Chinese Poem on Compassion
Nanyuan Xingpai (Nangen Shōha) Chinese
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
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