森蘭斎筆 慈雲飲光賛 薔薇に兎図|Rabbit and Roses

Jiun Sonja|Mori Ransai

18th century · Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

A rabbit crouches by a boulder and a rose bush with vibrant leaves and blossoms. Mori Ransai’s polychrome technique belongs to a tradition established by the Chinese painter Shen Nanpin (active 1725–80) in Nagasaki. The inscription, brushed by the Shingon monk Jiun Onkō, echoes a Zen teaching that asserts that all beings, including inanimate objects, can reach enlightenment. It reads: 有情非情同時成道ときけばげに うれしくもあるがか 法の友どち I’m truly delighted to hear it said that “Sentient beings or insentient beings, at the same time, can attain the Way [of spiritual enlightenment],” for those that pursue the Buddhist law together.

Artist

Jiun Sonja|Mori Ransai

Date

18th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2019