rokuso　六祖

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

The sixth Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) patriarch, Huineng (Jp: Enou 慧能, 638-713), also considered the 33rd patriarch in descent from the historic Buddha, Sakyamuni (Jp: *Shaka 釈迦) . Chinese founder of the "Southern School of Zen" (Jp: Nansouzen 南宋禅), and a favorite subject in Chinese and Japanese ink painting. Hagiographic accounts tell of his sudden enlightenment at about the age of 24, when he overheard the preaching of The Diamond Sutra KONGOUKYOU 金剛経. While a student studying under the Fifth Patriarch Hongren (Jp: Kounin 弘忍, 601-75) Huineng, Rokuso worked milling rice for the monks. In painting, he is often represented by the foot-mill used in this work (Jp: rokuso taibou 六祖碓房). When Hongren decided to choose a successor, although the head monk was the conventional choice, Hongren was so impressed by a poem by Huineng about enlightenment that he chose him to become the sixth patriarch. Sudden enlightenment became the hallmark of Huineng's subsequent lineage and of several painting themes related to his life. One account has it that Huineng was suddenly enlightened while chopping bamboo and this subject (Jp: rokuso setchiku 六祖截竹) was painted by Liang Kai (Jp: Ryou Kai 梁楷; act. early 13c; Tokyo National Museum) as well as later Japanese artists. The anti-textual inclination of Huineng and the Southern School is reflected in the theme of the Sixth Patriarch tearing up a sutra (Jp: rokuso hakyou 六祖破経), also illustrated by Liang Kai. In addition to these paintings which are grouped under "paintings of Zen acts"*zenki-zu 禅機図, there exist more conventional "patriarch portraits" of Huineng.

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*zenshuu soshizou 禅宗祖師像.

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