Annotated Painting - Dialogue with Master Yunmen

CHINA; Southern Song dynasty

Empress Yang Meizi of the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) wrote a postscript commending the image. Yunmen Wenyan, the founder of the Yunmen school of Chan Buddhism, is depicted in the illustration just below the text. The story relates that in seeking instruction, Master Yunmen went to Master Xuefeng, who eventually deemed him the successor to his teachings. Master Xuefeng is cited with having said, “There is a snake that has a turtle nose in Nanshan. Be sure to observe with caution.” This perplexing gong’an was intended to warn others of how to distinguish confusion from realization. Yang utilized this phrase to praise Master Yunmen as “Dauntless Shaoyang,” because he propagated the Buddha’s teachings valiantly throughout Shaoyang.
Among the three Patriarchs’ postscripts written by Empress Yang, the strictest form of calligraphic style is found in this piece. The strong and spirited calligraphy features the square and upright appearance of the works in Emperor Gaozong (reigned 1127–1162) of the Song dynasty. However, in observing the right-falling and left-falling horizontal strokes, the style is more reminiscent of that of Yan Zhenqing.