Chinese Herald PEN column
Sanjia Village Yang Wenkai
Zen Buddhism is an important school of Buddhism in Japan, and the Zen style prevailed, starting in Kamakura, and Zen painting spread in Edo. Japanese Zen paintings not only depict famous Zen figures, but also express the "ideal of Zen". As a result, those characters with extraordinary behavior and wonderful style naturally became the subject of the painting. You paint, I paint, everyone paints, and I paint a lot, and gradually it becomes the motif of Japanese Zen painting. Among them, most of them are saints and Zen masters from China, who have had strange life experiences, influenced others, and changed the style of Zen.
Zen Buddhism emphasizes the importance of not establishing words, teaching outside the teachings, pointing directly at people's hearts, and seeing nature to become a Buddha, and the master teaches his disciples the method of thinking for spiritual enlightenment, with the intention of discovering the true self in daily life. After the advent of Zen painting, traditional Buddhist painting gradually lost its rich and gorgeous color, and was replaced by a single color of ink expression, showing the self-image of the unity of all things and the unity of mind and nature. As a result, ink painting is in line with the spirit of Zen Buddhism, and has become a portrayal of the thoughts and spirit pursued by Zen monks and their protectors. The themes of Zen ink paintings include Patriarch Bodhidharma, the founder of Chinese Zen Buddhism, and the Hanshan, Shide, and Budai monks who achieved enlightenment in their own unique ways.
Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, is the third prince of the country of Indian incense, who was born as a monk and has practiced for more than 40 years. Legend has it that the Buddha Shakyamuni painted flowers and smiled at the Ling'an Mountain Great Dharma Festival, only the Great Buddha Ye smiled in his heart, passed on the heart to the heart, took over the Dafa, and passed it on in turn, the lamps continued to pass on to Bodhidharma, which was the twenty-eighth generation. After Bodhidharma crossed the sea to Middle-earth, there were stories such as "facing the wall for nine years" and "crossing the river with a reed" were circulated, and Japanese Zen Buddhism was also familiar with the story of Bodhidharma.
Xue Zhou's painting "Hui Ke's Broken Arm"
Xue Zhou's ink painting on paper, Hui Ke's Broken Arm, was painted in 1496 and is now a National Treasure of Japan. The main body of the picture is the Bodhidharma Patriarch sitting on the wall of the Shaolin Temple, and Hui Ke in the lower left corner of the picture implores to become a disciple of Bodhidharma, cutting off his arm to express his sincerity and determination to seek teaching. This is one of Japan's earliest portraits of Bodhidharma, and it is quite precious.
The Zen patriarch who came to Japan from China during the Kamakura period, and Dharma, who is now more familiar to people, has always been revered as a Zen patriarch. Bodhidharma sailed to Middle-earth at the beginning of the sixth century, sat and meditated in Shaolin Temple, and then there were "Facing the Wall Dharma Map" with the theme of facing the wall for nine years, "The First Ancestor Q&A Map" depicting Bodhidharma and Emperor Liang Wu asking and answering, and "Luye Dharma Map" depicting Bodhidharma crossing the river with a reed and other Zen paintings handed down.
In the middle of the 18th century, the Rinzai monk Bai Yin painted a lot of Dharma pictures, and his famous "Half-length Bodhidharma" is a work with a strong aura with large thick strokes and thick lines. At the same time, there was also Suzuki Harunobu's famous work "Dharma in the Boat and the Beauty Supporting the Boat", which is an unusual work.
In addition to Bodhidharma, Japanese Zen paintings also favor the humane Shakya. Since the prevalence of Zen Buddhism in the Muromachi period, "Deyama Shakyato" has become a favorite theme of Zen monks. These Zen paintings are mainly depicted in the scene of Shakya, who has been fasting and practicing in the mountains for six years, and feels that he has not been enlightened in the way of asceticism, so he comes down from the snow-capped mountains and returns to the world. Shakya washed his body with river water, drank the milk porridge of the village girl, regained his strength, and began to sit in meditation under the Bodhi tree, and finally became enlightened.
Liang Kai painting of the Southern Song Dynasty
Painted in the 13th century by Liang Kai of the Southern Song Dynasty, the "Buddha of the Mountain" is now in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum and is designated as a National Treasure. During the Muromachi period, there was an ink painting on paper created by Yukishu (Tsukusho and other Yang), "Deyama Shakyato", which is simple and concise, and the image is vivid, which is the appearance of Japanese Zen painting. In the 18th century, there were Ito Wakachong, Bai Yin, etc., all of whom had "Izuyama Shakyatu" handed down to future generations.
Zen temples in Japan mostly collect Song and Yuan paintings from China, and Zen monks appreciate the original works on a daily basis and consciously integrate this style into their creations, so the Yige painting style of Chinese Zen Buddhism displayed under the brushwork of Muxi and Yujian is respected and spread. The simplicity and blandness of those ink paintings and dry landscapes is of great significance for understanding the overall picture of Zen painting and even Zen art.
