Introduction
Paintings from the song dynasty in china and the Muromachi period in japan have been considered ultimately effective in the suggestion of the aspects of the Zen experience from the time. Both Sesshu and Dai Jin were famous Chinese painters who did their work at different times, with the later beginning the works of painting art that depicted the Zen experience in china. Both painters were among the founders of oriental art and paintings, which to this date, talks a lot about the leadership and religious experiences in the ancient Far East. Nonetheless, the paintings of Sesshu and Dai Jin can be differentiated along with the modes of communicating information regarding the Zen experience and the Song dynasty. Historians have also implied that it is possible that Sesshu copied the painting of Dai Jin since the latter studied with Li Cai, Dai Jin's student. However, more in-depth research will indicate the comparisons and the differences observed on the two paintings by focusing on the theme of the painting, presentation of the narrative, and the manipulation of formal elements to express their goals.
Which Artist is More Successful in Capturing the Theme of the Painting?
The theme of Sesshu and Dai Jin's paintings is the depiction of the Zen experience. In conveying the theme of the Zen experience in the times of Bodhidharma, Sesshu's painting captures the theme better than Dai Jin's version of the painting. Firstly, the space in Sesshu's painting is better utilized to depict the theme using an appropriate foreground. The foreground of Sesshu's painting has larger objects compared to Dai Jin's. Therefore, Sesshu utilizes the foreground space better than his counterpart does. The larger or zoomed-in objects enables the audience to see Huike presenting a severed arm to Bodhidharma, who is seen seated and facing away from Huike. The severed arm can be seen and equated to the theme of the Zen experience regarding the difficulty of becoming Bodhidharma's disciples who were believed to be at a higher rank on the spiritual platform.
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The foreground in Dai Jin's painting, however, covers a larger area, which enables the audience to capture a broader perspective of the theme. In the foreground, Dai Jin is seen kneeling in water in what appears to be a cave while Huike stands behind him, but the severed arm can barely be seen. The theme of the Zen experience, while focusing on the space captured in the painting, only focuses on the sacredness of the Buddhist worship, which Bodhidharma spearheaded in ancient china. Nonetheless, the use of the background in Dai Jin's painting appears better than the one on Sesshu's. With a broader area captured in the painting, modern artists from Asia and beyond can depict the theme of the Buddhist worship better than in the background offered by Sesshu. Notwithstanding, the more extensive background in Dai Jin's painting does not focus entirely on the theme of the Zen experience, which makes Sesshu's painting better at capturing the theme.
Both painters have used the use of line as an aspect of painting analysis in a bid to depict the Zen experience. A closer look as Sesshu's painting reveals that he uses lighter lines, which are smooth on the garment won by Bodhidharma and Huike, with the jagged lines being used on the mouth of the cave. On the other hand, Dai Jin's painting features the use of darker lines with the garment won by Bodhidharma being smooth and a little jagged towards the bottom. The garment won by Huike, as depicted in the painting, presents a relatively jagged appearance. The texture of the cave in which Bodhidharma is worshipping is jagged at the entrance and smoother from the inside. A difference in the garment won by Huike concerning the texture is observed with Dai Jin being able to depict the theme of the Zen experience more than Sesshu with specific insight into Huike's garment.
Overall, relating to the use of line and texture in the paintings, Dai Jin can bring out the theme of the Zen experience more (Murashov, 2016). According to various historians from different parts of the world, the Zen experience was challenging for aspiring disciples such as Huike. Therefore, a more wrinkled appearance of Huike's garment is better at relating the suffering of the aspiring disciples of the Buddhist religion within the context of the Zen experience. Both artists have used jagged lines for the entrance of the cave in a bid to symbolize the plight of the disciples who wanted to share in the religion (Nunez-Garcia, Lizarraga-Morales & Hernandez-Gomez, 2018). Nonetheless, Dai Jin's use of smooth lines in the cave, which is absent is Sesshu's painting, suggests that once a disciple was accepted to be Bodhidharma's, their lives would transform and be easier than before they had been selected for the same. Therefore, Dai Jin achieves a better explanation of the theme of Zen experience compared to Sesshu.
Which Artist is More Successful in Presenting the Narrative or Story?
The history of the Song Dynasty and the Zen experience is rich and aroused the interest of many artists of the time. The plight of Bodhidharma's disciples and those aspiring to become disciples and the ordinary people has resulted in the analysis of the works of both Sesshu and Dai Jin, whose paintings majorly focus on the Zen experience as the central theme. The presentation of the narrative regarding the Zen experience is done symbolically using the paintings, which exhibit comparisons and differences in the same. An aspect of the painting that can be used to present the narrative lies in the composition of the paintings. The arrangement of the objects in the paintings differs with Dai Jin offering a better arrangement compared to Sesshu. Dai Jin's painting depicts Bodhidharma worshipping while facing the direction away from the mouth of the cave, which seems to go more in-depth compared to Sesshu's painting, which has him facing a wall in a cave.
Sesshu's painting limits the narratives that can be made regarding the Zen experience in ancient china. That is because the arrangement of the objects in the picture does not offer the audience a visual representation of abundance or endlessness, such as the plight of the ancient Chinese during the Zen experience (Pepperell, 2015). Conversely, the painting of Dai Jin offers the audience a visual representation of the abundance or the endlessness of human suffering across the Zen experience that both artists are attempting to narrate. With the clear view of Bodhidharma facing the distance away from the mouth of the cave, a clear narration that he was on a different level of worship can be told. Nonetheless, the painting narrates the endlessness of Buddhist worship, and even if Bodhidharma was on an exceptional level of worship away from the rest of the people, he still had not attained perfection in the religious matters.
