http://www.chinese-traditions-and-culture.com/chinese_homes.html

Most Chinese homes do not have art on the walls, but a refrigerator is considered a piece of furniture and will be found in the dining room!

The Chinese also have an affinity for Kung fu

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/

Everything I have learned about the Chinese culture has lead back to Buddhism and Taoism! Even certain types of Kung Fu like

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/shaolin.htm and also the meditation of growing small tree sculptures represented as penjing in china as apposed to bonsai in japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penjing

the concept of Penjing seeks to capture the essence and spirit of nature through contrasts. Philosophically, it is influenced by the principles of Taoism, specifically the concept of Yin and Yang: the idea of the universe as governed by two primal forces, opposing but complementary. Some of the contrasting concepts used in penjing include portrayal of “dominance and subordination, emptiness (void) and substance, denseness and sparseness, highness and lowness, largeness and smallness, life and death, dynamics and statics, roughness and meticulousness, firmness and gentleness, lightness and darkness, straightness and curviness, verticality and horizontality, and lightness and heaviness.”

Design inspiration is not limited to observation or representation of nature, but is also influenced by Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and other visual arts. Common penjing designs include evocation of dragons and the strokes of well-omened characters. At its highest level, the artistic value of penjing is on par with that of poetry, calligraphy, brush painting and garden art.

and last but not least, Chinese Chan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Ch%C3%A1n

 Sunyata points to the “emptiness” or no-”thing”-ness of all “things”. Though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, designated by names, on close analysis the “thingness” dissolves, leaving them “empty” of inherent existence. The Heart sutra, a text from the prajnaparamita-sutras, articulates this in the following saying in which the five skandhas are said to be “empty”:
The Yogacara explains this “emptiness” in an analysis of the way we perceive “things”. Everything we conceive of is the result of the working of the five skandhas—results of perception, feeling, volition, and discrimination.[note 8] The five skandhas together compose consciousness. The “things” we are conscious of are “mere concepts”, not Ding an sich.
It took Chinese Buddhism several centuries to recognize that sunyata does not refer to “wu”, nothingness, nor does Buddhism postulate an undying soul. The influence of those various doctrinal and textual backgrounds is still discernible in Zen. Zen teachers still refer to Buddha-nature, but the Zen tradition also emphasizes that Buddha-nature is sunyata, the absence of an independent and substantial self.

 

http://www.chinese-traditions-and-culture.com/chinese_homes.html

Most Chinese homes do not have art on the walls, but a refrigerator is considered a piece of furniture and will be found in the dining room!

The Chinese also have an affinity for Kung fu

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/

Everything I have learned about the Chinese culture has lead back to Buddhism and Taoism! Even certain types of Kung Fu like

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/shaolin.htm and also the meditation of growing small tree sculptures represented as penjing in china as apposed to bonsai in japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penjing

the concept of Penjing seeks to capture the essence and spirit of nature through contrasts. Philosophically, it is influenced by the principles of Taoism, specifically the concept of Yin and Yang: the idea of the universe as governed by two primal forces, opposing but complementary. Some of the contrasting concepts used in penjing include portrayal of “dominance and subordination, emptiness (void) and substance, denseness and sparseness, highness and lowness, largeness and smallness, life and death, dynamics and statics, roughness and meticulousness, firmness and gentleness, lightness and darkness, straightness and curviness, verticality and horizontality, and lightness and heaviness.”

Design inspiration is not limited to observation or representation of nature, but is also influenced by Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and other visual arts. Common penjing designs include evocation of dragons and the strokes of well-omened characters. At its highest level, the artistic value of penjing is on par with that of poetry, calligraphy, brush painting and garden art.

and last but not least, Chinese Chan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Ch%C3%A1n

 Sunyata points to the “emptiness” or no-”thing”-ness of all “things”. Though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, designated by names, on close analysis the “thingness” dissolves, leaving them “empty” of inherent existence. The Heart sutra, a text from the prajnaparamita-sutras, articulates this in the following saying in which the five skandhas are said to be “empty”:
The Yogacara explains this “emptiness” in an analysis of the way we perceive “things”. Everything we conceive of is the result of the working of the five skandhas—results of perception, feeling, volition, and discrimination.[note 8] The five skandhas together compose consciousness. The “things” we are conscious of are “mere concepts”, not Ding an sich.
It took Chinese Buddhism several centuries to recognize that sunyata does not refer to “wu”, nothingness, nor does Buddhism postulate an undying soul. The influence of those various doctrinal and textual backgrounds is still discernible in Zen. Zen teachers still refer to Buddha-nature, but the Zen tradition also emphasizes that Buddha-nature is sunyata, the absence of an independent and substantial self.

