A Tang Monk: Artist, Poet, Calligrapher

Guan Xiu (832-912) was a Buddhist monk of the late Tang Dynasty (618-907). He is considered a major poet of the Tang, a dynasty when a galaxy of poets emerged making an eternal poetic prestige for the central empire. His poems are noted for concise language, flowing rhythm, and a wide range of topics and concerns.

Guan Xiu is a widely known name for the monk, but the man’s secular name was Jiang Deyin. He was a native of Lanxi (literally meaning orchid stream), a scenic place in central Zhejiang Province. He became a monk at the age of 7. For a long time in ancient dynasties of China, Buddhist temples provided monks with a basic education in Chinese culture such as poetry, painting and calligraphy. The talented boy grew up to be a scholar. He traveled widely, leaving his footsteps in famous scenic attractions in Zhejiang and neighboring Jiangxi Province and making acquaintances with local celebrities. He became good friends with celebrated poets of the day.

Guan Xiu is historically recognized as the first poet monk. Before the time of Guan Xiu, monks in the East Jin Dynasty (317-420) composed Buddhist hymns in various forms and various lengths, but they largely confined themselves to the religion and explored nothing outside Buddhism. Guan Xiu was the first Buddhist monk who wrote seriously like a poet. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279) he was considered a major Tang poet who could rank side by side with the greatest Tang poets such as Li Bai. Since Guan Xiu, people wouldn’t be surprised to know that one could be a monk and great poet at the same time. Seven hundred and thirty-five of his poems have survived.

Guan Xiu left his secular life behind and converted himself to Buddhism at Stone Wall Temple in his birthplace Youbu, Lanxi. The temple became popular as he grew up and his name as an established Zen monk spread far and wide. Du Xunhe (846-904), a celebrated poet of the late Tang Dynasty, who lived in Mount Jiuhua, a famed Buddhist sanctuary, came all the way to the Stone Wall Temple to visit the poet monk. Du wrote a poem in memory of the visit.

Guan Xiu was, among other things, a court monk that moved from one court to another in a period when the giant Tang was disintegrating and small kingdoms mushroomed across the country.

Guan Xiu traveled widely across the country. In 893, he came to the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. He was personally welcomed by the abbot and received a VIP status at the temple. The monk stayed at the temple for three years.

In 896, Qian Liu (852-932), a military strongman in Zhejiang Province, defeated his enemies and became the king of the Yue Kingdom. To celebrate his great triumph, the new king invited Guan Xiu to a banquet at his palace. The monk presented a poem in honor of the king. After reading the poem, the king was greatly pleased. The poem itself is well known for its literary achievement. Not contented with “One sword rules fourteen states” in the poem, however, the ambitious king asked the poet monk to change fourteen to forty. Guan Xiu understood the ambition of the king at the height of his military might, but he turned the royal request down, saying, “Your majesty, it would be most unlikely to add more states to your kingdom and it would be equally unlikely to modify the poem. A crane in wilderness can fly anywhere in the sky as there are clouds anywhere.” After saying that, the monk stood up and left. Knowing his point blank refusal and abrupt departure must have offended the king, the monk left Hangzhou the next day.

During his three-year stay in Hangzhou, Guan Xiu visited many Buddhist temples in and outside the city. During that time, Hangzhou was famed as a place of Buddhist temples as Buddhism flourished across China. That is why the city attracted large numbers of pilgrims from neighboring regions such as Jiangsu and Shandong in the north and it still does today. These pilgrims traveled south on the Grand Canal to visit the city on the West Lake. Guan Xiu sometimes followed these pilgrims and visited major temples one by one across the city. And he wrote poems on the walls of these temples, making his name as poet and calligrapher spread still further. He was most willing to write poems and inscriptions at request.

According to a legend known in his home village Youbu, a pharmacy proprietor in downtown Hangzhou asked Guan Xiu to create separate portraits of the Sixteen Arhats. Now, the Tang Dynasty was a time when artists in China found ways to secularize the sacred images of Buddhist gods. Guan Xiu must have been one of these artists who added their personal touches to this special art of religious painting.

Guan Xiu said he needed to see the images of Arhats in his dreams before he was able to know what to paint. So when Guan Xiu was finally ready to have a dream of these Arhats, he came to the shop. The pharmacy closed the gates so that the painter would not be disturbed. The owner would go through a religious rite before the monk sat down with his legs crossed and his hands clasped in the Zen gesture going into his precious dream. He snored loudly like thundering, looking like a crouching tiger and a coiling dragon. Suddenly the monk opened his eyes, stood up and walked to the table and began to paint. Before long an Arhat appeared on the paper. For the next fourteen days, Guan Xiu repeated the routine. All fifteen Arhats out of his dream and out under his brush-pen looked exotic, wild, fiery but amazingly majestic.

On the last day, however, Guan Xiu came out of his dream and was unable to draw as before. He was puzzled and the pharmacy proprietor was equally puzzled. The magic painter explained that he did not have the image of the last Arhat come into his dream. The owner eyed the monk in his 60s and commented that the sixteenth Arhat should be the monk himself. The remark was like an epiphany striking to the core of the monk. He hastily walked to the edge of a pond outside the house and looked down at the reflection of himself: the bushy brows, the protruded forehead, the high nose added up to a face of majesty. The monk was impressed and convinced by his own look. So he painted the sixteenth Arhat after himself.

Guan Xiu might not be the most prolific painter, but he is recognized as the first great artist of Arhats in China. Since him, all the Arhats in China have looked like the original sixteen prototypes he created. When Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) came to Hangzhou and admired the paintings by Guan Xiu, he liked them so much that he ordered to have the sixteen images translated into stone carvings. A special hall was constructed to house the carvings on the royal compound. And the emperor wrote poems in honor of the Arhats. In 1963, the carvings were moved to Hangzhou Forest of Steles. They can still be seen there.