by Kim Myong-guk, Choson, 1636-1637, Ink on paper, 83xS7cm. National Museum of Korea

Kim Myongguk is famous as a representative of the Zhe School which was in vogue during the Choson period. He also left many masterpieces of Zen Painting of which this painting is a fine example. Bodhidharma, a south Indian who went to China in the sixth century kDX founded the Chan (Zen) School of Buddhism. Kim's bold brushwork expresses the concentrated inner spiritual world of Bodhidharma, who is said to have meditated face-to-face with a stone wall for nine vears.

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