KŌSEN SHŌTON 高泉性潡 (1633-1695) CALLIGRAPHY: SEIZAN HARU RŌSEZU 青山 不老春 (IN THE VERDANT MOUNTAINS SPRING GROWS NOT OLD)

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24040/lot/77/

I came across this auction information for Master Gaoquan's calligraphy.

KŌSEN SHŌTON 高泉性潡 (1633-1695) CALLIGRAPHY: SEIZAN HARU RŌSEZU 青山 不老春 (IN THE VERDANT MOUNTAINS SPRING GROWS NOT OLD)

Edo period (1615-1868), late 17th century

Kakejiku (hanging scroll), ink on paper in silk mounts; wood jiku (roller ends)

Signed Ōbaku Kōsen sho 黄檗高泉書 (Written by Ōbaku Kōsen) with seals at top right Rinzai seishū 臨済正宗 (The true Rinzai line) and at bottom left ichiji Kōsen 一字高泉 and Shōton no in 性潡之印

Overall: 214 x 34.8cm (84¼ x 13¾in.) Image: 129.5 x 27cm (51 x 10 5/8in.) (2).

Footnotes

With wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside Ōbaku Kōsen zenji sho goji chōjō 黄檗高泉禅師書五字長條 (A long scroll with a calligraphy in five characters by Zen Master Kōsen of Ōbaku), inscribed inside Shōwa kanoto-mi toshi shimotsuki shomikka Ōbaku Hōrin shujin Kyōan dai 昭和辛巳年霜月初三日 黄檗法林主人暁庵題 (Inscribed by Kyōan, master of the Zen community at Ōbaku on 3 November 1941) and Goun Seizan haru rōsezu 語云青山不老春 (The text reads 'In the verdant mountains spring grows not old') with seals Fukusan no in 福山之印 (Seal of Fukusan) and Kyōan 暁庵

For biographical information regarding Kōsen Shōton, please refer to lot 78.

Add caption

Brushing against flowers, fragrance permeates garments (弄花香滿衣) by KŌSEN Shōton 高泉性潡

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/54114/

Medium: ink on paper

Measurements:132.0 × 30.2 cm (image and sheet)

Place/s of Execution: Japan

Inscription: stamped in red ink u.r.: (artist’s seal)

inscribed in brush and ink c.l.: 曇華道人書

stamped in red ink l.l.: 黄檗性潡

stamped in red ink l.l.: 高泉

Accession Number: AS9-1992 DepartmentAsian Art

Credit Line: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Pacific Dunlop Limited, Fellow, 1992

This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Gordon Darling FoundationGallery location

Level 1, NGV International

Obaku Watch

Do you know there is a brand of watches named after Obaku? The business idea was inspired by the ideal of Obaku Zen and the watches reflect the simplistic Zen spirit. I bought one and it looks great. Check out here.

"ZEN PHILOSOPHY
Obaku takes its name from a branch of the Zen philosophy that was founded in 1661 at the foot of Mount Obaku.

Obaku Zen focuses on incorporating a total balance in body and mind. It is a way of being – simply a state of mind. Obaku Zen tries to see things without distortion and to concentrate on the essentials created by your own thoughts and nature. In Asia the Zen philosophy has molded a set of basic values that pay tribute to simplicity and the search for the essence in life. It values the truth and calmness.

The idea that there should be a sense of calmness and balance in the items we consume to adorn ourselves, is what gave birth to Obaku. In Asia, Zen philosophies have given rise to natural simplicity – in both thoughts and act.

The Obaku logo is inspired by the Zen calligraphic circle of life, also known as the Enso, which in Japanese means ‘circle’. It symbolizes strength, elegance, and is an expression of the moment. The calligraphic Enso refers to a moment when the mind is free to simply let the body and spirit create." quoted from https://www.obaku.com/obakustory

Article on Yinyuan's Seals

An article was published in a recent issue of Religions in China. Details are not known about the author and the article.

• 
  
• 佛心禅境 高僧隐元的墨迹用印
• Author / Creator:马旭明
• Summary:隐元印章的篆法雕刻、印文排列,完全是明末清初时期的风格气息,从印面看篆刻刀法工整,章法对称平直而合乎法度,印文多作小篆,或以小篆掺和大篆。一明末禅宗盛极一时,著作丰富,人才辈出。临济宗一脉以机锋凌厉而著称,黄檗宗出临济而发扬光大。隐元禅师（1592-1673）名隆琦,俗姓林,法号＂隐元＂,福建福清人,明末清初福建黄檗山万福寺高僧。 
• Subject:隐元 ; 黄檗山万福寺 ; 黄檗宗 ; 印文 ; 隆琦 ; 临济 ; 篆法 ; 佛心 ; 印面 ; 福建福清
• Is Part Of:中国宗教 - Religions In China, 2017, Issue 07, pp.72-73 
• 
  
• Source:维普数据 (Chongqing VIP Information Co.)

