The Big Brush has been held by many hands over the past years - from buddhist practitioners to corporate bankers to recovering mental health patients. Each time a brushstroke is made with full attention and heart, truth and beauty enter the room and nourish everyone.

The Big Brush practice works with the principles of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Participants come up to calligraphy stations on the floor to execute a series of large brushstrokes, exploring the outer relationship of these principles as they manifest on the page as well as the inner feelings that arise. Finally the heart, or secret sense, is revealed.

A simple ritual unfolds - bowing, dipping, stroking, bowing, folding up the paper, laying down a new sheet. If "Calligraphy is a picture of the mind" as the Zen saying goes, each stroke becomes an expression of the moment, mind joining with space, grounded by ink and paper.

We go through our lives making our marks in so many ways. Here, with brush and ink, how we manifest in the world can be seen directly. We appreciate our minds - and our lives - when we make a true stroke of the moment.