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I guess this is the brother of the monkey on my Welcome page, which is also by Hakuin Ekaku
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attributed to Sesshu
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Monkeys
I can't really claim monkeys as a central Zen subject, but I really love some of the
images that have been produced. The monkeys painted are almost always of a type not
seen in Japan - they are Chinese, derived particularly from the work of Muqi or Muchi,
which are particularly obvious as the forebears of
Hasegawa's monkeys, and also of the
allegedly-Sesshu monkey on this page, and of Sesson's gibbons.
In Zen art, obviously there has to be some grander
intention than 'aw, look at the cute monkeys' (not that we are therefore obliged to go
any further than that), and apparently the most regular one (including on the
Welcome page here) is to show the monkey reaching for the
reflection of the moon. I guess we're talking about preferring (or only noticing) the
easily-attained illusion rather than the harder and less reachable reality, unless it's just
'haha monkeys are really dumb'. Personally I just like looking at the cute monkeys.
backwards: Monks
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Gibbon Chain from around 1700 by Kano Minenobu, so not very Zen, but what a painting!
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Monkey Capturing The Moon, 1911, by Koson
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