Vital Joy

My Dharma name, Sōkei, means “vital joy,” and was given to me by my Zen teachers when I took the Buddhist precepts. It is both a gift and an aspiration.

Vital joy is not something I can chase or create. It arises freely, without cause or condition.

It reveals itself most clearly when I am fully engaged in my artwork or my Zen practice. When I am wholly present with form or sound and without concern for result or recognition, this joy appears naturally.

For me, vital joy does not come from the work; it is in the work, inseparable from the act itself. Inseparable from being.

This joy is available to anyone at any time and has little to do with happiness; it is far deeper and quieter. It is an equanimity that endures through sorrow and elation.

It is the pulse of life itself, ever-present and unshaken, waiting only for us to meet it fully in whatever we do and wherever we are.