Hakuin Ekaku
Darumano date

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Hakuin Ekaku
Japan, 1685-1768
Title: Daruma
Date Made: no date
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions: Image: 16 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (41.91 x 26.67 cm); Mount width: 14 3/4 in. (37.47 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the Robert and Helen Kuhn Family Trust
Accession Number: M.2012.106.9
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Japanese Art
Curatorial Notes: Hakuin, often called the most influential Zen monk of the last 500 years, had a great talent for communicating Zen teachings to a wide audience, mostly through his writings and lectures. He added painting as a teaching vehicle starting from around age sixty until his death at age eighty-four. One of his favorite subjects was Daruma, the first patriarch of Zen, called Bodhidharma in Sanskrit. The riveting eyes of Hakuin’s Daruma pierce the heart of the Zen follower, exhorting one to “Point directly at the human heart; See your own nature and become Buddha!” Hakuin held a virulent hatred for those who practiced false Zen, who took in students and preached without truly reaching enlightenment first. The stern face of the patriarch of Zen holds adherents to the truth. Hakuin’s calligraphy reads: “His face is flushed with color. / The crimson leaves fall with the [first] frost.”

Related Unframed

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Hakuin Ekaku
Japan, 1685-1768
Title: Daruma
Date Made: no date
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions: Image: 16 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (41.91 x 26.67 cm); Mount width: 14 3/4 in. (37.47 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of the Robert and Helen Kuhn Family Trust
Accession Number: M.2012.106.9
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Japanese Art
Curatorial Notes: Hakuin, often called the most influential Zen monk of the last 500 years, had a great talent for communicating Zen teachings to a wide audience, mostly through his writings and lectures. He added painting as a teaching vehicle starting from around age sixty until his death at age eighty-four. One of his favorite subjects was Daruma, the first patriarch of Zen, called Bodhidharma in Sanskrit. The riveting eyes of Hakuin’s Daruma pierce the heart of the Zen follower, exhorting one to “Point directly at the human heart; See your own nature and become Buddha!” Hakuin held a virulent hatred for those who practiced false Zen, who took in students and preached without truly reaching enlightenment first. The stern face of the patriarch of Zen holds adherents to the truth. Hakuin’s calligraphy reads: “His face is flushed with color. / The crimson leaves fall with the [first] frost.”