 

http://www.chinese-traditions-and-culture.com/chinese_homes.html

Most Chinese homes do not have art on the walls, but a refrigerator is considered a piece of furniture and will be found in the dining room!

The Chinese also have an affinity for Kung fu

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/

Everything I have learned about the Chinese culture has lead back to Buddhism and Taoism! Even certain types of Kung Fu like

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/shaolin.htm and also the meditation of growing small tree sculptures represented as penjing in china as apposed to bonsai in japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penjing

the concept of Penjing seeks to capture the essence and spirit of nature through contrasts. Philosophically, it is influenced by the principles of Taoism, specifically the concept of Yin and Yang: the idea of the universe as governed by two primal forces, opposing but complementary. Some of the contrasting concepts used in penjing include portrayal of “dominance and subordination, emptiness (void) and substance, denseness and sparseness, highness and lowness, largeness and smallness, life and death, dynamics and statics, roughness and meticulousness, firmness and gentleness, lightness and darkness, straightness and curviness, verticality and horizontality, and lightness and heaviness.”

Design inspiration is not limited to observation or representation of nature, but is also influenced by Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and other visual arts. Common penjing designs include evocation of dragons and the strokes of well-omened characters. At its highest level, the artistic value of penjing is on par with that of poetry, calligraphy, brush painting and garden art.

and last but not least, Chinese Chan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Ch%C3%A1n

 Sunyata points to the “emptiness” or no-”thing”-ness of all “things”. Though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, designated by names, on close analysis the “thingness” dissolves, leaving them “empty” of inherent existence. The Heart sutra, a text from the prajnaparamita-sutras, articulates this in the following saying in which the five skandhas are said to be “empty”:
The Yogacara explains this “emptiness” in an analysis of the way we perceive “things”. Everything we conceive of is the result of the working of the five skandhas—results of perception, feeling, volition, and discrimination.[note 8] The five skandhas together compose consciousness. The “things” we are conscious of are “mere concepts”, not Ding an sich.
It took Chinese Buddhism several centuries to recognize that sunyata does not refer to “wu”, nothingness, nor does Buddhism postulate an undying soul. The influence of those various doctrinal and textual backgrounds is still discernible in Zen. Zen teachers still refer to Buddha-nature, but the Zen tradition also emphasizes that Buddha-nature is sunyata, the absence of an independent and substantial self.

 

http://www.chinese-traditions-and-culture.com/chinese_homes.html

Most Chinese homes do not have art on the walls, but a refrigerator is considered a piece of furniture and will be found in the dining room!

The Chinese also have an affinity for Kung fu

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/

Everything I have learned about the Chinese culture has lead back to Buddhism and Taoism! Even certain types of Kung Fu like

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/shaolin.htm and also the meditation of growing small tree sculptures represented as penjing in china as apposed to bonsai in japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penjing

the concept of Penjing seeks to capture the essence and spirit of nature through contrasts. Philosophically, it is influenced by the principles of Taoism, specifically the concept of Yin and Yang: the idea of the universe as governed by two primal forces, opposing but complementary. Some of the contrasting concepts used in penjing include portrayal of “dominance and subordination, emptiness (void) and substance, denseness and sparseness, highness and lowness, largeness and smallness, life and death, dynamics and statics, roughness and meticulousness, firmness and gentleness, lightness and darkness, straightness and curviness, verticality and horizontality, and lightness and heaviness.”

Design inspiration is not limited to observation or representation of nature, but is also influenced by Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and other visual arts. Common penjing designs include evocation of dragons and the strokes of well-omened characters. At its highest level, the artistic value of penjing is on par with that of poetry, calligraphy, brush painting and garden art.

and last but not least, Chinese Chan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Ch%C3%A1n

 Sunyata points to the “emptiness” or no-”thing”-ness of all “things”. Though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, designated by names, on close analysis the “thingness” dissolves, leaving them “empty” of inherent existence. The Heart sutra, a text from the prajnaparamita-sutras, articulates this in the following saying in which the five skandhas are said to be “empty”:
The Yogacara explains this “emptiness” in an analysis of the way we perceive “things”. Everything we conceive of is the result of the working of the five skandhas—results of perception, feeling, volition, and discrimination.[note 8] The five skandhas together compose consciousness. The “things” we are conscious of are “mere concepts”, not Ding an sich.
It took Chinese Buddhism several centuries to recognize that sunyata does not refer to “wu”, nothingness, nor does Buddhism postulate an undying soul. The influence of those various doctrinal and textual backgrounds is still discernible in Zen. Zen teachers still refer to Buddha-nature, but the Zen tradition also emphasizes that Buddha-nature is sunyata, the absence of an independent and substantial self.

