The Second Coming of the Fifth Patriarch
1304
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1304
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A small boy and his mother bow to an old monk and his helper. The monk’s robe is simple, the boy’s hands pressed together in greeting. This painting shows a moment from a Chan Buddhist story. The monk is Daoxin, who once told an old man he’d need to be reborn to reach enlightenment. The boy is that man, returned as a child. The artist painted it during the Yuan dynasty, when Mongol rulers governed China. To see more art from this time, look up *china, yuan dynasty (1271-1368)*.
