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Chinese Poem on Compassion

1666
Not on view
The Ōbaku monk Nanyuan Xingpai had been a devoted disciple of Yinyuan Longqi from a young age and followed his master to Japan. This scroll shows an inscription by Nanyuan in vigorously brushed cursive characters, a style that echoes that of Yinyuan. The Chinese poem, likely a tribute to a physician, speaks of the noble task of alleviating suffering through medicine:

處世長懷済世心　門開日即雨平臨
青囊拈出藥千種　妙訣還同海樣深

Amid the affairs of the world,
focus your mind on saving people;
when your door is open,
rain falls on all indiscriminately.
A thousand cures taken out
from a doctor’s blue satchel;
the secret to removing suffering
remains as profound as the seas.
—Trans. Xiaohan Du

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 南源性派筆　七言絶句
  • Title: Chinese Poem on Compassion
  • Artist: Nanyuan Xingpai (Nangen Shōha) (Chinese, 1631–1692)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1666
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 10 1/8 × 21 1/2 in. (25.7 × 54.6 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 42 1/2 × 23 1/8 in. (108 × 58.7 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 42 1/2 × 25 1/2 in. (108 × 64.8 cm)
  • Classification: Calligraphy
  • Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2020
  • Object Number: 2020.396.8
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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