The ZenDAO is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization(DAO), that focuses on incubating the Oriental Art NFT.

Zenverse NFT on "Zen Universe" is the first NFT project of the famous cartoonist Tsai Chih Chung(“C. C. Tsai“),and the first artist NFT project launched by TheZenDAO.

Mr. Tsai created 7777 NFTs based on the classic "Zen Master",

Zenverse NFT wants to spread Zen culture to the Web 3 world!  Create a combination of "Zen" and the Web3 world with interesting interactions, including the Zenverse NFT, the Meta-Universe meditation activities and more.

Enter the Zenverse and find yourself in the moment

Zenverse NFT, the Zenverse, has a total collection of 7,777.

The number of whitelists is 1500, each whitelist address can be minted 3, the rest is used for public sale. 777 are reserved for early community collaboration and airdrops, rewards for future community events, and artists' relatives and friends.

The official project platform (thezendao.io) is now live, with public sales expected to begin in the third quarter of 2022 and circulation on Opensea and several other NFT platforms.

The Zen Universe project is a combination of Mr. Tsai Chi-chung's philosophies on Zen and NFT

Meditation, through active training, will focus on a state of mind, and achieves a spiritual state of non-dispersion.

Each NFT is the same Zen practitioner, but in a different time and space, they are different people, and can be any country, profession, or state.

At present, no one in the whole time and space is not himself, no one is himself.

A person's heart may be troubled one second, the next second may be ecstatic, but then the thought may fall into hell. Our mind is always drifting, but through spiritual practice and epiphany, we can immediately turn hell into heaven and purify our mind. Everyone has the potential to become a Buddha through spiritual practice, and everyone is a meditator. Everyone has the potential to become enlightened through Zen practice, and everyone is a Zen master.

It is up to you to find out in which state you are at this moment, in which time and space you are, and which Zen practitioner you are.

“菩提本无树，明镜亦非台。本来无一物，何处惹尘埃。”

There is no wisdom tree; nor a stand of a mirror bright, Since all is void, where can the dust alight?"

An enlightened Zen master always lives in the present moment. Zen comes from life. There are no restrictions and everyone can be a Zen practitioner.

Full of Troubles + Inner Peace + Transcendence and sanctification

"Zen Universe" works are divided into three types: troubled people, mindful people, saints (Rare).

Each NFT collector will randomly receive his / her work: troubled person, right-minded person or saint. The visual design combines the styles of comics and Chinese ink painting, and uses Mr. Tsai Chi-chung's classic "Zen Master" meditation posture, which is either serious or playful or eccentric.

The expressions, body shapes, bases, accessories and hand-held objects of the Zen characters in each work are different, encompassing three states.

At the same time, each work is a PFP, which can be used as an avatar.

When zooming in on the works, one can also notice that each painting bears the personal seal of Mr. Tsai Chi-chung. The text of the seal reads, "Keep away from upside-down dreams" (from the ) and a personal name seal.

The seal is a tool traditionally used by Chinese literati to personally mark their calligraphy and paintings, and has a long historical tradition and cultural interest. The use of the traditional artist's seal in the form of Web 3's cutting-edge NFT works is an artistic feature that sets the Zenverse NFT series apart from other PFP works.

Cai Zhizhong and Zen

Mr. Tsai Chi-Chung, born in Taiwan, China, is a famous cartoonist, animation director, Buddhist statue collector, and enlightened Zen practitioner.

The childhood of the post-80s and post-90s generations must have met with Mr. Tsai cartoon work.

His comic books have been translated into many languages and have sold 50 million copies in 59 countries worldwide. Princeton University Press opened the " The Illustrated Library of Chinese Classics " for him, and the Prince Claus Foundation of the Netherlands commended him for "making an unprecedented r reinvention of traditional Chinese philosophy and literature through comics".

He sleeps only four hours a day and spends the rest of his time in meditation, thinking and working.

He works with the attitude of an enlightened Zen master, recreating the classics of the East and Buddhist stories with simple and Zen-like lines, unveiling the mysterious Eastern Zen culture to the world with his NFT works.

His single paintings have been auctioned several times in China Guardian International Auction House.

