Aesthetics of Zen Buddhism in the works of M. A. Voloshin (On the example of poetic miniatures – inscriptions for watercolors)

This article examines the embodiment of the ideas and aesthetics of Zen Buddhism in the works of M. Voloshin. The purpose of the article is to identify how the thought and aesthetics of Zen Buddhism are presented in the works of M. Voloshin. The material for the work was M. Voloshin’s poetic miniatures - inscriptions on watercolors, autobiographies and memoirs. M. Voloshin himself called Buddhism “the first religious step” in his autobiography. Zen Buddhism does not accept the dualism and irreconcilability of Western philosophy, for example, the opposition “God-man”, “moment – eternity”, “peace – struggle”, etc. One typical feature of M. Voloshin's work is philosophical harmony, and many of his poems resonate with the poems of Zen (Chan) masters. Categories embodied in Zen poems, such as the frailty of the earthly, eternity and harmony of nature, can also be found in the poems of M. Voloshin. The novelty lies in the fact that currently little attention is paid to the manifestations of the philosophy of Zen Buddhism in the works of the poet. The analysis of Maximilian Voloshin’s watercolors paintings allows us to assert that Zen Buddhism occupies an important place among his aesthetic and ideological guidelines. The study of the reception of Zen Buddhism in the work of M. Voloshin is of great importance for understanding his poetry, the concept of creativity and worldview. Under the influence of the ideas and aesthetics of Zen Buddhism, Voloshin’s poems reflect his three fundamental categories of aesthetics: The principle of simplicity; Harmony; The principle of emptiness and silence.

Voloshin, worldview, Zen Buddhism, aesthetics, the principle of simplicity, harmony, oppositions, Chan, nature, silence