Origin: Japan,Circa: early 20th century
H 12 in.(30cm), W 8 in.(20cm), D 5 in.(12.5cm)
Condition : age crack, o.a. very good
A
spirited wood carving of the Japanese Zen Patriarch Daruma, the 6th Century Indian
sage Bodhidharma, the blue eyed Brahmin who arrived China in A.D. 526. He is regarded
as the chief of the Six Patriarchs of Buddhism. He teaches that perfection must
be sought inward through meditation rather than outward observances. It is said
that after first nine years of prolonged meditation, Bodhidharma cuts off his
eyelids and threw them on the ground where they flowered into the first green
tea plants. In honor of Daruma, to this day an early form of the tea ceremony
is carried out in Zen monasteries in Japan.