Ink Drawing of Bodhidharma

Zōhō Bunga (1779-1844) was a Rinzai Zen priest of the late Edo period, also known as ‘Tōkokuan.’ He first resided at Jurinji Temple in Shimotsuke, then became the Shuso (head trainee) of Myōshinji Temple. In Tenpō 4 (1833), he retired from Jurinji Temple and moved to Kokuseiji Temple in Izu Province, where he became the Tassu (a monk who conducts a service with the patriarch’s portrait, image, or stupa) of Gyokuhōin Temple. In his later years, he lived at Jōkōji Temple in Hitachi, Shōfukuji Temple in Settsu, and Jienji Temple in Izumo, where he trained many masters.

This Dharma painting boldly depicts Dharma, covering more than half of the paper. Many of Zōhō’s works feature a bold and powerful style of calligraphy and painting.
The inscription ‘直指人心　見性成仏’ is a Zen phrase that points to the human mind without using doctrinal explanations and tries to make people aware that the mind itself is nothing but the manifestation of Buddha-nature. Together with ‘不立文字　教外別伝,’ it is used as a slogan to express the essence of Zen, and is often used as an inscription in Dharma's paintings.