Abstract

Toshihiko Izutsu's scholarly analysis of the interlacement of the «interior» and the «exterior» in Zen Buddhism provides the starting-point of an inquiry into some enlightening facets of the art of painting, calligraphy and the aesthetic experience in traditional China and Japan, shedding light on the ways in which Buddhism, and mostly its Zen lines in Japan, have provided through an appropriate mental training and meditation practices powerful insights into the «unbroken wholeness» the dynamic structure of the human being consists of. Ancient masters in Japan like Eihei Dōgen (XIII century) as well as modern profound thinkers like Nishitani Keiji of the Kyoto School and Zen inspired leaders like Shunryu Suzuki-roshi whose views and teachings are examined in this paper provide ample evidence that inward training and a correct meditation increase the capacity to perceive the non-duality of the interior and the exterior thereby allowing the meditator to realize the «ontological transparency of things» in the attempt to attain the shores of an unified mind.