CH´AN PAINTING

Chinese painting inspired by the meditative school of Buddhism called in Chinese, Ch´an (in Japanese, Zen; in Sanskrit, Dhyana).

Ch´an originated in the 6th century in China with an Indian monk Bodhidharma, but came to be the most Chinese of Budhist schools.

The ideals of the school later frequently found expression in a special kind of art, typically of broad surfaces of ink monochrome which suggest the sudden, intuitive, and individual awareness -without the secondary aid of either teacher or sacred text- that comes to the Ch´an adept in moments of illumination.

Given the emphasis upon individual achievement desired by the school, there is no single style of Ch´an painting; the most notable of the early Ch´an painters in China were masters of the Five Dynasties (907-960) period, including Kuanhsiu and Shih-k´o in Szechwan. Other famous Ch´an painters, especially in the Southern Sung (1127-79) period, include Mu-ch´i Fa-ch´ang, and Liang K´ai. These two painters were accomplished artists within the by-then traditional subject matter of landscape; yet they are also known to have painted seemingly spontaneous paintings of more obvious Ch´an inspiration, which include representations of great patriarchs of the school as well as disarmingly simple depictions of fruits or flowers.

Ch´an art is suggestive rather than literally representational, though it sometimes includes subjects such as the bodhisattva Kuan-yin (in a white robe) and meticulously drawn and coloured portraits of great masters and historical figures.

Chinese painters of post-Sung times often had contact with Ch´an thought, but there is little in their art that can be directly related to the experience.

The Chinese have not particularly revered Ch´an painting. Its often brilliant ink displays have attracted the Japanese. In the Muromachi period (1338-1573) Ch´an painting and the philosophy behind it began to have an extraordinary pervasive influence, stimulating arts ranging from painting and architecture to flower arrangement, from haiku poetry to the tea ceremony or cha-no-yu.