Portrait of Yinyuan Longqi (Ingen Ryūki)
This portrait depicts Yinyuan Longqi, the Chinese Chan master who, in 1661, founded the Manpukuji Temple outside Kyoto. Likenesses such as this one would have been displayed and venerated during Buddhist ceremonies and memorial services. The eulogistic inscription is by Yinyuan’s direct disciple Mu’an Xingtao, whose celebrated calligraphy recalls both the religious and the brush-writing mentorship of his master. It reads:
Firmly grasping a staff, he directly points out that a person has no perceptible form.
Nor does a name reflect one’s true identity, which is imperceptible. This truly benevolent person naturally reveals his inherent moral virtue. Upon a sudden understanding of monastic teachings, we can start to perceive things beyond the workaday world.
—Adapted from Jonathan Chaves
Firmly grasping a staff, he directly points out that a person has no perceptible form.
Nor does a name reflect one’s true identity, which is imperceptible. This truly benevolent person naturally reveals his inherent moral virtue. Upon a sudden understanding of monastic teachings, we can start to perceive things beyond the workaday world.
—Adapted from Jonathan Chaves
Artwork Details
- 木庵性瑫賛 隠元隆琦像
- Title: Portrait of Yinyuan Longqi (Ingen Ryūki)
- Artist: Painting by an unidentified artist , active late 17th century
- Artist: Inscription by Mu'an Xingtao (Mokuan Shōtō) (Chinese, 1611–1684)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 1676
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 47 in. × 22 3/4 in. (119.4 × 57.8 cm)
Overall with mounting: 76 1/4 × 27 15/16 in. (193.7 × 71 cm)
Overall with knobs: 76 1/4 × 30 1/4 in. (193.7 × 76.8 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Purchase, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.3
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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