Sixth Patriarch Carrying A Rod

CHINA; Southern Song dynasty

According to the “Chapter on Action and Intention” in the Platform Sutra, before he became the Sixth Patriarch of the Chan school, Huineng cut firewood for a living. One day, as he was delivering wood to a shop, he heard a customer reciting the Diamond Sutra. Upon hearing the words “one should produce that thought which is nowhere supported,” Huineng instantly attained enlightenment. This picture of Huineng’s great awakening was painted during the Southern Song dynasty by Zhiweng Yiju. It was listed as a National Treasure of Japan in 1952.
Huineng wears a headscarf, ragged clothes and sandals. His left arm is draped over a long rod that rests on his left shoulder. An ax for cutting firewood is tied to the end of the rod. Huineng gazes down at the ground, seemingly lost in thought as he ponders the meaning of the words he has just heard.
Sparse, elegantly varied brushstrokes are used to depict the figure. Zhiweng Yiju’s red seal is stamped in the lower left corner left corner. The inscription at the top of the painting by Chan Master Yanxi Huangwen was written between 1254 and 1256, when he served as the abbot of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.