The Burke Collection
Daruma (達磨)
Click to enlarge
346-1

Artist

Totoki Baigai

(十時梅厓; 1749–1804)

Catalogue information

Edo period, 18th century

Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper

27.1 x 56.7 cm (10 5/8 x 22 3/8 in.)

Donated to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York by the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation in 2015

Additional details

D346-1
D346-1
D346-2

Text

Facing the wall for nine years, / grasping the key of Zen in an instant. / Empty-minded in a dirt chamber, / oblivious to right and wrong.

Signature

Painted and inscribed by Baigai

Seals

To accomplish a task satisfactorily, one has first to sharpen one’s tools; Jishi no in


Supplementary Transcriptions

Text

九年面壁﹐1
一捥禪機。
土室嗒然﹐
忘卻是非。

Signature

梅厓畫並題。

Seal

工欲能事必先利器 (朱文長方印)(relief, rectangle)
時賜之印 (白文方印)(intaglio, square)

Notes

1. The line refers to Bodhidharma (died 536 or 528).