Two Zen students sat together in a park to paint in the traditional Japanese Suibokuga style.
The first student, Mitski, grabbed his brushes to prepare while his peer mixed the ink and sat behind him to watch.
Mitski finished his first piece after a couple of minutes.
— “No good!” — his peer told him.
So he painted another one.
— “This one is even worse than the first one!”
After 64 tries, the ink was running out. Mitski’s peer got up to mix some more ink so they could continue.
While he was away, Mitski kept going with the remaining ink, using up the very last drop.
When his peer returned with fresh ink, he took a good long look at the new painting.
— “A masterpiece!” he said.
Interpretation: Tzu-Jan refers to original spontaneity — like that of a child.
When a child acts, they do so without thinking about it — they are completely spontaneous. As they learn and develop, this spontaneity is lost as they shape their actions around the responses of their parents, teachers, and peers.
Tzu-Jan is a return to this child-like spontaneity. This spontaneous action is the source of a powerful creative force called “Te.”
When the student is no longer under the watch of his peer, he experiences Tzu-Jan to create his masterpiece.