Virtue, Calligraphy by Hakuin

Posted on 25 July 2015 by Buddhism Now

Calligraphy by Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768)

大字「悳」
Japan, Edo period
(1615–1868)
Hanging scroll;
ink on paper
Image: 106 × 52 cm
Overall with mounting:
85.8 × 64 cm

This oversize rendition of the character for “virtue” (toku 悳) reflects the exuberant spiritual energy projected by Hakuin Ekaku, who was one of the foremost proponents of the revival of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism in late Edo Japan. Originally composed by Chinese historian and scholar of Confucianism Sima Guang (1018–1086), the inscription reads:

Virtue
Save up money for your descendants—
they’ll just spend it.
Collect books for your sons and grandsons—
they won’t read them.
The best thing to do for them—
increase your own virtue.
Quietly, secretly
impart this ideal to your descendants,
and it will endure through the generations.
— Trans. Jonathan Chaves

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