Zen Art

Buddhist art was created based on the ideas and beliefs of Zen Buddhism. Zen Buddhism, which aims to realize the Buddha's mind through zazen (seated meditation) and meiso (meditation), was introduced from India to China in the early 6th century and developed by fusing with traditional Taoism. In particular, when state Buddhism declined during the Tang Dynasty, Zen Buddhism spread mainly among the private sector, and from the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, it also spread to the Jiangnan and Shu regions, and eventually became an essential part of the education of literati, greatly influencing calligraphy, painting, poetry, and prose. Since Zen Buddhism has the supreme goal of attaining inner enlightenment, it does not often produce Buddhist statues or paintings as in traditional Buddhist art, but instead appreciates or creates Zen art regardless of subject matter, as long as there is an element that allows one to intuitively grasp the state of enlightenment. Ink painting, which was popular in the Jiangnan and Shu regions, became the foundation of Zen painting, and Taoist and Buddhist paintings (paintings on themes of Taoism and Buddhism), Kannon (Kannon) and Arhats were widely painted and passed down to later generations.

Liang Kai of the Southern Song Dynasty was skilled in Taoist and Buddhist paintings and portraits in the so-called reduced stroke style, while the Zen monk Mokkei, who lived at the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, was skilled not only in Taoist and Buddhist paintings and portraits, but also in landscapes and bird and flower paintings. In the Yuan Dynasty, Indara and Sesso appeared and showed their talent for painting, and Sesso's Bokuran is particularly famous and has influenced Japanese painting. In addition to reaching enlightenment through personal experience, Zen Buddhism also places great importance on the succession of masters, so statues of the founders, including the first patriarch Bodhidharma, and portraits of direct teachers, are highly respected, and realistic images and statues were created in both painting and sculpture.

At the beginning of the Kamakura period, Eisai introduced Rinzai Zen and Dogen introduced Soto Zen to Japan, and many Chinese Zen monks came to Japan from the end of that period through the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Zen Buddhism also continued to flourish thanks to the many Japanese monks who returned from the Song Dynasty, and the Muromachi Shogunate established five temples in Kamakura and Kyoto, respectively, and devoted itself to the development of Zen temple culture. As a result, things that express austere and mysterious beauty, from paintings to gardens and the tea ceremony, were valued as being in line with the spirit of Zen, and Zen temple art enjoyed an unprecedented prosperity during this period. At the end of the Kamakura period, some people, such as Kao and Mokuan, traveled to Yuan to study Zen and painting, and the development of ink painting in its early stages ran parallel to the acceptance of Zen Buddhism. However, professional painters such as Gukei and Mincho began to emerge from the Zen temples of Kyoto, and during the Muromachi period, ink paintings called shigajiku, which were mainly produced by painter-monks, became popular mainly in the Five Mountains and became part of the culture of Zen monks.

While following in the footsteps of Chinese Zen, in the field of art, there were many monk-artists who were not satisfied with Chinese paintings alone, and were passionate about creating ink paintings that utilized a uniquely Japanese sensibility. These artists included Sesshu and the Kano school, who painted large landscapes incorporating Japanese nature on the sliding doors and folding screens of Zen temples.

In calligraphy, the writings of Zen monks are called bokuseki (calligraphy marks), and they were highly valued as they demonstrated the state of enlightenment of the Zen monk. There were many masterpieces by high-ranking monks of Zen temples in Japan, including works imported from China, and they were especially prized in the world of the tea ceremony.

In terms of architecture, the architectural style of the Chinese Song Dynasty was introduced along with Zen Buddhism, and is known as Zenshu-yo (formerly known as Kara-yo). The Five Mountain Zen temples in Kamakura and Kyoto were built using this style, and the Shariden Hall (National Treasure) of Engaku-ji Temple in Kamakura is a famous early surviving structure. In addition, among the gardens attached to the buildings, the Karesansui style (dry landscape gardens without ponds and ponds) is considered to best symbolize the essence of Zen, and many excellent ones were created.

In addition, the art handed down at places such as Manpuku-ji Temple in Uji was imported along with the Obaku sect in the early Edo period, and works of this genre are distinguished by being called Obaku art.