Duli Xingyi's 獨立性易 Calligraphy at Worcester Art Museum

I have been to Worcester Art Museum before but never noticed they have a piece of calligraphy by the Obaku monk Duli Xingyi (1596-1672). Duli was the contemporary of Yinyuan Longqi 隱元隆琦 but never received Yinyuan's Dharma Transmission. The painting was done by Unkoku Toeki 雲谷等益 (1591-1644).

http://www.worcesterart.org/collection/Japanese/1983.32.html

OBAKU DOKURYU (Calligrapher)

Japanese, 1596-1672

Painting traditionally attributed to Unkoku Toeki, 1591-1644

Daruma

Signature: Shoeki Dokuryu shi Haidai

Seals: (upper) Dokuryu, (lower) Tengai Ichikanjin

Alexander H. Bullock Fund

1983.32

Copyright Notice

This painting of Daruma (Bodhidharma), the Indian monk who traveled from India to China in the sixth century and founded Zen Buddhism, has a traditional attribution to Unkoku Toeki on the basis of interpolated seals. The calligraphy is of greater interest than the portrait, with which it shares a highly simplified style.

Dokuryu (Chinese: Tai Li) was a Chinese scholar and calligrapher who fled the Manchu conquest of his homeland and arrived in Japan in 1653. He took the name Dokuryu when he became a monk under Ingen, the Chinese founder of Mampukuji, the Obaku Zen temple near Kyoto. The Obaku sect was influential in the spread of contemporary Chinese culture in Japan during the Edo period (1600-1868).

Dokuryu's cursive script shares characteristics with his Chinese contemporaries in the late Ming period and has a freedom and rhythm entirely its own, distinct from the calligraphic style of other Obaku Zen monk-calligraphers. The fluid brushwork seen here, with its contrast of wet and dry, light and dark ink, captures the typically irreverent Zen spirit of the inscription, which calls the subject (Daruma) "the old clot."

Chinese-style Chanting of the Heart Sutra by Japanese Obaku monks

When Yinyuan went to Japan in 1654, he also brought the Chinese-style chanting method to Japan which has been preserved in Manpukuji today. We heard the chanting during the summer of 2017. Here is an example of chanting the Heart Sutra in Chinese by Japanese Obaku monks. The Chinese pronunciation can be clearly heard.



日本の般若心経（黄檗宗・唐音）を聴く

Chinese Podcast about Yinyuan and Tea: 小关说（13）茶道 之煎茶道东渡日本-煎茶道 黄檗宗 隐元 卖茶翁

I found an interesting Chinese podcast on everything about the art of tea. One special issue is about Sencha 煎茶道, Obaku  黄檗宗, Yinyuan 隐元, and Baisao 卖茶翁.

Obaku culture special exhibition at Chung Tai World Museum, Nantou, Taiwan 宗風法雨──中台世界博物館黃檗宗展覽企劃活動

Thanks for the comment of Shifu Jiandu, I learn that there is a special lecture series/exhibition on Obaku culture and tea ceremony demonstration held at Chung Tai World Museum from March 4 to April 9, 2017. Check out the following programs at: http://www.ctwm.org.tw/news_arti.html?id=20
http://www.ctwm.org.tw/news_arti.html?id=20

Recent Obaku exhibition at Komazawa University 駒澤大学墨蹟展「黄檗の伝来と江戸の禅宗」

駒澤大学墨蹟展「黄檗の伝来と江戸の禅宗」
Recently, there was an special exhibition of Obaku paintings at Komazawa University from Oct. 10-Nov. 19, 2016. I am glad Dokuan Genkō  獨庵玄光 （1630-1698） was included and his portrait appeared in the banner. He was Daozhe Chaoyuan's 道者超元 student but did not study with Yinyuan because Daozhe was forced to go back to China due to his different dharma transmission. I have a whole section on Genko and his thought in my book Leaving for the Rising Sun, pp. 191-197.
See the exhibition brochure here. See also the following article:

曹洞僧獨庵玄光の黄檗様頂相
大槻 幹郎


出版年 2001-02

掲載誌情報（URI形式） http://iss.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I000000100891-00
掲載誌名 黄檗文華 / 黄檗文化研究所 編
掲載号 122
掲載ページ 227～229

Prof. Xu Xingqing's 徐興慶 book on Duli Xingyi 獨立性易

Last October when I attended the conference on Obaku Culture in Taibei, the conference organizer Prof. Xu Xingqing 徐興慶 kindly presented his new book about Duli Xingyi 獨立性易 to me. Duli became Yinyuan's disciple in Japan but he never received dharma transmission. It is a great book and I am honored to receive a copy.

