Feng Zikai

CHINA, Zhejiang, Jiaxing

Born in Chongde (present day Tongxiang, Jiaxing) Feng Zikai was a painter, writer, and teacher. His original name was Feng Run, but he later changed it to Feng Ren and most often used his alias, Zikai. At a young age, he learned music and painting from Li Shutong, who would later renounce to become Master Hongyi. Master Hongyi also influenced his high regard for Buddhism. In 1921, he continued his studies in Tokyo, Japan before returning to China to teach art and music in Shanghai and Chongqing. He later took refuge under Master Hongyi at the age of 31 and received the Dharma name, Yingxing.
Feng specialized in many artistic areas including literature, translation, music, poetry, painting, and calligraphy. His notable cartoon paintings were very well-known and later published in a book called Zikai Cartoons. In Collection of Protecting Life Paintings, Feng produced 50 Buddhist paintings in celebration of Master Hongyi’s 50th birthday. Each painting was meant to portray the virtues necessary to broaden the understanding of the Buddha’s teachings on protecting life, refraining from killing, and doing good deeds.
His painting style, influenced by Takehisa Yomeji, a Japanese cartoonist, was simple, plain in color, and deep in meaning. He focused his works on real life subjects such as women, children, and landscapes, as well as folk, city, and wartime life.
Many of his painting and calligraphic works are kept at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The Protecting Life paintings by him and his daughter, Feng Yiyin, were further made into colored bas-reliefs on the exterior walls along the north and south covered walkways at the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center. His other painting, Fu Zhui Tu, is kept at the Shanghai Museum. He also created a red-character pictorial rectangular seal, Sakyamuni Buddha, in honor of Master Hongyi.