 

http://www.chinese-traditions-and-culture.com/chinese_homes.html

Most Chinese homes do not have art on the walls, but a refrigerator is considered a piece of furniture and will be found in the dining room!

The Chinese also have an affinity for Kung fu

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/

Everything I have learned about the Chinese culture has lead back to Buddhism and Taoism! Even certain types of Kung Fu like

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/martial_arts/shaolin.htm and also the meditation of growing small tree sculptures represented as penjing in china as apposed to bonsai in japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penjing

the concept of Penjing seeks to capture the essence and spirit of nature through contrasts. Philosophically, it is influenced by the principles of Taoism, specifically the concept of Yin and Yang: the idea of the universe as governed by two primal forces, opposing but complementary. Some of the contrasting concepts used in penjing include portrayal of “dominance and subordination, emptiness (void) and substance, denseness and sparseness, highness and lowness, largeness and smallness, life and death, dynamics and statics, roughness and meticulousness, firmness and gentleness, lightness and darkness, straightness and curviness, verticality and horizontality, and lightness and heaviness.”

Design inspiration is not limited to observation or representation of nature, but is also influenced by Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and other visual arts. Common penjing designs include evocation of dragons and the strokes of well-omened characters. At its highest level, the artistic value of penjing is on par with that of poetry, calligraphy, brush painting and garden art.

and last but not least, Chinese Chan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Ch%C3%A1n

 Sunyata points to the “emptiness” or no-”thing”-ness of all “things”. Though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, designated by names, on close analysis the “thingness” dissolves, leaving them “empty” of inherent existence. The Heart sutra, a text from the prajnaparamita-sutras, articulates this in the following saying in which the five skandhas are said to be “empty”:
The Yogacara explains this “emptiness” in an analysis of the way we perceive “things”. Everything we conceive of is the result of the working of the five skandhas—results of perception, feeling, volition, and discrimination.[note 8] The five skandhas together compose consciousness. The “things” we are conscious of are “mere concepts”, not Ding an sich.
It took Chinese Buddhism several centuries to recognize that sunyata does not refer to “wu”, nothingness, nor does Buddhism postulate an undying soul. The influence of those various doctrinal and textual backgrounds is still discernible in Zen. Zen teachers still refer to Buddha-nature, but the Zen tradition also emphasizes that Buddha-nature is sunyata, the absence of an independent and substantial self.

 

The overall goal of Zen interior design is to create a peaceful, inspiring home that looks good without looking dressed up. Combine any or all of the following elements of Zen decorating:
♦ Clean straight lines: nothing that’s visually busy;
♦ Built-in, concealed storage;
♦ Open, clear spaces (zero clutter);
♦ Natural, beautiful but unfussy materials;
♦ Quality but simple furnishings: nothing ‘bling’ or high-maintenance, nothing that screams for attention or tries to impress;
♦ Low-impact colors taken from nature, a minimum of (subtle) pattern;
♦ Quality rather than quantity;
♦ A calm overall look (you get enough stimulation when you step outside the front door )

as well as a little blurb all about Japanese Zen

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/japanese-zen/

Generally speaking, Zen cherishes simplicity and straightforwardness in grasping reality and acting on it “here and now,” for it believes that a thing-event that is immediately presencing before one’s eyes or under one’s foot is no other than an expression of suchness, i.e., it is such that it is showing its primordial mode of being. It also understands a specificity of thing-event to be a recapitulation of the whole; parts and the whole are to be lived in an inseparable relationship through an exercise of nondiscriminatory wisdom, without prioritizing the visible over the invisible, the explicit over the implicit, and vice versa.