Chinese New Year Greeting Card from the Tokugawa Family

I am glad to receive a greeting card from Tokugawa Narimasa德川斉正 and Tokugawa Maki 德川真木, who are the fifteenth generation lineage holders of the Mito Tokugawa family. I met the couple in a conference on Obaku sect in Taibei in Dec. 2015. They are running a Tokugawa museum and are dedicated to the studies of Chinese monks in Japan. The picture in the card is a painting by Chinese monk Donggao Xinyue 東皋心越 about Mount Fuji 富士山 at Tokugawa Museum.

Gohyaku Rakan ji 五百羅漢寺：A Famous Obaku Temple in Edo (Tokyo)

In Sept. 29, 2015, Dr. Yang Kuei-hsiang accompanied me to Zojoji. During the visit, I suddenly remembered that there was a much famous Obaku temple during the Edo period called Gohyaku Rakan ji 五百羅漢寺, which was famous for the carving of five hundred Arhant statues by the monk and Buddha sculptor Shoon Genkei 松雲元慶，who was the founder of the temple and a disciple of Obaku monk Tetsugen Doko 鐵眼道光. The temple received patronage from the Shogun as well. The temple remained an Obaku temple in the Edo period and was one of the Meisho (famous attraction) in Edo until it was destroyed in modern times and was moved to the current location during the early Meiji period. The temple is now a Pure Land Temple and is flourishing with generous support from local communities. It has quite a collection of things of early Obaku abbots and portraits of Yinyuan in display.

I don't know if there is any Japanese study on this temple. But there was a study in English which I quoted in my book Leaving for the Rising Sun:

Screech, Timon. “The Strangest Place in Edo: The Temple of the Five Hundred Arhats,” Monumenta Nipponica, 48.4 (Winter, 1993): 407–428.

