Nantembo (1839-1925)
Ippitsu Daruma
1919
Ink on paper
132,5 x 30,2 cm

Wooden box with an old inscription:
Old Nantembô's Yawata Poem in two lines.

One continuous brushstroke (J. ippitsu) depicts the meditating patriarch seen from behind. Nantembô in his poem seems to make fun of Daruma comparing him with the delicious gourds and aubergines from the fertile Yawata plains, south-east of Kyoto. (Nantembô knew that region from his early days as a monk when he began his practice at Empuku-ji.)

Do not disregard vegetable: Since ancient times the important monastic office of cook (J. tenzo) has been held by realized monks. And in Zen understanding there is no spiritual difference between meditation, sutra lecture, and cooking. But cooking unlike other kinds of practice served others in a very direct way. Eihei Dôgen in his Tenzo-kyôkun (Instructions for the tenzo) admonishes: Do not disregard vegetable, but estimate it. Those who want to guide must be able to foster others' enlightenment with simple vegetable. Vegetable contain the essence of Buddha nature.