ABSTRACT
In this chapter we explore similarities and differences between the theophanic icon and the image of enlightenment in Zen Buddhism. These include the transcendentalization of nature in Zen painting and the view of paintings and poems as instances of enlightenment. A divinized nature is not a common theme of Orthodox iconography, even though cliffs and sky, trees, rivers and the sea, do in some icons reach that level of existence. Neither are icons typically approached as instances of theophany, even though we have seen ekphraseis that point in this direction. A consideration of Zen art in this context will help expand our understanding of the theophanic image and serve as a vantage point from which to look critically at its aesthetic and theological peculiarities. The Zen image, as we suggested earlier, has its own form of enargeia.
