The Ark

A thousand years after Buddhism arose in 550 BC, Japanese Zen developed zenga - ink painting - which included calligraphy as a way of communicating its message.

Transcript

Rachael Kohn: It's possibly the only religious tradition in which painting is a core spiritual practice, and a means of instruction.

Hello, I'm Rachael Kohn and this is The Ark on ABC Radio National.

Zenga is the art of Zen Buddhism, a tradition that began in 6th century China and reached its pinnacle in 18th century Japan. Using black ink on paper or silk, Zen monks and laymen depicted Buddhist insight.

A major collection of zenga by some of the most illustrious Zen masters and laymen is at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. A former Zen priest in the Soto tradition, Professor John Stevens, has lived and taught in Japan for over 30 years.

John Stevens: Zen is the meditation tradition of Buddhism, so it really began with Buddha himself. And what he saw, what enlightened him, was brought to China by Bodhidharma, (whether or not it was a person like that, there was someone similar to him.) The Zen mind has been transmitted from Buddha to Bodhidharma and so to Japan, and not to the West. So the first person who symbolises Zen tradition was Bodhidharma.

Rachael Kohn: Ch'an, which is the original form of Zen, is associated with a certain kind of Buddhist practice, isn't it?

John Stevens: The meditation techniques in that kind of Buddhist practice, but the most important thing is seeing into your nature. And that's what dharma represents. And all of us have that possibility, male or female, old or young. The real meaning of Buddhism is seeing things the way they really are, and that's what Buddhists are, and that's what Bodhidharma saw, and that's what all these masters, male and female again, try to represent in their art.

Rachael Kohn: How do they do that? What are the qualities of Zen mind which are depicted in Zen art, which is also called zenga?

John Stevens: Almost without exception, Zen masters do not start painting until they're 50, 60, or 70 years of age, and they've been training for a long time. And they realise that sooner or later they'll be checking out, they'll be passing on, and the best way to manifest their teachings is through the vehicle of paint and ink and paper.

I'm convinced that this zenga was meant for the entire world, not just for Japanese people or Chinese people. There is no east and west any more. You can go anywhere in the world, and study Zen meditation. The old barriers have broken down in the 21st century, and now we're in Sydney and we have access to these wonderful paintings that were created in little tiny villages in Japan 200 years ago, or 100 years ago, but still we can access them, in the modern context.

Rachael Kohn: Is there a difference in the way Chinese painted from the way Japanese painted?

John Stevens: Very much so. The Chinese paintings tend to be realistic and colourful, and that's fine, that was in the context of their culture. The Japanese was more abbreviated and sharper focused, I think, and much more of a teaching vehicle than in China where it was auxiliary art. It wasn't central to the tradition, whereas in Japan, Zen painting and calligraphy became the main vehicle for teaching. Teaching the individual disciples at that time, and also teaching in the future. So 100 years, 200 years, the message remains the same. And they can be displayed in any part of the world.

Rachael Kohn: When you say 'teaching' monks, is that through the painting itself or is it through the calligraphy? What role do these two play in a painting?

John Stevens: Well the first known painting was likely an enso - a circle - and a monk asked his master, 'I need something concrete, I need to see your mind', and he drew a circle. In that sense, many of the Zen circles we see today have a little hint; the inscription might say 'nothing liking, nothing to excess, what is this? My heart is like the August moon', and it's to be used as a vehicle of concentration.

And in my particular case, I often have the struggle - first of all you have to understand the painting, try to read the inscription, and when I understand what a painting really means, I understand in my belly, not in my head. And often I have this realisation 'Ah, that's what it means, really means, physically'. Many other people have the same experience.

Dr Gitter for example, who's the collector, is a famous physician, and from a Jewish background, but he somehow related religiously, spiritually, to the paintings right from the start, even though he couldn't express it. And I still can't explain why in many cases these paintings appeal to me. But the Zen paintings are teachers and friends.

Rachael Kohn: When I think of teachers and friends, I think of that absolutely beautiful painting by Hakuin Ekaku which depicts two blind men crossing a log bridge - poignant, moving, spare.

