"What is the sound of one hand clapping?" asked Hakuin Ekaku in 18th century Japan, introducing one of the most well-known koans of Zen Buddhism. Now featured in the Japanese galleries at the MFA is an exhibition of 35 hanging scrolls and screens by Hakuin, as well as his disciples and contemporaries. These ink paintings and calligraphy works all come from the Gitter-Yelen collection in New Orleans, a temporary show to fill a hole in the MFA's Japanese collection, which, though impressive, overlooks the Edo Period (1615-1868). It was at this time that Zen priests, monks and poets found ink painting and calligraphy to be an accessible practice of Buddhism. The exhibition is aptly titled "Zen Mind/Zen Brush," demonstrating the way art became a Zen practice, like meditation, and how each piece is imbued with conceptual and philosophical principles.
Most pieces are by Hakuin himself, and seeing one after the other gives the viewer a sense of his personality and individual style. As a leader in the revival of the Rinzai school of Buddhism, he believed that sudden enlightenment was possible and was interested in making Zen accessible to anyone, not only those who commit their lives to Zen practice. One way he promoted these ideas was through the koan, a kind of riddle without a clear answer that, if answered without over-thinking, could facilitate enlightenment. Hakuin's ink paintings are like koans; they are matter-of-fact and bold, affecting the viewer with a sudden sense of intimacy and understanding.
Hakuin's "Bodhidharma (Daruma)" from the 18th century, portrays the Indian Buddhist monk who brought Chan Buddhism, the origins of Zen, to China in 520 C.E. as a grumpy, old face. Drawn in simple strokes, he is a mess of eyebrows and beard, with a crooked nose and round forehead. With one curving line, his body is an undulating mass of robes, a rounded figure that creates a comfortable balance between emptiness and form out of simple, spontaneous strokes. Above his head, quick, broad strokes of calligraphy read, "Directly pointing at the mind of man,/ Seeing into his own nature,/ Man attains Buddhahood."
The line is a condensed explanation of Hakuin's Zen practice, and his paintings as well. Bodhidharma's bulging eyes glare up at the words, and Hakuin's marks glare back at the viewer, imposing a direct message of loose, individualized expression. His calligraphy is not the formal, stiff line of traditionalists, but full of personality and character, like the face below it.
There are other personalities in the exhibition as well. One in particular, Nakahara Nantenbo, is a more fiery spirit, and where the brush hits the paper, an explosion of ink attacks the serene white space. As a Rinzai master, he was notorious for his intensity, and his name, Nantenbo, comes from the staff made of nandina wood he used to discipline his students. One particular painting, "Nanten's Staff" (early 20th century), is a vertical line of deep black cutting through the long scroll. It is as if his staff struck the paper itself, beating it into form. In all of his works, even the calligraphy, there is no indication of the brush's softness, but instead a hard force, starting and ending with splashing abruptness.
Other works by Hakuin's disciples reveal their personalities and differences, which can particularly be seen in their individual enso paintings. Enso, meaning "circle" in Japanese, is painted in one stroke and can be either closed or open. In Zen calligraphy, it is a symbol for enlightenment, and is sometimes practiced daily, meant to reveal the nature of the artist and his understanding of Zen. Torei Enji, one of Hakuin's primary disciples, painted his enso with a bold, thick line that bleeds into the surrounding white, while Ashikaga Shizan's, painted in 1968 just before he died at age 99, is clean and almost perfectly round.
Both are closed, but there is a noticeable beginning and end point. Upon understanding the language of these strokes and their conceptual significance, abstract works like Sohan Genpo's "Wall-Gazing Bodhidharma" (early 20th century), a simple, spiraling stroke, gain meaning. The closed form is Bodhidharma meditating, a solid figure made up of a single, empty line.
"Zen Mind/Zen Brush" displays a collection of ink paintings that together demonstrate the way mindful, artistic practice can remain a meaningful expression centuries after its creation. It begs visitors to look at a practice that is non-Western, to open their minds to a visual language without over-thinking its significance.
