AH 0102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Song Dynasty, Tai Chi, Muromachi Period

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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
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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.

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