Tea Cup

While the painted hanging scroll is the most commonly encountered format for Zen calligraphy, masters of this sect of Buddhism occasionally brushed their thoughts on ordinary objects including tea bowls and cups. Each of these five bowls was inscribed by the modern Zen master Bunsho Gitei and each bears a different text. Among these is a poignant memorial to Bunsho’s earliest Zen teacher, the monk Nantembo (1839–1925): “Nantembo’s dream falls onto the canopy of the temple like rain.”  

The choice of a tea bowl as the site of a Buddhist text is not unexpected. The Japanese Tea Ceremony and Zen have a shared history where leading temple abbots have been the spiritual advisors of prominent tea ceremony masters and also devotees of the Tea Ceremony itself. A less formal form of tea drinking was also popular among Zen monks, when masters and pupils gathered, and during meetings with lay brethren. Aside from their social importance, such informal events were often occasions of religious instruction, and thus were imbued with an aura of contemplation.