ENSŌ: What is Beheld

For years photographer David Scheinbaum had a desire to create imagery without a camera.  The removal of life’s distractions while quarantining during the COVID pandemic offered him that opportunity. Using only the tools of a Zen calligrapher and darkroom chemistry, he exposed photographic paper, applying fixer or developer or sometimes both under a dim safelight, varying his technique with each image.

This stunning, enigmatic book presents a selection of Scheinbaum’s ensō drawings with an insightful essay by Zen monk and poet Ninso John High and an appreciation by Zen calligrapher, teacher, author, and Buddhist translator Kazuaki Tanahashi. The book includes examples of Tanahashi’s and High’s vibrantly-colored ensōs.  

About the Author

David Scheinbaum is former Director/Chair of the Photography Department and the Marion Center for Photographic Arts at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, and Professor Emeritus, College of Santa Fe. He is the author of ten books, including most recently, Varanasi: City Immersed in Prayer (George F. Thompson Publishing), and Remnants: Photographs of the Lower East Side (Radius Books) with his wife, Janet Russek. Together they operate Scheinbaum & Russek Ltd., private fine-art photography dealers and consultants in Santa Fe, NM.

Ninzo John High is a poet and zen monk and author of more than a dozen books, including his most recent novel, Scrolls of a Temple Sweeper (Wet Cement Press), and a co-translation of Osip Mandelstam’s poetry (Wesleyan University Press). He was a co-founder and former director of Long Island University-Brooklyn’s MFA program and has taught at universities and facilitated workshops in creative transformation around the world. He lives in Lisbon with his wife, the writer Andrea Clark Libin.

Kazuaki Tanahashi is a painter, calligrapher, Buddhist scholar, and author of six books, including Sky Above: Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan; Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo; and Painting Peace: Art in a Time of Global Crisis, all published by Shambala. He is also director of the international peace organization A World Without Armies.