John Stevens: It's exquisitely beautiful and the colours are radiant. And it was painted 200 years ago. And the message is when we go through this world we should be like a blind man on a bridge and step by step being careful, and also going from this shore to the other shore. And often in Buddhism the image is a boat, but in this case it's a long bridge. And I've seen people stop in front of that painting for 15 minutes when it's been on display, just walking from one gallery to the next, and they saw that painting and stood in front of it, and these were just ordinary Americans at that time. Something in it's radiant, it still shines, it's amazing.

And the mounting of the painting is also very simple if you notice, it's a blue background, and it's a wonderful painting, it's a treasure for all of us, still. And the message is still strong as it was in Hakuin's time, hasn't changed at all, but it can teach us and inspire us.

Rachael Kohn: Tell me about Hakuin, and the method he employed, because it's not always very careful and very pretty?

John Stevens: No, certainly not. And paper was very precious in those days, so he often did rough sketches and then painted over then. And the ink he used was not thrown out, every day it was added to, and other professional artists, artists who were trying to paint something beautiful, would use the best brushes and the finest inks, but he would paint on anything. And he didn't start painting till he was 60, from 60 to 80, and no matter what it was, what the request was, he would do a painting for his parishioners or for high and low.

He had pleasure girls from the red light district that were his students, and he did paintings for them. Not only monks, lay people, farmers, at least 80 or 90 close disciples that he transmitted his teachings to. And to the paintings now we have access again today.

Rachael Kohn: We also have here in this collection an example of an ordination certificate which depicts his calligraphy.

John Stevens: Yes. So he painted a dragon and it says - This is from Mr So-and-so, who was a farmer, and he solved 'the sound of one hand clapping' and I presented this to him as a certificate of his awakening - which is very nice, because he was a lay person, ordinary farm folk probably. But one of the messages of Zen is it's open to everyone, high and low, and your intensity, your Zen mind is what is most important. And the koans, the puzzles, are just things, a device, a tool for you to work with that're very nice, very bright and luminous. The works here are very clear and bright, still.

Rachael Kohn: There's also one character by Gesshu Soko, which says or means revealed. That too is a famous koan.

John Stevens: Yes, the original meaning is 'dewdrop', and you know in the morning when you see one dewdrop reflects the other dewdrops and the universal clear and precise, and vibrating a bit, that kind of thing. So, 'revealed'.

And if you see that, what does 'revealed' mean? It means something to the person, the Zen student or the person who's looking on at the calligraphy. So again often, you'll understand the meaning maybe years after you see the painting, something happens in your life. We all have koans, we all have puzzles that we deal with, and then ah! that's what 'revealed' means. And that's the satori, kensho in Japanese, waking up, seeing your nature.

So the message is seeing your nature and becoming Buddha, so no-one else can do that for you. We can help you, you can learn a lot from the paintings, and instruction, reading books, listen to the radio, but the waking comes from within and that's the key to Zen, and the Zen tradition and the Zen painting.

Rachael Kohn: And that seems to be the key to this painting, to zenga. It's not just something which is beautiful, that is decorative, it actually functions, it works on you, it can stimulate enlightenment.

John Stevens: That's it, that's perfect. So they are meant to inspire and instruct, and that's why they were created. And Hakuin probably did 20,000, 30,000 paintings. Tesshu did 1-million, to raise money for worthy causes, to endow temples and if anyone came with a request for calligraphy, he would do it, he would paint whatever you asked for. It was a way to inspire and instruct people, and people all over the world again. Tesshu's case was modern, 19th century persons, so I'm sure that he felt that these works would be exported everywhere, and it's not lewd, like much Asian art, and it's not stolen, it was meant to be transmitted and sent everywhere.

Rachael Kohn: In contrast to those paintings, which kind of depict concepts, there's also the prevalence of Bodhidharma, he's kind of - or Daruma in Japanese - he's sort of an iconic figure.

