Bodhidharma Crossing the Yangzi on a Reed (1300s): Art, History and Details

Bodhidharma Crossing the Yangzi on a Reed (1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Chan Buddhism was introduced to China in the early 500s by the Indian monk Bodhidharma, or Puti Damo (died before 534). Upon his arrival in China, Bodhidharma was allegedly granted an audience with the Liang dynasty emperor Wu (reigned 502–49). Realizing the emperor did not understand his mission, the monk left Nanjing, crossed the Yangzi on a reed, and settled north in Henan province’s Shaolin monastery. Here, Bodhidharma is sketched in few pale brushstrokes. The diluted and swift lines on an empty ground emphasize the Chan idea that all things are illusionary. The inscription reads: Wind rises from the reed flowers, the waves are high; It’s a long way to go beyond the cliff of the Shaoshi mountain; Above the worlds of kalpas a flower is opening into five petals; So that your barefoot heels are just fine for the whipping rattans. —translated by Wai-Kam Ho

Object facts

• Title: Bodhidharma Crossing the Yangzi on a Reed
• Date: 1300s
• Culture: China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink on paper
• Dimensions: Painting only: 91.1 x 36.5 cm (35 7/8 x 14 3/8 in.); Overall: 175 x 38.5 cm (68 7/8 x 15 3/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 175 x 43 cm (68 7/8 x 16 15/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1964.44

A detail from the museum

Barefooted Bodhidharma sails across the Yangzi River balanced on a thin stalk of reed.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Yonezawa, "Dharma," Kokka, no. 827 (February 1961), pp. 79-80.
• Lee, Sherman E. Tea Taste in Japanese Art. New York: distributed by H. Abrams, 1963.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.