In the Asian traditions, art has been inextricably linked with spirituality and religion, often with ritual as well. Calligraphy was used to transcribe Zen Conundrums (koans) in the Japanese and Chinese traditions. Painting and calligraphy done by Zen monks since 1600 are referred to in Japanese, as Zenga. Zenga was done to aid meditation and to help Zen monks on their path to enlightenment. It is said to be an outward _expression of the inner lives of Zen Monks.

The roots of Zenga started in Kyoto at the monastery of Daitoku-ji. Here, the monk Ikkyu emphasized the tradition of making personal and expressive ink traces. The first artist to create works of Zenga was not a monk, but the court noble Konoe Nobutada. One of Nobutada's works, 'Meditating Daruma (Bodhidharma)', depicts Bodhidharma during his 9 years of meditation in front of a wall at the Shao-lin Temple.

The Enso is one of the most profound subjects in Zenga. The Enso is simply a circle usually created in one brush stroke. Most say that the Enso is the all, the void and enlightenment itself. It is said to have no fixed, finite or static meaning. Some have said that the Enso represents a continuing action through time; when the painting is seen, it communicates at various levels of understanding depending on the viewer. This is why Zenga is said to embody the experience of Zen.

In Japan, the most common form of brushwork for calligraphers and Zen artists in particular, is ichigyo sho, 'one-line calligraphies'. These are poetic phrases or Zen sayings, usually consisting of five to seven characters, written vertically on a hanging scroll. The next most common theme for Zen calligraphers is ichiji-kan, 'one-word barriers'. It is a single large character, a visual representation of the koan . For instance, the large character MU (nothingness), ICHI (one), KAN (barrier) either stands on its own or has an accompanying inscription written alongside in smaller characters. Couplets or longer three-line calligraphies are rare in Zen art, but two- or three-character compositions are popular in both the vertical and horizontal format. Myogo, the 'incantatory name' of a Buddhist, Shinto, or folk deity is often seen in Zen art, as are talismanic calligraphies with the character representing a Dragon. In the case of calligraphy with many characters, Obaku Zen calligraphers enjoyed scripting poems in classical Chinese, while Rinzai and Soto Zen artists usually quoted from the sutras or sayings of a master. In Zen art, haiku or waka (poems) are often used as inscriptions on paintings but rarely as calligraphy by itself.

Zen calligraphy is an art supported by the maturation of the inner process. When the Self is not intruding, when one is resting in emptiness, playful and not knowing, then what is greater than the Self and inclusive of the Self can manifest through the Self. This art is not a manifestation of the inner process, but a gracious _expression of the inter-being of existence. Even for experts, Zen calligraphy is often hard to decipher, but the physical vitality and dynamic flow of brush strokes created by a Zen master can be quite awe inspiring, even if the characters cannot be read immediately.