The overall goal of Zen interior design is to create a peaceful, inspiring home that looks good without looking dressed up. Combine any or all of the following elements of Zen decorating:
♦ Clean straight lines: nothing that’s visually busy;
♦ Built-in, concealed storage;
♦ Open, clear spaces (zero clutter);
♦ Natural, beautiful but unfussy materials;
♦ Quality but simple furnishings: nothing ‘bling’ or high-maintenance, nothing that screams for attention or tries to impress;
♦ Low-impact colors taken from nature, a minimum of (subtle) pattern;
♦ Quality rather than quantity;
♦ A calm overall look (you get enough stimulation when you step outside the front door )

as well as a little blurb all about Japanese Zen

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/japanese-zen/

Generally speaking, Zen cherishes simplicity and straightforwardness in grasping reality and acting on it “here and now,” for it believes that a thing-event that is immediately presencing before one’s eyes or under one’s foot is no other than an expression of suchness, i.e., it is such that it is showing its primordial mode of being. It also understands a specificity of thing-event to be a recapitulation of the whole; parts and the whole are to be lived in an inseparable relationship through an exercise of nondiscriminatory wisdom, without prioritizing the visible over the invisible, the explicit over the implicit, and vice versa.

The overall goal of Zen interior design is to create a peaceful, inspiring home that looks good without looking dressed up. Combine any or all of the following elements of Zen decorating:
♦ Clean straight lines: nothing that’s visually busy;
♦ Built-in, concealed storage;
♦ Open, clear spaces (zero clutter);
♦ Natural, beautiful but unfussy materials;
♦ Quality but simple furnishings: nothing ‘bling’ or high-maintenance, nothing that screams for attention or tries to impress;
♦ Low-impact colors taken from nature, a minimum of (subtle) pattern;
♦ Quality rather than quantity;
♦ A calm overall look (you get enough stimulation when you step outside the front door )

as well as a little blurb all about Japanese Zen

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/japanese-zen/

Generally speaking, Zen cherishes simplicity and straightforwardness in grasping reality and acting on it “here and now,” for it believes that a thing-event that is immediately presencing before one’s eyes or under one’s foot is no other than an expression of suchness, i.e., it is such that it is showing its primordial mode of being. It also understands a specificity of thing-event to be a recapitulation of the whole; parts and the whole are to be lived in an inseparable relationship through an exercise of nondiscriminatory wisdom, without prioritizing the visible over the invisible, the explicit over the implicit, and vice versa.

The overall goal of Zen interior design is to create a peaceful, inspiring home that looks good without looking dressed up. Combine any or all of the following elements of Zen decorating:
♦ Clean straight lines: nothing that’s visually busy;
♦ Built-in, concealed storage;
♦ Open, clear spaces (zero clutter);
♦ Natural, beautiful but unfussy materials;
♦ Quality but simple furnishings: nothing ‘bling’ or high-maintenance, nothing that screams for attention or tries to impress;
♦ Low-impact colors taken from nature, a minimum of (subtle) pattern;
♦ Quality rather than quantity;
♦ A calm overall look (you get enough stimulation when you step outside the front door )

as well as a little blurb all about Japanese Zen

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/japanese-zen/

Generally speaking, Zen cherishes simplicity and straightforwardness in grasping reality and acting on it “here and now,” for it believes that a thing-event that is immediately presencing before one’s eyes or under one’s foot is no other than an expression of suchness, i.e., it is such that it is showing its primordial mode of being. It also understands a specificity of thing-event to be a recapitulation of the whole; parts and the whole are to be lived in an inseparable relationship through an exercise of nondiscriminatory wisdom, without prioritizing the visible over the invisible, the explicit over the implicit, and vice versa.

The overall goal of Zen interior design is to create a peaceful, inspiring home that looks good without looking dressed up. Combine any or all of the following elements of Zen decorating:
♦ Clean straight lines: nothing that’s visually busy;
♦ Built-in, concealed storage;
♦ Open, clear spaces (zero clutter);
♦ Natural, beautiful but unfussy materials;
♦ Quality but simple furnishings: nothing ‘bling’ or high-maintenance, nothing that screams for attention or tries to impress;
♦ Low-impact colors taken from nature, a minimum of (subtle) pattern;
♦ Quality rather than quantity;
♦ A calm overall look (you get enough stimulation when you step outside the front door )

as well as a little blurb all about Japanese Zen

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/japanese-zen/

Generally speaking, Zen cherishes simplicity and straightforwardness in grasping reality and acting on it “here and now,” for it believes that a thing-event that is immediately presencing before one’s eyes or under one’s foot is no other than an expression of suchness, i.e., it is such that it is showing its primordial mode of being. It also understands a specificity of thing-event to be a recapitulation of the whole; parts and the whole are to be lived in an inseparable relationship through an exercise of nondiscriminatory wisdom, without prioritizing the visible over the invisible, the explicit over the implicit, and vice versa.