Seon(Zen) Buddhism that absorbed Chinese traditional thoughts and way of thinking while it was disseminated into China was expressed in Chinese language and way of thinking. And the combination of Chinese and Indian thoughts created a unique Chinized Buddhist philosophy that belongs to neither. Seon Buddhism has served as the ideological foundation not only for oriental paintings but also for modern fine arts as a while and has further developed into emerging as an independent genre called 'Dhyana fine Art'. With Seon (禪) widen its popularity in modern society, it plays a pivotal role in the changing process of the contemporary art. In particular, the contemporary art has undergone major changes since 1950 while suffering psychological pain caused by two World Wars, to which Seon Buddhism has made significant contributions, taking on a mediational role. Wars made a lot of artists pay attention to healing wounded hearts and, against this backdrop, Seon Buddhism has consistently sought to present a new direction of life and to bring a new approach to appreciating one's existence value
Artists have tried to express what happens to their mind with the recognition and recovery of humanity through Seon Buddhism on a canvas. Kandinsky also presented on how to be aware of the mind, a change of new awareness and understanding. These changes have served as an occasion to emphasize the spirituality in arts and to bring changes to the aesthetic characteristics of the contemporary art.
They found out that the aesthetic characteristics of Seon Buddhism lie in 'natural beauty', repetitive beauty', 'the beauty of the intermediary process' etc. In sublime beauty and good, Immanuel Kant identifies that sublime is created from feelings and emotions and that feelings and emotions become more sophisticated when we experience the natural beauty. Lee Woo-hwan, Wolfgang Laib, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko perform their art work in the absence of obsession and desire after meditation. I have looked into Antoni Tapies, Mark Rothko and Lee Woo-hwan. Antoni Tapies has enabled the interpretation of symbols and characters from higher level of perspectives than just the inherent concept of symbols and characters themselves by awakening his own internal sub-consciousness and stimulating creativity with various symbols, including Arabic number and English letters. Mark Rothko has presented simplified expressions, through which he wanted his spectators to enjoy the same experience as what he has had while engaging in a long-term meditation using simplified expressions. Lee Woo-hwan shows his own quintessential mind through his works of art such as 〈From a point〉 and 〈From a line〉. I have also analyzed repetitions and compressions in my own works of art from the minimalism perspective and sought to find their implications as a theoretical background. These repetitions and compressions aim to take creating works of art to the next level through discovery of inner aspects of humanity and establishment of mature self.