[Shinichi Nagai]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

禅宗の思想信仰に基づいて生み出された仏教美術。坐禅(ざぜん)と瞑想(めいそう)によって仏心を悟ることを目標とする禅宗は、6世紀初めにインドから中国に伝えられ、伝統的な道教と融合して発展した。とくに唐代になって国家仏教が衰えると、主として在野に広まり、五代から宋(そう)代にかけては江南・蜀(しょく)地方などにも普及、やがて文人の教養に不可欠のものとなって、書画や詩文にも大きな影響を与えた。禅宗は自己の内面に悟りを得ることを至上の目的とするから、従来の仏教美術のように仏像や仏画の制作はあまり行わず、悟りの境地を直観的に把握する要素があれば、画題にとらわれず、禅宗の美術として鑑賞、あるいは創作した。江南や蜀地方で盛行をみた水墨画は禅宗絵画の土台となり、道釈(どうしゃく)画（道教や仏教を主題にした絵画）や観音(かんのん)・羅漢などが盛んに描かれ、後世へ受け継がれていった。

　南宋の梁楷(りょうかい)はいわゆる減筆(げんぴつ)体の道釈・人物画をよくし、宋末元初の禅僧牧谿(もっけい)は道釈・人物のほか山水・花鳥画もよくした。元代になると因陀羅(いんだら)と雪窓(せっそう)が現れて画才を発揮、とくに雪窓の墨蘭(ぼくらん)は有名で、日本の絵画にも影響を与えている。また、禅宗は自己の体験によって悟りに達するほか、師資相承(ししそうしょう)を重んずるため、第一祖の菩提達磨(ぼだいだるま)をはじめとする祖師像や、直接の師の肖像である頂相(ちんぞう)が尊重され、絵画と彫刻の両分野に迫真の画像や彫像がつくられた。

　日本へは、鎌倉時代の初めに栄西(えいさい)が臨済禅を、道元が曹洞(そうとう)禅を伝え、同時代末から南北朝にかけて中国禅僧の渡来する者も少なくなかった。また、宋から帰朝した多くの日本人僧によって禅宗は隆盛の一途をたどり、室町幕府は鎌倉と京都にそれぞれ五山を設け、禅林文化の発展に力を注いだ。そのため、絵画、庭園、茶の湯に至るまで枯淡幽玄を表すものが、禅の精神と一致するものとして重んじられ、禅林の美術はこの時期に空前の盛況をもたらした。鎌倉末期には、可翁(かおう)や黙庵(もくあん)のように元に渡って禅と絵を学んでくる者もあり、水墨画の発展は、その初期には禅宗の受容と並行していた。しかし、愚渓(ぐけい)、明兆(みんちょう)のような専門の画家が京の禅林から輩出するに至り、室町時代になると、主として画僧の筆になる詩画軸という墨画が五山を中心に流行し、禅僧の教養の一つとなった。

　こうした中国の禅のあとを追いながらも、美術の分野では、中国絵画一辺倒に飽きたらず、日本独自の感覚を生かした水墨画の制作に情熱を燃やした画僧も少なくない。雪舟(せっしゅう)や狩野(かのう)派の画家がそれで、禅宗寺院の襖絵(ふすまえ)や屏風(びょうぶ)に、日本の自然を取り入れた山水の大画面を描いた。

　書では、禅僧の筆になるものを墨跡(ぼくせき)と称するが、禅僧の悟入(ごにゅう)の境地を示すものとしてもっともたいせつに扱われた。中国からの舶載品をはじめ、わが国の禅林の高僧の手になる名筆も多く、とくに茶の湯の世界で珍重された。

　建築では、中国宋代の建築様式が禅宗とともに伝えられ、これを禅宗様（かつては唐様(からよう)と称した）という。鎌倉・京都の五山の禅寺はこの様式を取り入れて建てられたが、初期の遺構としては鎌倉・円覚(えんがく)寺の舎利殿(しゃりでん)（国宝）が名高い。また建築に付属した庭園では、池泉を設けない枯山水(かれさんすい)がもっとも禅の真髄を象徴したものと考えられ、優れたものが多数作庭された。

　このほか、宇治の万福寺などに伝わる美術は、江戸初期に新たに黄檗(おうばく)宗とともに輸入されたもので、この系統のものは黄檗美術とよんで区別している。

［永井信一］

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