On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
The Lay Buddhist Vimalakirti
Painting by Yiran Xingrong (Itsunen Shōyū) Japanese
Inscription by Jifei Ruyi (Sokuhi Nyoitsu) Japanese
The enlightened lay practitioner Vimalakirti is said to have lived in the ancient city of Vaishali, in present-day India, during the time of the Buddha (sixth or fifth century BCE). He is renowned for his debate with Manjushri (Japanese: Monjū), the bodhisattva of wisdom. Here, Yiran Xingrong, the abbot of Kōfukuji monastery in Nagasaki, portrayed the sage Vimalakirti as if divine. At left, the Ōbaku monk Jifei Ruyi brushed an inscription that reads:
毘耶城裏逢師利 一塵清風洗白雲
In the city of Vaishali, he [Vimalakirti] meets with Manjushri [and says]:
“Within a speck of dust, the untainted breeze purifies the white clouds.”
—Trans. Tim T. Zhang
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