Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1769), a Zen priest and prolific amateur painter, is credited with reviving the Rinzai sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism after a long period of decline. Hakuin focused on meditation and paradoxical anecdotes or dialogues called kōan, the contemplation of which may lead to spontaneous awakening. Hakuin’s bold, sometimes humorous, and altogether unprecedented paintings were an important vehicle for his teachings, which spread far beyond the monasteries and captured the minds of laypeople.
This painting represents one of Hakuin’s unique and humorous takes on the popular Buddhist figure called Budai, an eccentric wandering monk who is nearly always shown carrying a large cloth sack that holds all of his belongings. Here, he holds the big cloth sack open for us, begging us to peer inside. An inscription, brushed sideways on the sack, reads, “Life and happiness are as endless as the sea.”
Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.
