Half-length Portrait of Bodhidharma by Hakuin Ekaku

Half-length Portrait of Bodhidharma c. mid 18th century

ink-on-paper, hanging-scroll

toned paper

water colours

ink painting

japan

ink-on-paper

handmade artwork painting

hanging-scroll

fluid art

coloured pencil

coffee painting

watercolour bleed

watercolour illustration

watercolor

calligraphy

This 18th-century ink-on-paper painting by Zen master Hakuin Ekaku, depicts the founder of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma. The portrait, known as "Half-length Portrait of Bodhidharma," is a powerful example of Zen art. It captures the essence of the subject, the legendary founder of Zen Buddhism, with bold brushstrokes and expressive lines. The use of black ink on a light background emphasizes the starkness and simplicity of the figure. While the image is simple, the artist's choice to paint Bodhidharma with a stern expression conveys a sense of focus and spiritual discipline. The inscription above the figure, written by the artist himself, adds to the painting's meditative aura. This piece is a testament to the artistry and spiritual insight of Hakuin Ekaku, one of Japan's most renowned Zen masters.

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minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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Bodhidharma: Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1769), a Zen priest and prolific amateur painter, is creditedwith reviving the Rinzai sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism after a long period of decline. Hakuin focused on meditation and paradoxical anecdotes or dialogues called kōan, the contemplation of which may lead to spontaneous awakening. Hakuin’s bold, sometimes humorous, and altogether unprecedented paintings, were an important vehicle for his teachings, which spread far beyond the monasteries and captured the minds of laypeople. In this work, he painted an imagined portrait of Bodhidharma, the Indian monk credited with transmitting Zen from India to China 1,500 years ago. The patriarch holds his hands before him underneath his robe and casts his gaze up toward four Chinese characters, 見性成佛, which —“look inside to become a buddha.” The four characters are from a poem, attributed toBodhidharma himself, that gets at the central teaching of Zen, that all individuals already possess a buddha-nature and that through focusing inward through meditation, one may realize this and gain enlightenment.