Chinese Poem on Buddhist Teachings

The Ōbaku monk Nanyuan Xingpai, better known by his Japanese name Nangen Shōha, has inscribed in vigorously brushed cursive characters a Chinese poem with four seven-character lines on Buddhist enlightenment. Befitting the outlook of a monk who lived in temples from his teens until he died, the verse suggests that the profound teachings of Ōbaku Zen Buddhism, though hard to fathom as the deepest seas, can offer respite from woes and suffering that life in the everyday world entails.

The poem can be tentatively deciphered and translated as follows

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,
ffocus your mind on saving people.
When the gate is unlocked,
rain falls on all indiscriminately.
Even if one seeks a thousand cures
from a doctor’s blue satchel.
The secret to removing suffering
remains as profound as the seas.

(Trans. Xiaohan Du)

In his calligraphy Nanyuan followed the style of his master Yinyuan, and adheres to the conventions of bold, cursive Ming styles adopted by so many in the Ōbaku lineage in Japan. Though briskly brushed, the characters are evenly spaced and arranged in clearly demarcated columns. The general impression is one of orderliness overall, but with spontaneity for each character. The work is dated to the summer of 1666, when the monk was 35 years old.

Nanyuan Xingpai, born with the surname Lin 林 in Fuzhou prefecture of Fujian province, began his religious training at age fourteen in Mount Huangbo (Japanese: Ōbaku) in China. He studied there with Yinyuan Longqi (later known by the Japanese pronunciation of his name, Ingen Ryūki), and in 1654 followed his master to Japan. He became a dharma successor to Yinyuan in 1671, and founded various Ōbaku sect branch temples in Japan, and served at Kokubunji in Osaka 大阪国分寺 beginning in 1680. He is also recognized for his work revitalizing Shōkōji 正興寺. Not only was he an expert calligrapher in the Ming-infused Ōbaku style, as this example demonstrates, he established a reputation for being a talented poet and prose writer.