Sacred Verse (Gāthā) from the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment (Engaku-kyō)

This next work by Zekkai comprises two columns of cursive Chinese characters. In contrast to the preceding work, this piece appears to have been executed in a much swifter manner, as indicated by the variations in ink tone. These tonal changes reveal the dynamic, rhythmic movement of Zekkai’s brush: writing, then pausing to allow the paper to soak in more ink before continuing. the text transcribes a famous passage about overcoming delusional thinking from the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment (Engaku-kyō; Chinese: Yuanyue jing):


住妄想境　不加了知

於無了知　不辯真実


Dwelling in the realm of delusional thinking,

one cannot attain a clear understanding of things.

Without a clear understanding of things,

one cannot discern actual reality.[1]

The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment is believed to be an apocryphal text created, from ideas and phrases borrowed from earlier sources, in China in the late seventh or early eighth century to provide legitimacy for the localized practice of Buddhism, including the early Chan movement.[2] It advocates that all beings are inherently enlightened and gives guidance on how to free oneself from delusion and rediscover one’s original enlightened state. the distinction between practices of gradual and sudden enlightenment described in this sutra later became the core debate within Chan Buddhism in China. The sutra comprises a prologue and twelve chapters, in each of which a bodhisattva asks the Buddha questions about religious practice and enlightenment, which the Buddha then answers. The phrase cited here is from chapter 5, where the Buddha responds to the Bodhisattva Maitreya about increasing understanding as an approach to obliterating delusion and, thus, realizing one’s fundamentally enlightened nature. this idea is integral to Zen practice, as evidenced by its recurrent echoes in the works in this chapter.


It seems likely that Zekkai saw a calligraphy by his teacher Musō Soseki (cat. 15), or a version of it, that has the exact same passage, also rendered in highly cursive writing (now in the Nara National Museum).[3] The two are on identically sized paper, the grouping and spacing of the characters overlap closely, and even the cursive forms resemble each other in places, though clearly Zekkai wrote certain characters in his own personal way. this work qualifies as a loose, freehand copy of Musō’s work and exemplifies the transmission of Zen teachings and brush-writing style from one generation to the next.


Zekkai was, in fact, known to have lectured on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment at various times in his career, first at Erinji temple in Kyoto and later to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (reigned 1368–94) and the dowager consort of the former shogun, Shibukawa Kōshi (1332–1392). In 1386 Zekkai was exiled for two years for speaking against the will of the shogun, but he returned to Kyoto after receiving the shogun’s pardon. Subsequently, he enjoyed the direct patronage of the shogun and served as the abbot of Shōkokuji––one of the five temple complexes in Kyoto known as the Gozan––and later its subtemple, Rokuon’in. In this latter role, he also carried out the duty of sōroku, managing the monastic affairs of the Rinzai sect in Japan, including the administration of the Gozan, while also serving as spiritual adviser to the shogun. In 1401, during Zekkai’s abbacy at Shōkokuji, the shogun promoted that temple from second place to first within the Gozan temple hierarchy and made it exclusive to the monks in the lineage of Musō.[4]


[John T. Carpenter, with Tim T. Zhang, The Three Perfections (2025), cat. 17, p. 74–75, adapted 10/9/2025]


Notes:

[1] Translation by John T. Carpenter.

[2] For the original text, see Takakusu, Watanabe, and Ono 1924–34, vol. 17 (1928), p. 917. For further study of the sutra of Perfect enlightenment, see Gregory 1991, pp. 54–58. For an English translation and commentary, see Gregory 2005.

[3] Nara National Museum 1990, p. 136, no. 41 (acc. no. H049973).

[4] Tamamura 2003, pp. 378–81; Asakura Hitoshi 2019 offers a detailed study of Zekkai’s biography and oeuvre in poetry.


Bibliography:

Asakura Hitoshi 2019. Asakura Hitoshi. Zekkai Chūshin kenkyū: Hito to sakuhin to sono shūhen (Research on Zekkai Chūshin: the person, his works, and his social network). Osaka: Seibundō, 2019.

Gregory 1991. Peter N. Gregory. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1991.

Gregory 2005. Peter N. Gregory, trans. "The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment." In Apocryphal Scriptures, pp. 47–125. Berkeley, Calif.: Numata Center for Buddhist translation and Research, 2005.

Nara National Museum 1990. Nara National Museum, ed. Nara Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan zōhin zuhan mokuroku: Shoseki hen (Illustrated catalogue of the collection of Nara National Museum: Calligraphy). Nara: Nara National Museum, 1990.

Takakusu, Watanabe, and Ono 1924–34. Takakusu Junjirō, Watanabe Kaigyoku, and Ono Genmyo, eds. Taishō shinshū Daizōkyō (Taishō Tripitaka). 100 vols. Tokyo: Taishō Issaikyō Kankōkai, 1924–34.

Tamamura 2003. Tamamura Takeji. Gozan zensō denki shūsei (Compiled biographies of Gozan Zen monks). New edition. Kyoto: Shibunkaku, 2003. [1st edition, Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1983.]

Signature: Seal: (lower left, rectangular intaglio seal) Zekkai 絶海

Inscription: Outer box lid inscription: Zekkai Zenshi nigyō 絶海禅師二行 (Two-Line Calligraphy by Zen Master Zekkai)

Paper label on the side: Zekkai / Bokuseki / Mōsō no kyō ni jūshite 絶海 / 墨跡 / 住妄想境 (Zekkai, Zen calligraphy, [with first four characters of the inscription]

Paper cover on the inner box: Zekkai Zenshi bokuseki, i[ppuku] 絶海禅師墨跡 一 [幅, damaged] (Calligraphy by Zen Master Zekkai, one scroll)

Inner box lid inscription: Zekkai Zenshi nigyō, Kohitsu Ryō 絶海禅師二行, 古筆了 [continues with characters illegible due to surface damage]

Seven kiwame fuda authentication slips. One of them by Kohitsu Ryōsen 古筆了泉 (1740–1782) is dated to 1779.

Kishi Yaemon II Japanese, Osaka; Matsumoto Shōeidō , Kyoto, until 11/5/2005; sold to Cowles]; Mary and Cheney Cowles , Seattle, until 2022; donated to MMA

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Three Perfections: Japanese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting from the Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection," August 10, 2024–August 3, 2025.

Senshōan shozōhin nyūsatsu mokuroku 大阪美術倶楽部『泉松庵所蔵 品入札目録. Osaka: Osaka Art Club, June 8, 1939, pl. 29.

Carpenter, John T., and Tim T. Zhang. The Three Perfections, Japanese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting: The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [2025], ppl 74–75, cat. no. 17.