“She looks upon all sentient beings with eyes of compassion, an unlimited ocean of good fortune and succor.”¹                       

 

Though Hakuin’s oeuvre mostly comprises black-and-white sumi-e ink painting, he was also known to incorporate colored pigments on occasion, as this painting indicates. He painted many variations of the Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion. It was widely held that images of Kannon, when combined with recitations from with The Ten-Phrase Life-Prolonging Kannon Sutra (Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo), a chapter of the Lotus Sutra, could provide protection for the devoted. Hakuin’s emphasis on the limitless nature of Kannon’s comfort and blessings, as well as his depiction of the genderless deity as a kindly female in flowing robes, was meant to convey the supernatural power of Kannon in a nonthreatening and peaceful manner. Kannon’s lotus throne is rendered as floating flowers, and the circular illumination surrounding her head could be either a gleaming halo or the radiant moon.

 

Even early in his career, Hakuin was aware of the power and allure of images of the Bodhisattva Kannon. At 32 years of age, Hakuin wrote an “eye-opening” (tengan) text to be used for the consecration of sacred images of Kannon. In it, he describes a simple farmer who struggles to understand the teachings of the Buddha but is compelled by a painting of Kannon. Hakuin quotes the farmer:

 

“I’m only an ignorant countryman. I do not possess the inner wisdom that would enable me to grasp the Buddhist teachings, and few relationships in the outside world that might bring me closer to them. Still I would, if possible, like to have one of your images. I could pick it up on my return trip. I would promise to treat it with the greatest reverence, to hold regular services for it, provide offerings, and have religious verses written to praise its virtues. It would help later generations turn to the path of Buddha and keep them from falling into the terrible ways of suffering that otherwise lie waiting for them.”²

 

—Bradley Bailey