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Lot Essay
Chijue Daochong (Chizetsu Dochu, 1169-1250) was one of the most eminent Chan Buddhist masters during the Song dynasty. He was a child prodigy, and yet failed to pass his civil service examinations after several attempts. He entered temple life in Sichuan, where he studied the sutra intensely to seek enlightenment. After wandering from temple to temple learning from various masters, he eventually became abbot of several important temples in southern China, including Lingyin Temple near Hangzhou. In his late years, the obligation for him to lecture and teach was so great that he often expressed a longing to retreat and retire to the mountains. An example of his extant calligraphy includes an inscription on Shakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
In the late Song dynasty, a monk mending his ragged robe in early morning light gained popularity as a subject in spiritual painting, conventionally paired with the depiction of a monk reading sutras by moonlight, as seen in examples at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The complementary imageries, perhaps displayed in the monks’ living quarters, remind the viewer of the important aspects of monastic life: it is through performing both physical and intellectual labor in one’s everyday activities that enlightenment could be attained.
Chijue Daochong’s calligraphic inscription reads:
Mending rips and tears,
Fixing loose threads,
The robe is so ragged, one does not know where to begin.
The needle appears golden in rays of the setting sun,
Yet one must still squint.
Old Monk Chijue, at the Renowned Taibai Mountain
The site of the "Renowned Taibai Mountain", where Tiantong Temple was located, would correspond to a date no later than 1244-45, when Chijue Daochong was summoned to Lingyin Temple. The Cleveland Shakyamuni scroll was also inscribed at Tiantong Temple, and is dated 1244.
The identity of the monk-artist who painted the Utterberg scroll is unknown, although the writing of a Japanese collector on the wood boxes indicates that the painting was previously attributed to the monk-artist Fachang, also known as Muqi, active in the 13th century. Here, sweeping ink washes define the contour of the monk’s body in a boneless manner with rustic simplicity, while the monk’s face and hands are rendered delicately with drier, exact brushstrokes. The sharpness of the needle stands out in striking contrast. This abbreviated, monochromatic mode of ink painting opens up the possibility of immediate and meditative artistic expression, and is often interpreted in light of Chan teachings.
In the late Song dynasty, a monk mending his ragged robe in early morning light gained popularity as a subject in spiritual painting, conventionally paired with the depiction of a monk reading sutras by moonlight, as seen in examples at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The complementary imageries, perhaps displayed in the monks’ living quarters, remind the viewer of the important aspects of monastic life: it is through performing both physical and intellectual labor in one’s everyday activities that enlightenment could be attained.
Chijue Daochong’s calligraphic inscription reads:
Mending rips and tears,
Fixing loose threads,
The robe is so ragged, one does not know where to begin.
The needle appears golden in rays of the setting sun,
Yet one must still squint.
Old Monk Chijue, at the Renowned Taibai Mountain
The site of the "Renowned Taibai Mountain", where Tiantong Temple was located, would correspond to a date no later than 1244-45, when Chijue Daochong was summoned to Lingyin Temple. The Cleveland Shakyamuni scroll was also inscribed at Tiantong Temple, and is dated 1244.
The identity of the monk-artist who painted the Utterberg scroll is unknown, although the writing of a Japanese collector on the wood boxes indicates that the painting was previously attributed to the monk-artist Fachang, also known as Muqi, active in the 13th century. Here, sweeping ink washes define the contour of the monk’s body in a boneless manner with rustic simplicity, while the monk’s face and hands are rendered delicately with drier, exact brushstrokes. The sharpness of the needle stands out in striking contrast. This abbreviated, monochromatic mode of ink painting opens up the possibility of immediate and meditative artistic expression, and is often interpreted in light of Chan teachings.