AH 0102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Song Dynasty, Tai Chi, Muromachi Period
Notes for Day 12: March 9, 2018
Zen Buddhism and the Arts:
Goals for today:
• Understand the main principle and practices of Chan/zen Buddhism
• Learn about iconography, style and materials of Chan painting in Southern Song China
and Zen in Muromachi period
Small group discussion on Chan Painting and Chan:
• Ideas or words with Zen: tranquil, calm, reflection, meditation (is stressed by Zen
because it allows one to reach enlightenment), a still pond, yoga, focus, balance, relaxed
meditation postures, dry landscape gardens, nature in general (including its sounds),
Buddha (school of zen; enlightenment, spiritual training, energy; buddhism is called the
middle way: not complete deprivation or complete materialism; goal is to escape
suffering and reach enlightenment and nirvana)
• Material objects: statues of the Buddha, earth, air, fire, and water, yin and yang, coyfish,
calm paintings, tea, lotus, sand, temples, dry landscape gardens, monks’ robes
• Pop culture: tai chi, spa music, hot rocks, Daoism associated with Buddhism, Avatar the
last Airbender, not that important in China anymore, but is prominent in Japan, zen is a
trendy topic in the United States and is no longer a religious practice, it is expressed
though mainly in paintings and in the arts
Comparison to two zen paintings:
• Contrast in brush strokes between the monks and surrounding nature: the left painting
shows high contrast between the jagged edges of the trees and the smooth and flowing
strokes of the monk; the right painting shows little contrast in the brush strokes between
the monk and the surrounding nature (showing synergy)
• The monk is the main center point of each painting
• The left color shows contrast in the color of the robe of the monk versus the gloomy
landscape surrounding the monk
• On the right painting, the monk is achieving enlightenment by chopping of wood (or
other mundane tasks) or bamboo because it causes one to focus on one central thing or
practice
• Both painting were created by the same artist (detailed meticulous style with ink and
color on silk versus spontaneous and simple with ink on paper)
• Chinese paintings from the Southern Song dynasty between 1140 and 1210
• He was a court painter and then he retreated to a monastery where he started painting
literati art similar to the right painting
• Most of his works are surviving in Japan rather than china because they were brought
over to Japan by Japanese monks
Album leaf painting by Liang Khan:
• The painting contains a lot of empty space but the images in the painting have high
representation in terms of Zen and Liang Khan’s exile
• The subject of the painting is a famous poet who is in the presence of shifting nature
What is zen:
• A special transmission beyond the scriptures, not relying on words or letters, pointing
directly to the mind, seeing one’s own nature and becoming a Buddha”—Bodhidharma
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Goals for today: understand the main principle and practices of chan/zen buddhism, learn about iconography, style and materials of chan painting in southern song china and zen in muromachi period. Small group discussion on chan painting and chan: Ideas or words with zen: tranquil, calm, reflection, meditation (is stressed by zen because it allows one to reach enlightenment), a still pond, yoga, focus, balance, relaxed meditation postures, dry landscape gardens, nature in general (including its sounds), Gardens were part of zen; sesshu toyo was a practicing monk and he gifted some of his works to his disciple. The muqi painting: white-robed guanyin triptych, the bodhisattva is surrounded by a crane and a gibbon, there is little flow as a triptych because of the positioning of the characters in each. Zen is not a style, it is a religious thought that is encompassed in.