The other aspect of analysis that can be used to differentiate the narration of the Zen experience is focusing on volume. While both paintings focus on the depiction of the theme and narration of the Zen experience, the artists have done the use of volume differently. According to Arlt et al. (2018), three-dimensional paintings can achieve the visual representation of the length, width, and height of the objects in the painting. Usually, objects in three-dimensional paintings occupy more volume than those in the two-dimensional artwork. The objects in Dai Jin's painting appear to occupy more volume than those in Sesshu's painting, which appeal to the audience as the artist narrates the theme of the Zen experience. Therefore, the use of more volume in Dai Jin's painting can be found to attract more people in the audience compared to Sesshu's painting, which uses less volume.
The use of tone in the paintings can also be used to differentiate how Sesshu and Dai Jin narrate the Zen experience. Just like in music, artists can use the tone of painting to reflect the theory of the piece of art (Antunes et al., 2016). The use of darker lines in Dai Jin's painting has been observed compared to Sesshu, who has continuously used lighter lines to depict the tone of his painting. The use of darker lines in Dai Jin's painting depicts the uncertainties surrounding the Buddhist worship during the Zen experience, which leads to the analysis of the adverse effects that the experience had on the people living at that time. While Sesshu ties to unearth the life of people, especially the aspiring disciples like Huike, the use of lighter shades of lines in his painting tend to fail at achieving the narration of the Zen experience compared to Dai Jin.
How Does Each Artist Manipulate Formal Elements to Express his Goal (Thematic or Narrative)?
The central theme discussed in the analysis of the paintings is the Zen experience. However, the two artists appear to have different goals in the presentation of the theme of Zen experience and the narration of the same. The main goal of Sesshu's painting is to highlight the sacrificial life that the aspiring disciples to Bodhidharma lived, such as Huike. The life of sacrifices has been depicted in the appearance of Huike with a severed hand in front of Bodhidharma, who appears to be worshipping while facing away from Huike. Therefore, Sesshu attempts to depict the plight of the aspiring disciples as they tried to be fit for discipleship to Bodhidharma. The main goal of Dai Jin in the depiction of the Zen experience is to cover the aspect of worship back in the times by looking at the issue from a more generalized perspective than that of Sesshu's. The evidence surrounding Dai Jin's objective in the painting is highlighted by the broader view of the issue of worship by having the objects in the painting zoomed out and away from the in-depth focus of the foreground in the space aspects of the painting. Therefore, Dai Jin achieves the goal of depicting Buddhist worship and its sacredness.
Both Sesshu and Dai Jin have used elements of art that are unchangeable and similar. For instance, both artists have the painting of Huike and Bodhidharma to depict the theme of the Zen experience in ancient china. Both artists have employed a common use of texture with lines depicting differences across the paintings. Primarily, the main difference in the use of texture lies in the garments of Huike in both paintings. Sesshu depicts Huike as wearing garments with a finer texture compared to Dai Jin, who displays Huike's garments as having a coarser texture. The other element that both artists have used is the volume. Both artists exhibit the use of three-dimensional objects in the paintings. Notwithstanding, Dai Jin employs a more unobstructed view of the three-dimensional objects by focusing on the use of volume. The composition of the paintings is another unchangeable common element that the artists share. The use of the composition to convey the theme of Zen experience by Dai Jin in his painting narrates the Zen analogy in a better manner by having a better arrangement of the objects in the picture, in line with his ability to make the painting more detailed than Sesshu has.
The formal differences observed between the paintings of Dai Jin and Sesshu contribute to the goals of the artists. Dain Jin's goal of depicting Buddhist worship from a broader perspective to contribute to the analysis of the Zen experience is contributed to by the composition of his painting. The arrangement of the objects in the painting points out to the vastness of Buddhist worship, which Bodhidharma plays a significant role in developing. Compared to Sesshu's composition in his painting, Dai Jin presents a better arrangement of the objects in his painting, which enables him to achieve the goal of describing the Buddhist worship and depicting Bodhidharma as an influential figure in the worship. The use of lines and texture also helps Dai Jin achieve his goal by using rough textures and jagged lines at the mouth of the cave to depict the difficulty in maintaining religiosity during the Zen experience. Sesshu's goal of depicting the sacrificial lives of Bodhidharma's disciples has been achieved with the use of space, which Dai Jin's painting does not do accurately. Sesshu ensures that the severed hand of Huike is visible in the foreground, which is not visible in the work of Dai Jin. The foreground, therefore, plays an integral role in the achievement of the objective and a better conveyance of the Zen experience, and the life that the people had during the period.
Conclusion
An in-depth analysis of paintings of both Dai Jin and Sesshu recognizes the similarities and differences that the artists have in the conveyance of the theme of the Zen experience. Sesshu makes a better explanation of the theme with the use of formal elements such as the use of a sufficient foreground, which features larger objects than those of Dai Jin. Therefore, Sesshu can display the severed hand of Huike, which carries the artist's goal of highlighting the sacrificial life that people at the time had to go through in the quest to become disciples to Bodhidharma. On the other hand, Dai Jin can narrate the Zen experience in a better way compared to Sesshu. Dai Jin makes the use of a better arrangement of the objects in the painting, which features a fuller field of view. The wide field of view enables Dai Jin to achieve his goal of narrating the relationship between Buddhist worship and the Zen experience.
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