The mark

Sutam's mark is an ensō, the circle a Zen practitioner paints in a single unhurried stroke. An ensō is traditionally left a little open: nothing is sealed off, and there is room for what comes next.

Here the stroke doesn't close. It turns inward and curls into itself, like the whorl of an ear. The circle becomes an act of listening.

That is the name. Many of the Buddha's discourses begin evaṃ me sutaṃ, "thus have I heard", the words of someone passing on what they listened to. Sutaṃ means "heard". Sutam carries the same spirit: these are spoken teachings, heard, and written down so they can be heard again.

The mark was drawn by an AI image model, chosen from several sketches, and then traced into a single clean line.