Single Line Calligraphy: The Great Teacher and Grand Patriarch Daruma

The Chinese-born monk Mokuan was the second patriarch of the Obaku Zen sect in Japan. Oabku Zen was founded in Japan by immigrant Chinese Rinzai Chan (in Japanese, Zen) monks, who fled their religious center at Mt. Huangbo (in Japanese, Obaku) at the fall of the Ming dynasty in China. Mokuan arrived in Japan in 1656, helped found Mampukuji, the chief Obaku temple complex located in Kyoto, and in 1664 he became the second abbot of the temple complex. Like many of the most prominent monks of the Obaku sect, Mokuan was a skilled calligrapher, who followed the fluent style of major Yuan and Ming literati and scholar-officials. Because of the high quality of his writing, Mokuan became known in Japan as one of the Three Writing Brushes of Obaku.

This scroll of six large Chinese characters is brushed in the popular Zen single-line format and reads: The Great Teacher and Grand Patriarch Daruma. Daruma was the founder of Zen, and thus a central iconic figure. Usually Daruma is portrayed as a meditative figure, but here Mokuan uses the potency of Daruma’s name to evoke his presence.