Peace of mind: Zen painter Zhang Dahua's interpretation of the Chinese character "wei," number eight of twelve Earthly Branches. Photo: courtesy of Zhang Dahua

By Qin Danfeng

Zhang sat in front of one of his paintings he intended to give to a foreign Buddhist Master. It depicted a rosy-pink lotus flower floating in the air with a blood-red sun in the sky above. Zhang said he believes the picture will let people feel their hearts upon seeing it.

Zhang Dahua, known in China as a master Zen painter, lives in Beijing and started studying Chinese painting when he was a teenager. Before meeting master Buddhist Wuxing (悟性; "consciousness"), Zhang said he only focused on skill and technique. Wuxing's teachings on philosophy would come to have a considerable impact on Zhang's Zen aesthetic.

"I was very introverted when I was young. I put all my words in my paintings," said Zhang. "I did not understand what master Wuxing was teaching me in the beginning, but when I reached my late- 20s, I started to apperceive the philosophy he had taught me."

Zhang said he doesn't see Buddhism, Taoism and Zen as independent.

"It's just like ten people who climb the same mountain and take ten different paths to the top. The highest point and the destination is the same," he said, confident that a magnanimous attitude will make his paintings enjoyable to broad range of people regardless of what their faith is.

It was during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) that Zen painting first flourished, while an artist working during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Badashanren (八大山人), is said to have pushed the genre to its peak.

Unique in form when comparable to other styles of Chinese painting, Zen painting eschews complex composition for pure expression of an artist's spiritual awareness; the style is at once simple and amusing, and wholly embracing of paradoxes.

Zhang said he understands Zen painting as tolerant of the difference between simplification and complication, and his work aims to appeal to many different kinds of philosophies. He also noted that Zen should be felt by the heart and not by the eyes.

Zhang's work shows a great alacrity for Chinese culture and art, and he said he wishes he can help wake the spirits of the Chinese people with his paintings.

"Some Chinese people think the western world only wants to see the ugly things about China, but they are wrong," he said. "If we ignore our own culture we won't get recognition from anyone."

Zhang mentioned that he has seen Zen grow in popularity abroad in recent years. He considers foreigners to be "more simple-minded" and capable of understanding Zen better than most Chinese people. According to Zhang, "Zen is not a perplexing philosophy. It is everywhere in our daily lives. That is why most people ignore it."

Zhang added that Zen painting is the best way to bring Zen directly to the people. And given the relaxing atmosphere his paintings are able to evoke, Zhang's workshop may just be the best place to feel like you're floating in the clouds.