen person or a mystic, but this book really speaks to me. The drawings are beautiful, but go beyond a superficial beauty. Even if one is not interested in drawing, there is lots in this book to recommend it. It is not just a book about seeing and drawing, it is a book about truly living.

A Creative Classic

I was overjoyed to see this book back in print. I bought, devoured, and used this book in 1975 as an art student. Have you ever been so interested in doing an activity that time seemed to stand still? When you stop, it's almost like waking up from a pleasant dream or coming home from a long trip. That's what Franck is writing about here: the process of taking a tiny element of nature, a leaf or a stick or a seashell, and getting to know it in an unbelievably intimate way by drawing it. It absolutely does not require artistic "ability" to do this. Nonartists will be astounded what an adventure it is to take an hour or two and do this activity. It is therapeutic. It feeds the soul on a level that is akin to meditation, hence the title. My drawing teacher said, "I am not going to teach you to draw, I am going to teach you to see." Franck does this, and weaves into the text Zen stories and koans that shed light on the reasons for doing this activity in the first place. Enlightenment can be found in the art of tea, in the art of archery, in chanting and meditating, and Franck has shown us that drawing is a very valid method to add to this list. Thank you to the person who decided to reintroduce this classic. When so many books focus on creativity as a way to succeed in business, it's refreshing to return to developing creativity for its own sake. Buy this book, but promise to also plop down under a tree somewhere and draw!

Observant Meditation- Melting into the Moment

This is a fascinating book that stimulates one to observe the beauty of life's everyday processes and to record these experiences in the form of simpledrawings-- sketches that need not be exact, are often indistinct, yet capture some intricate details to reveal the beauty of nature. This is a very "warm and friendly" book with a very rustic, imaginative style, and is very readable. The expressions in this book have stimulated the interest of almost all who have picked it up- my sons aged 14 and 8, my daughter aged 4, a computer programmer, a cancer patient in the ward, a nurse, and therapist and others from all walks of life - the artist within all of us !

A relaxing reminder of the powers within

Years ago when this book was in its infancy, I was enrolled in a philosopy class on Death and Dying. When asked what we would give to a friend who was dying, I responded, "The Zen of Seeing--Drawing as Meditation." Why? Because in a person's final hours I believed it could provide a peace that comes from seeing the world differently--more openly. Why wait for death to knock?