The Buddhist Layman Vimalakirti c. 18th century

This painting shows an aged man known as Vimalakirti, who is featured in the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra, a Buddhist scripture that explains the key Buddhist concept of sunyata, or emptiness. According to the sutra, Vimalakirti was a wealthy and very wise lay practitioner of Buddhism in India who lived at the same time as the historical Buddha. He had fallen ill, so the Buddha asked numerous followers to visit him, but all declined. Finally, the deity Manjusri agreed to visit Vimalakirti at his home, where the two engaged in an important philosophical debate. The influential Zen priest Hakuin Ekaku is credited with reviving the Rinzai sect of Zen by refocusing the tradition on spiritual exercises such as meditation and koan practice (the use of paradoxical riddles). Painting and calligraphy played an important role in Hakuin’s own Zen practice and in the spread of his teachings.