A Japanese shikishi calligraphy print by the distinguished Rinzai Zen monk Kurauchi Shōdō (倉內松堂, 1905–1991), former Chief Abbot (Kanchō) of the Myōshin-ji school of Rinzai Zen.
The central inscription reads:
“A pure breeze enters the heart.”
In Zen thought, the phrase evokes the feeling of a clear breeze passing freely through the mind, washing away attachment, agitation, and unnecessary thoughts. “Let the fresh breeze enter the heart and leave the mind clear and unburdened.”
The phrase expresses clarity, inner freedom, calmness, and openness — a state in which the mind receives the world naturally, without clinging.
Kurauchi Shōdō (1905–1991), Dharma name Shōdō Daikan, was an important 20th-century Rinzai Zen master.
Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1905, he was ordained as a monk in childhood and later studied Buddhist philosophy at Otani University. After graduating in 1930, he entered rigorous Zen training at Nanzen-ji in Kyoto, eventually completing around 13 years of intensive monastic practice.
He later became closely associated with Rinzai-ji in Shizuoka, where he established and guided a Zen training monastery and served for decades as shike, the senior Zen master responsible for training monks.
In 1986, he was appointed Chief Abbot of the Myōshin-ji school, one of the largest and most influential branches of Rinzai Zen in Japan. He retired in 1990 and passed away the following year, in 1991.
Size: 24 x 27cm
