“I’ve always got my eye on you!”¹

With Daruma’s harsh sideways glare and a fearsome inscription, Hakuin reminds the viewer to stay ever-vigilant and awake during meditation sessions, in emulation of Daruma’s nine-year zazen in a cave in China. Daruma’s bulging eye, which gives the impression that the master has just been interrupted by the viewer, may be a reference to a specific episode in which Daruma accidentally fell asleep while meditating. Angry at himself for his lack of discipline, he cut off his eyelids to ensure it would never happen again. The pronounced eye could also reference the popular Japanese tradition of drawing pupils into the eyes of Daruma dolls—a first pupil is drawn when a wish is made, and the second once it has been granted—highlighting the Zen master’s connections to popular culture and the magical, talismanic qualities of his image.

—Bradley Bailey