I had worked with the device in 2014 with different formulations to moderate result. It was not successful or unsuccessful. In my own opinion the sealing formula needs to be something personally derived.
Although the sword portion of the sealing phrase has a martial sound, in a more esoteric sense it is an elegant comparative to zen. The base metal ores are dug from the earth, separated, forged in fire, folded, hammered, shaped, polished and sharpened to create the katana or wakizashi. This is the analogy for practice, learning the priniciples, koans, sutras etc. of zen.
The best sword however must be wielded skillfully - of course - this would be the analogy for praxis or actual use of the priniciples within kendo and of course zen. There is a secondary connection to the phrase Fu-gen which means non-attachment. Fugen is not used as the common word. It is the esoteric representation of nonattachment.The sword is a symbol of cutting away the ropes and chains of illusion. The kanji is the representation of a rope, turned once on itself, with its ends cut loose.
The translation of the phrase is:
Ken to zen wa ichi desu.
When using as a mantra, use a minor tone, low bass or baritone. When repeated it has rather an appealing ancient Shinto chant sound to it.
A drum could of course be used as a meter. Listening to a Shinto chant or the ten verse Kannon chant will give a good idea of the pace, metering and inflection. As a chant, to make it more smooth you can drop the "wa" and pronounce ken-to-zen-ichi-desu.
The formula as a sigillic form is drawn with the calligraphy pen or brush - at once. It is best to have an example, look at it as an example - and then steadily draw each character. In this - there is no practice just the action. Whatever results, is what it is. Now, one may certainly warm up.
Within shodo you have to prepare the inkblock and the brush to get the ink to the desired texture and viscosity.
Of course in shodo, there are specific stroke orders. Vertical lines are always drawn before horizontal lines. Of course, there are many more rules, but that is one of the more important ones. If you do not have a brush and inkstone, I suggest using a pointed calligraphy pen, which is easily obtainable. Shodo or the practice of calligraphy itself is a meditative art. As a drawing medium or substrate, rice paper would be the best, of course any decent paper will do such as parchment. What you need however is something that the ink will not bleed out too much with such as a rag fibered paper.
Bokuseki is often characterized by bold, assertive, and often abstract brush strokes meant to demonstrate the calligrapher’s pure state of mind. The aim in making Bokuseki is to represent ones single-moment awareness by brushing each word or passage with a single breath, with the goal of realizing zen and manifesting ones zazen practice into physical and artistic action. This again, would sugue into the overall formula of the sword and zen, and practice becoming praxis.
In short however unless you have experience with shodo and the inkstone and brush, I suggest purchase of a Japanese style calligraphy pen.
Within Zen, incense is used to time meditations within the zendo, or place of practice. For this a decent temple incense such as agarwood or quality sandalwood is suggested. Koden is the offering of incense.
The idea to all of this is to do something - in a relaxed, yet focused manner. Neither too fast or slow. Life in the West is fast paced, impatient.
The point of ritualizing this is to empower the sigil, as a slow and willed, focused action.
The accompanying element to mantras are mudras. Mudras are particular ways of forming the hands and fingers. This is called the Jade Gate - or Sword mudra. The other that would be appropriate is the Vajra mudra. And one could also utilize the zen mudra shown here.
Of course it could be done in a casual manner, but this would be the more formalized method.
Prepare the materials. Ink and brush or calligraphy pen, and a low cushion or zabuton to set on, with an eye to being comfortable. Add any other aesthetics desired.
Ring bell 9 times. A small Tibetan bowl bell is good. A deep temple bell is excellent. You can get sound files and phone apps for this. Ideally the bell would be rang 108 times, representing clearing the 108 negative energies but 9 will suffice. Any personal banishing rituals would be appropriate here.
The next part is the critical portion - doing the calligraphy drawing or bokuseki. This is also a meditative practice with the art of shodo as well. There are numerous ways to create the right state of mind. You can silently meditate but I suggest something more active. Here is one possible set of steps.
Light the incense. Listen to some relaxing music - shakuhachi or a raga perhaps, for 5 minutes.
After that, recite "ken-to-zen-ichi-desu" as a chant with the Jade Gate mudra for 4 to 5 minutes.
The point is do not let it become tiresome.You want to be relaxed, but awake and not drowsy or sleepy.
The exact jumping off "point" at which to start is hard to define as it is subtly different for each person.
It is characterized as "no-mindedness" but I choose to think of it as "neutral mind". All that should be in mind is - the pen and ink, the paper and the characters you are going to trace. That is it. It is all that exists at least in that temporal and temporary moment in space and time. You do not consider their meaning but are drawing direct shapes - as they are and as you perceive them.
You assertively start without hesitation or stopping and make the first character. There is no practice run. Withdraw the pen or brush when the character is complete, re-ink if needed, and then do the next characters in the same way. Resist the urge to critique each character after you draw it. It is - what it is. Perhaps it is imperfect or not as good as you imagined or hoped it would look but that is irrelevant.
Now one charges the completed sigil. You would set it where you can look at it easily. If you know how to use tratakam or fixed gazing you will use that technique. One adopts the mudra of the Jade Gate or the Vajra, and repeats the phrase - "ken-to-zen-ichi-desu" - for one mala, or 108 repetitions, while looking directly at the symbol. Try not to blink or move your gaze from it. This can be a little tricky. Usually, mala beads are used to count the repetitions, but since a mudra is being held this would exclude use of the mala beads. Unless you know or can keep in mind how many repetitions you have done, I suggest use of a timer. Assuming you can do 20 repetitions of the mantra in a minute, 6 minutes of continuous repetition would easily yield over 108 repetitions or one mala.
To end, let the sigil dry, and then roll it up and put it away carefully. It may be charged, and should be subsequently charged for 9 malas ideally.
Do any banishing operations and then relax. Some schools would actually dedicate a whole subsequent session to charging the device as a group working. To do so you pretty much repeat the last portion of the operation above - fixing the sigil in your vision and repeating the mantra while holding the mudra.
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