Red Daruma (Bodhidharma)

Bodhidharma, known as “Daruma” in Japan, is one of the iconic figures associated with Zen Buddhism. Born in India, he is credited with transmitting Zen teaching to China sometime during the Former Song dynasty (420–479 CE), and is thus considered the patriarch of Chinese Zen (or Chan). Here, the painter, Mindō Sōsen—the 429th abbot of the influential Zen monastery Daitokuji—renders his portrait of the scruffy-faced patriarch in crimson ink. The inscription above, brushed by the retired Daitokuji abbot, Chūhō Sō'u, reads: “The fruit comes into being naturally. / One flower produces five leaves.” “Five leaves” is a reference to the five schools of Zen that developed in China after Bodhidharma’s time.