Hakuin Ekaku Zenji

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

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Hakuin Zenji, also known as Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768), was a master, and reformer, of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. Before Hakuin’s reformation, the Rinzai school had been eroding since the fourteenth century;  in particular, the practice of zazen (sitting in absorption) had been obscured by over-intellectualization. Hakuin was instrumental in the organization of koan principles and redirection of the Rinzai  school’s momentum by reaffirming the value of zazen practice. He started painting in his sixties and practiced the art-form until his death at eighty-four. His painting subjects were varied, but his most famous are those of Daruma.

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[Zen, for those who may not know, is the shortened form of zenna, the Japanese form of Ch’an-na (ch’an), which is the Chinese form for dhyana (sanskrit), the discipline of developing concentration.]

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As with water and ice, there is no ice without water;
apart from sentient beings, there are no Buddhas.
Not knowing how close the truth is,
we seek it far away
— what a pity!
Hakuin Ekaku Zenji

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