The mysterious Eastern Zen culture has a deep and wide influence in China, Japan, Europe and America

In the world of Web 3, NFT is an important application scenario and an important building block of the metaverse world. Currently, there are many examples of "Zen" related creations using existing works in the NFT field. For example, Allen Zhu, a well-known Chinese investor, recently tweeted a secondary creation of "Zen" using his BAYC#9729, along with Zen verses attached.

In Silicon Valley, people are also passionate about "meditation" and "mindfulness meditation". It gives people inner peace, mental clarity, and a greater love of life and creative work.

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was a fan of meditation. Apple's design aesthetic has a very clear pursuit of Zen. Mr. Tsai Chi-Chung, in Zenverse NFT, has also created a special tribute to Steve Jobs.

The project's Roadmap and planning

TheZenDAO's official Twitter account, @thezendao, currently has around 14K Twitter followers and an official Discord channel for the project. In addition to the daily exposure of NFT's work, the community has also initiated many Zen-related activities, such as "meditation punch cards".

In addition, the project has launched joint promotions with several web3 communities that share the same tone. We welcome more communities to join us in spreading Zen culture in the web3 world.

From the roadmap, the first phase of the project is Minting, the second phase is Fusion, and the third phase is Empowerment.

• Phase 1 - Minting: Zenverse NFT will be cast in September 2022. When the casting is complete, Zenverse will be a collection of 7,777 NFTs of the "Zenman" image. In this phase, we get the "Zenverse" NFTs of ordinary people (those who are troubled, those who are positive) and saints.

• Phase 2 - Fusion: we understand from TheZenDAO that the Zenverse will be released with the option for the user to fuse multiple NFTs to obtain a higher-order NFT after the release is complete.

• Phase 3 - Empowerment: The empowerment of Zenverse NFTs currently consists of at least two parts.

NFT airdrops

The first part: NFT airdrops!

Zenverse NFT holders will have the opportunity to receive airdrops of physical works by artists incubated by TheZenDAO. This includes, but is not limited to, airdrops of physical works by Mr. Tsai Chi-Chung. Considering that the project itself is an IP work of a well-known artist, unlike most projects that only airdrop new NFT works, the project team plans to conduct physical airdrops so that fans of art works can realize both on-chain and off-chain collections.

TheZenDAO PASS Card

The second part: TheZenDAO PASS Card.

For those who participate in the second phase of fusion, they will have the opportunity to receive a PASS card from TheZenDAO. In addition to Mr. Tsai Chi-Chung, ThezenDAO Studio has signed up several artists to collaborate with. Holders of TheZenDAO PASS cards will be given priority in receiving airdrops or whitelist rights for the NFT works of these different artists. TheZenDAO will also launch "Proof of Meditation", a mini-game designed specifically for our community, where community members can earn rewards by playing proof of meditation daily.

TheZenDAO's future plans

The studio will continue to sign more artists with international influence, mainly in Oriental and Asian art. In the Web 3 world, we will promote the spread of oriental culture and art.

In the future, TheZenDAO will further establish a DAO form of Oriental culture and art fund. It will be used for the incubation of Web 3 artists and their NFT works, investment in Web 3 artworks, artist promotion and art event sponsorship.

Opportunities and Challenges

TheZenDAO was established to promote Eastern art and cultural philosophy such as "Zen" in the world of Web 3.

Behind the Degen phrase of "one day in the cryptocurrency world, one year on earth", it seems a bit out of place to advocate Zen practice to enjoy the present moment and gain positive thoughts and peace. There is no boundary between Zen and web3, and there is no standard direction for DAO, so any serious attempt is valuable, but of course this cannot be done without the joint efforts and creativity of a community.

Conclusion

Artists have historically been the most courageous people to explore the boundaries and try out the latest technologies and things. During the rise of the Web 3, the NFT art has attracted many creative artists, such as Beeple and Takashi Murakami. At the same time, there were many traditional artists who wanted to participate in the Web 3 wave, but did not know how to enter it. They either face asymmetric market information, or difficulties in technology and creative forms. In this situation, TheZenDAO is willing to try to cooperate with artists from different backgrounds to create and explore the world of Web 3 together and find more possibilities.

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