Zen Without Master

For Frenk Meeuwsen, a drawing is like a Zen garden: wavy lines on snow-white paper. In those lines, he searches for the essence of Japan, for truth, and for himself. His book Zen Without a Master is visual philosophy. How does the sound of one clapping hand sound? This famous riddle from Zen philosophy is simply solved by Meeuwsen: it 'sounds' like applause in sign language for the deaf. Of course he makes a drawing of it, but this solution is also characteristic of his approach to spirituality, because it makes you laugh. With Dutch common sense, he tackles Japanese Buddhism, and thus comes to surprising discoveries.-Joost Polmann