An Accomplished Spirit, Jifei

Exhibition Label:
“From the Way of Writing to the Weight of Writing," Jun-2007, Ai-lian Liu
"An accomplished spirit [vigorous enough] to swallow the rainbow."

As a Zen monk from the coastal area of Southern China, Jifei joined his master Yinyuan (1592-1673) in his journey to Japan to propagate the teaching of Ōbaku Zen in Japan. He then became a religious leader as well as revered calligrapher not only among Chinese immigrants but also Japanese intellectuals. The explosive energy in his calligraphic style echoes perfectly the heroic spirit of the text: “An accomplished spirit [vigorous enough] to
swallow the rainbow.”

Exhibition Label:
Asian Gallery, Spring 2003, Youmi Efurd
Jifei, known in Japan as Obaku Sokuhi, was one of many Chinese Chan Buddhist monks who immigrated to Japan right after the fall of the Ming dynasty. Together with Mu’an Xingtao, he was known as one of the “Three Calligraphers of the Obaku sect.” Here Obaku Sokuhi uses an outrageous image to emphasize the power of an accomplished spirit or, in Buddhist terminology, an enlightened mind. The image of someone swallowing something totally improbable did not originate with Sokuhi. The Tang dynasty (618-907) poet Du Fu, for example, wrote of the power of a small innocent child’s spirit to “swallow a cow.”

Archive Label 2003 (version 1):
The spirit of an accomplished master can “swallow the rainbow”

Zhifei, known in Japan as Obaku Sokuhi, was one of many Chinese Chan or Zen Buddhist monks who emigrated to Japan following the establishment of the alien Manchu dynasty in China in 1644. Led by Sokuhi’s teacher Ingen (1592-1673), they established themselves as an independent Zen sect. The name of the sect, Obaku, was taken from the site of Ingen’s home temple in southern China.

Chinese Obaku monks were welcomed by the Tokugawa government and by various local lords. They were given land and temples that became centers of Chinese learning, style, and material culture. The dynamic calligraphy of Obaku masters such as Ingen and two of his most famous disciples, Mokuan (1611-1684) and Sokuhi, was much admired by Japanese literati and had a significant influence on Japanese calligraphy in the 17th and early 18th centuries.

Here Obaku Sokuhi uses an outrageous image to emphasize the power of an accomplished spirit or, in Buddhist terminology, an enlightened mind. The image of someone swallowing something totally improbable did not originate with Sokuhi. The Tang dynasty (618-907) poet Du Fu, for example, wrote of the power of a small (innocent) child’s spirit to “swallow a cow”.

Archive Label 2003 (verions 2):
Jifei, known in Japan as Obaku Sokuhi, was one of many Chinese Chan Buddhist monks who immigrated to Japan right after the fall of the Ming dynasty. Together with Mu’an Xingtao, he was known as one of the “Three Calligraphers of the Obaku sect.”

Here Obaku Sokuhi uses an outrageous image to emphasize the power of an accomplished spirit or, in Buddhist terminology, an enlightened mind. The image of someone swallowing something totally improbable did not originate with Sokuhi. The Tang dynasty (618-907) poet Du Fu, for example, wrote of the power of a small innocent child’s spirit to “swallow a cow.”

Archive Label 1999:
... baku Sokuhi, originally from Fukien province in China, was one of the Chinese monks of the Obaku Zen sect who emigrated to Japan upon the collapse of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). As the only foreigners who could travel freely in Japan at that time, the Obaku monks had a strong impact on Japanese calligraphers. The calligraphy of Sokuhi, who was known as one of The Three Brushes of Obaku, was noted for its grace and balance as well as for its inner strength.