John Stevens: Well when you start to do Zen painting - a Zen master - the first thing usually they do are portraits of Daruma. Actually it's a self-portrait, it's a painting of the universe, and this is how I see Daruma, and they're all very individualistic. You can tell it's a Daruma, but it's the person expressing what's in their heart as Daruma. So you never get tired of looking at these different - Fugai, for example, is the earliest person in this exhibition, and his Darumas are very finely painted. A reclusive figure, he lives in a cave. Hakuin is very, very expansive with his Darumas, he's a big, big person, and we have Nantembo, very funny, his Darumas. So they're all very different, but they're representing again, the idea of looking to your nature and become Buddha.

Rachael Kohn: Some of these paintings are amusing, they're funny, they're full of joy, and I think of Hotei.

John Stevens: Yes. Hotei with a - he's often called the Laughing Buddha, or the Happy Buddha, and whereas Daruma is insight, and Kannon is the goddess of compassion, she's female, and Hotei would be liberation, the joy of enlightenment.

Often the paintings will make you smile. Some of them are so intense they make you cry. We have the Happy Hotei and the Frowning Hotei, that's our life. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and we have to deal with both aspects, and it's very important that every great Zen Master, a male or female, would identify with both male and female elements in their psyche. And so Hakuin painted these wonderful masculine, burly Darumas, and he could also paint these lovely Kannons. So there is that wonderful balance, male and female.

Also in Buddhism, it's very important that we treat each other equally, means being equal, male and female as well. This is 200 years ago, 300 years ago - there was the idea of male and female, old and young. So you need Daruma and Kannon, the balance between those two.

Rachael Kohn: What of this painting today, is it much done?

John Stevens: Yes, people try, and my feeling is the next great Zen artist will be in the West, that there's no east and west any more. We'll have someone I hope, will burst on the scene, or actually we'll probably find out about him or her after they've gone, and wow, these paintings are wonderful.

And Tesshu for example painted Zen steamboats, some modern Zen artists, Zen bicycles. There's no reason you can't paint anything. Anything can be a subject for Zen art, anything in our modern world, whereas in classical Asian art, the landscapes or Buddhas or Bodhisattvas and things like that, but for Zen painting there's no limit. So I'm looking forward to - Japan is very conservative and in many ways it's lost its original inspiration, so now that Zen is worldwide, I think we'll see some great Zen art, emerging from different parts of the world, and that's fine.

Rachael Kohn: In fact this collection is a Western collection, and it almost disappeared in a hurricane.

John Stevens: Yes. Katrina. Dr Gitter is from New Orleans, and he had to leave suddenly, and then there was the total devastation of Katrina, and he could not go back for six weeks, and in the six weeks time, we did not know if the collection survived.

I was confident however; Zen art is supposed to protect you, and act as a talisman, and the water stopped inches from the Treasure House, where we had the paintings, and if they had been destroyed there would be no exhibition, everything would have been lost. Only four, five - one of the paintings we were going to include, this is included in the catalogue, was lost. But I think it's miraculous it's survived every man made and natural disaster in Japan, in the United States and all over the world, and they still remain intact, and they're here to again inspire us.

Rachael Kohn: I'm sure many people will come here and be inspired.

John Stevens: I certainly hope so, and that's the purpose. There are some captions in the catalogue, and some descriptions, but the most important thing is what you, the individual, feels when they encounter the paintings, and I encourage everyone to come down to the museum, and have a look for yourself. That was the first teaching in Buddhism, 'look for yourself, experience for yourself, don't listen to me, you have to understand it first-hand.' That's the Zen experience too, look inside yourself.

Rachael Kohn: And a good place to do that is at the Zen Mind Zen Brush exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until August 13th.

That was Professor John Stevens of Tohoko Fukushi University in Japan.

On The Ark next week we'll be resurrecting the Enlightenment. Was it as anti-religion as its critics say it was? That's on The Ark, with me, Rachael Kohn.

Guests

John Stevens
is Professor of Buddhist Studies at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan. He is the author of Zenga: Brushstrokes of Enlightenment.

Further Information

Zen Mind, Zen Brush
Zen Mind, Zen Brush - Japanese ink painting from the Gitter-Yelen Collection is an exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW from 17 June to 13 August 2006.