An Interesting Conference on Obaku in Taibei, Oct. 2-3, 2015

「黃檗宗與十七世紀的東亞文化交流」國際學術研討會
會議議程表（草案）
日 期：2015年10月 2日 （五） ～ 10月 3日 （六）
地 點：臺灣大學文學院會議室
主辦單位：臺灣大學文學院日本研究中心、中央研究院「共相與殊相：十八
 世紀前東亞文化意象的匯聚、流傳與變異」研究計畫、中央研究
 院人文社會科學研究中心、臺灣大學「跨國界的文化傳釋」研究
 計畫
協辦單位：科技部、臺灣大學文學院、臺灣大學日文系
10月 2日 （星期五）
時間
09:00~09:30 報 到
09:30~09:45 開幕典禮 陳弱水教授致詞(臺灣大學文學院院長)
09:45~10:15 新書發表會
主講人：徐興慶（臺灣大學日文系教授／日本研究中心主任）
主持人：項 潔（臺灣大學資工系教授／出版中心主任）
題 目：《天閒老人 獨立性易全集》出版的意義
10:15~10:30 Tea Time
10:30~11:20 專題演講1
主講人：楊儒賓（清華大學中文系講座教授）
主持人：廖肇亨（中央研究院中國文哲研究所研究員）
題 目：東亞近世儒學的相偶論論述
11:20~12:10 專題演講2
主講人：德川眞木（日本德川博物館館長）
主持人：徐興慶（臺灣大學日文系教授／日本研究中心主任）
題 目：德川博物館典藏的朱舜水、獨立禪師、心越禪師未刊史料
12:10~14:15 Lunch
Time
黃檗宗暨獨立性易書畫展
解說人：計文淵（餘姚書畫院副院長）
14:15~15:00 論文發表1
發表人：計文淵（餘姚書畫院副院長）
主持兼評論人：楊儒賓（清華大學中文系講座教授）
題 目：黃檗獨立書蹟考論
15:00~15:45 論文發表2
發表人：吳 疆（美國亞利桑那大學教授）
主持兼評論人：劉序楓（中央研究院人文社會科學研究中心副研究員）
題 目：黃檗僧東渡斷絕考─十八世紀江戶幕府的唐僧招請─
15:45~16:30 論文發表3
發表人：若木太一（長崎大學名譽教授／長崎純心大學兼任講師）
主持兼評論人：陳玉女（成功大學歷史系教授／系主任）
題 目：隠元禅師と日中雅交ー幻寄山房の人々ー
16:30~16:45 Tea Time
16:45~17:30 論文發表4
發表人：木津祐子（京都大學大學院文學研究科教授）
主持兼評論人：朱秋而（臺灣大學日文系教授）
題 目：クレオール文学の担い手としての唐通事ー（１）長崎諸寺をどう語るかー
17:30~18:15 論文發表5
發表人：奧村佳代子（關西大學外國語學科教授）
主持兼評論人：曹景惠（臺灣大學日文系副教授）
題 目：唐通事の白話文ー日本語作品の翻訳を中心にー
10月 3日 （星期六）
09:00~09:30 報 到
09:30~10:20 專題演講3
主講人：野口善敬（花園大學文學部佛教學科教授／國際禪學研究所所長）
主持人：金培懿（臺灣師範大學國文系教授）
題 目：禅門の法式における黄檗禅の影響
10:20~10:50 Tea Time
10:50~11:40 專題演講4
主講人：錦織亮介（日本福岡市美術館館長）
主持人：陳階晉（故宮博物院書畫處副研究員）
題 目：黃檗宗の肖像画と中国民間肖像画
11:40~13:15 Lunch Time
13:15~14:00 論文發表6
發表人：廖肇亨（中央研究院中國文哲研究所研究員）
主持兼評論人：范淑文（臺灣大學日文系教授／系主任）
題 目：從西湖到富士山─獨立性易地景書寫文化義蘊探析─
14:00~14:45 論文發表7
發表人：韓東育（東北師範大學教授／副校長）
主持兼評論人：甘懷真（臺灣大學歷史系教授）
題 目：明清鼎革之際東亞「華夷觀」的演變
14:45~15:30 論文發表8
發表人：田渕義樹 （日本福岡柳川古文書館學藝員／副館長）
主持兼評論人：辻本雅史（臺灣大學日文系教授）
題 目：独立─安東省菴と朱舜水をつないだ黄檗僧
15:30~15:45 Tea Time
15:45~16:30 論文發表9
發表人：松岡智訓（日本山口岩國徵古館學藝員）
主持兼評論人：藤井倫明（臺灣師範大學東亞系副教授）
題 目：岩国と独立
16:30~17:15 論文發表10
發表人：錢 明（中國浙江國際陽明學研究中心研究員／主任）
主持兼評論人：藍弘岳（交通大學社會與文化研究所副教授）
題 目：杭州戴笠在浙遺蹤考
17:15~18:00 論文發表11
發表人：李美燕（屏東大學中文系教授）
主持兼評論人：計文淵（餘姚書畫院副院長）
題 目：旅日禪僧東臯心越禪藝雙修的藝術精神
18:00~18:15 閉幕典禮 徐興慶（臺灣大學教授／日本研究中心主任）

Portrait of Buddhist Monks of the Obaku Sect at Cleveland Art Museum

Portrait of Yueshan Daozong

Recently, Prof. Susan Huang at Rice University pointed to me an interesting group portrait of Obaku patriarchs in the collection of Cleveland Art Museum. I immediately examined the image posted on their website and ordered a print for study. According to the website, this group portrait was acquired in 2003. The inscription has the painter's name Nanyue Yueshan 南嶽悅山  and two seals: Yueshan 悅山 and Daozong 道宗. It is clear that this work was painted by the Chinese monk Yueshan Daozong (1629-1709), who was the seventh abbot of Manpukuji and a dharma heir of Mu'an Xingtao 木庵性瑫. He was known as a good calligrapher. But it is rarely known that he was good at portrait painting as well. It is still not clear who were these monks, Chinese, Japanese, or mixed? I have to wait until I receive a better image of this interesting picture. His name was mentioned in my book but only in a passing way.

Portrait of Buddhist Monks of Obaku Sect

Portrait of Buddhist Monks of Obaku Sect from Cleveland Art Museum

blurb and backcover of Leaving for the Rising Sun

I am glad that the backcover is ready for the paperback edition. Thank Prof. Lynn Struve for her kind words.

Back cover

“In this wonderfully informative study, Jiang Wu extends the significance of his previous, groundbreaking book, Enlightenment in Dispute, from China into the greater East Asian sphere of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Through the career and legacy of the eminent monk Yinyuan Longqi (1592–1673) in China and Japan, Wu penetrates the crisis of cultural legitimacy that beset East Asia, particularly Tokugawa Japan, after the demise of the Ming dynasty.”—Lynn Struve, Professor of Chinese History, Indiana University, Bloomington

In 1654 Zen Master Yinyuan traveled from China to Japan. Seven years later his monastery, Manpukuji, was built and he had founded a new tradition, called Obaku.  In this sequel to his 2008 book, Enlightenment in Dispute, Jiang Wu tells the story of the tremendous obstacles faced by Yinyuan, drawing parallels between his experiences and the broader political and cultural context in which he lived.