Among the Seven Gods of Good Fortune in Japan, the only surviving figure is the Budai monk, a Chinese Zen monk from the late Tang Dynasty in the 8th century. The cloth bag monk walked in the market with a cane, and the cloth bag he carried contained all the things he carried with him. The Budai monk had the ability to predict, and after his death, he incarnated as Maitreya Bodhisattva, bringing together the people's faith. As early as the Southern Song Dynasty in the 13th century, China's Liang Kai and Muxi have been depicted with simple brushes, and they were introduced to Japan in the 14th century, and the Edo period became an important theme of Zen painting.
In the early Edo period, Zen monks lived in caves near Odawara for a long time, and his "Tsuki Cloth Bag" depicts the pursuit of enlightenment. Oyuki Korin, who established the style of painting of the Lin School, also has "Cloth Bag Picture" and "Keju Cloth Bag Picture" handed down, with concise brushwork and lovely image. After the last years of the shogunate to the early Meiji era, the ukiyo-e master Tsukioka Yoshinian, in his later years, his masterpiece was the series of 100 pieces "Moon Hundred Postures", of which the 61st "Moon of Enlightenment" is the image of a cloth bag monk pointing to the moon in order to seek enlightenment.
Hanshan and Shide were the hermit monks in the legends of the Tang Dynasty in China, and later carried forward in Japan and became important figures in Zen painting. Hanshan held a long scroll in his hand, wrote countless poems, and liked to inscribe poems on trees, rocks, and stone walls at will, which were collected into "Hanshan Poems" and have been handed down to this day. The monk who is working in the back kitchen of the Guoqing Temple on Tiantai Mountain is holding a broom and is always cleaning. Hanshan, found physical and mental freedom, wearing tattered clothes, not bound by the image, embodies the spirit of Zen. In the 16th century, the ink painting on paper in the snow village "Finding the Picture of the Cold Mountain" has been handed down to this day and can be called a classic. As soon as this picture came out, the image of Hanshan and Pick up in Japanese Zen painting was basically stereotyped, setting an example for future generations.
18th century Japanese painter Ashiyuki Nagasawa painted "Picture of the Cold Mountain"
Since then, in the middle of the 17th century, there was Kano Mountain Snow's "Cold Mountain Pick-up Map", in the 18th century, there were Oyuki Mitsurin's paintings, Ogyuki Qianshan's "Rust Painting Hanshan Pick-up Corner Plate", and Zeng I Xiaobai's "Hanshan Pick-up Map", all of which are treasures treasured by the Zen Temple.
The master who found it was Zen Master Fenggan, a monk of Guoqing Temple on Tiantai Mountain. It is said that it was the Fenggan Zen master who picked up the young ones and raised them, so he named them them. Zen Master Fenggan's unique skill is to tame the tiger, and he often rides the tiger through the street market, which surprises the people. In Japanese Zen paintings, there is an important theme "Four Sleeping Pictures", which depicts the scene of Zen Master Fenggan with Hanshan, Shide, and tigers. Later legend said that Fenggan incarnated Amitabha Rulai, Hanshan incarnated Manjushri Bodhisattva, and found the incarnation of Puxian Bodhisattva, and called the three saints. Zen Master Fenggan was able to sleep peacefully beside the tiger, showing the high virtue of his virtue. The three of them were accompanied by the tiger, but they got the stable "Four Sleeping Pictures", which is the real realm of Zen enlightenment.
In the middle of the Edo period, the ukiyo-e artist Masanobu Okumura painted the "Merry Four Sleeps", which was based on the theme of Zen painting. The "Four Sleeping Pictures" painted by Ashiyuki Nagasawa, a disciple of Maruyama Oju, shows a vivid expression and is still sought after for more than 220 years.
Most of the paintings in Japan before modern times have their origins. If you can understand the subject matter and content of the painting, you will be able to fully understand the subtlety and interest of the expression. Buddhist paintings, which flourished in Japan after the Asuka period, mainly depict Oriental ideas that originated in India and spread in China, while Yamato paintings, which were formed after the Heian period, were mainly based on classical literature such as waka and dynasty stories, and ink paintings that came from China tended to depict Chinese stories and legends.
Zen paintings depict Zen characters and stories, which were widely studied and common knowledge in the classical era before Edo, and were common knowledge that was familiar to the entire community, which is known today as "upbringing." The richer the education of the connoisseur, the more extensive the understanding of the creative matrix, and the deeper the understanding and appreciation of the work.
In modern society, information is overflowing, and all kinds of information are intertwined, and the traditional education that should be shared is not increasing but decreasing, and it is dissolving from generation to generation, resulting in a gap in understanding and difficulty in communication. Therefore, the works that used to make people clear at a glance and smile are now incomprehensible, and they need to be explained and explained while being at a loss. Obviously, Zen paintings, like Zen Buddhism, are being hung up and hidden, changing from the elegance of the times to the embellishment of life.
So, what is the background of today's young people? Their common topic is more anime and games, which are the new interests of the new human race. However, in addition to enjoying the sound and light colors, you might as well relive the simple and dull scenes, and I hope that today's people can still feel and appreciate the slightest Zen in life, and keep the original colors of Japanese culture.