Yinyuan claimed to have inherited the “Authentic Transmission of the Linji Sect.” After arriving in Japan, he was able to persuade the Shogun to build a new Ming-style monastery for the establishment of his Obaku school. His arrival in Japan coincided with a series of historical developments, including the Ming-Qing transition, the consolidation of early Tokugawa power, the growth of Nagasaki trade, and rising Japanese interests in Chinese learning and artistic pursuits. While Yinyuan’s travel is known in scholarly circles, the significance of his journey within East Asian history has not been fully explored. Leaving for the Rising Sun provides a unique opportunity to reexamine the crisis in the continent and responses from other parts of East Asia. Using Yinyuan’s story as a bridge between China and Japan, Wu demonstrates that the monk’s significance is far greater than the temporary success of a religious sect. Rather, Yinyuan imported to Japan a new discourse of authenticity that gave rise to indigenous movements that challenged, and led to the eventual breakup of, a China-centered world order.

Jiang Wu is an associate professor in Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona. His research interests include Chinese Buddhism, especially Chan/Zen Buddhism and the Chinese Buddhist canon, Sino-Japanese Buddhist exchanges, and the application of spatial analysis tools in the study of religion and culture. He is the author of Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-century China (2008).

Yinyuan's Family and Relatives

Yinyuan's nephew Lin Rumo's epitaph, photo by Jiang Wu

Yinyuan became an eminent monk and a poet who wrote more than five-thousand poems in his lifetime. But in total, he only had one year of elementary schooling. This must have something to do we his family tradition.

According newly discovered sources, his family can be traced to Lin Mo 林谋 in the late Tang who came to Fujian with the Min ruler Wang Shenzhi 王审知. Yinyuan's lineage derived from Lin Guan 林关 who moved to Fuqing during the early Ming. Yinyuan's secular name is Lin Zengbing 林曾昺 and his courtesy name is Zhifang 子房, as recorded in his chronological biography. Rarely known is that he has at least two brothers, one of them called Lin Zichun 林子春, who also became a monk. I gleaned a few fragments of his relatives from his poems: this brother Lin Zichun could write poems as well. He had a son called Lin Rumo 林汝默 (dharma name Daofu 道甫). Yinyuan had quite a few poems written for him because he also came to Nagasaki for living. Apparently, he was not prosperous without permit to stay in Japan and wanted Yinyuan's help. But Yinyuan refused and urged him to go back to China. On his way back to China in 1675, he died on the boat and was buried in Sofukuji cemetery. I didn't find his tomb when I visited Nagasaki in the summer of 2013. But in Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, I found the rubbing of his epitaph as shown in the photo. He was indeed buried in Nagasaki.

Yinyuan's poems also reveal that he had another nephew called Lin Fuzhong 林孚中, who also had trouble and sought assistance from Yinyuan. This nephew became a monk as well. A poem mentioned that Yinyuan has a uncle called Lin Guchu 林泒初. Yinyuan's mother was surnamed Gong 龚 and there were a few people named Gong mentioned in his record as well. I gave a brief account of Yinyuan's family background in Chapter 1 of my book Leaving for the Rising Sun. But more needs to be done.

Who is Yinyuan?

Who is Yinyuan? This is a question I always asked myself during the long period of research for this book. If you look up in a standard encyclopedia such as Wikipedia, it will give us a standard introduction to him.

"Ingen Ryūki (traditional Chinese: 隱元隆琦; pinyin: Yǐnyuán Lóngqí; Japanese: 隠元隆琦) (1592—1673) was a Chinese Linji Chán Buddhist monk, poet, and calligrapher.[1] He is most known for founding the Ōbaku school of Zen Buddhism in Japan. Ingen's name in Chinese was Yinyuan Longqi."

See a full entry of Yinyuan in Wikipedia

This introduction is rather lifeless. In fact, there are much more to be said about him. His chronological biography details his yearly activities and his complete collection in twelve volumes tell us much about who he was. Personally I feel he is an extraordinary man with many talents. One purpose of this book is to reveal his personality and answer the question who he is. The following picture, copied from Wikipedia, will be used for designing the cover for my book, Leaving for the Sun.