Artist: Zhao Puchu

Date: Modern

Material: Ink on paper

• Object Type：
  • CALLIGRAPHY
• Location：
  • Zhao Puchu Gallery
• Tag：
  • elegy master taixu manuscript running script mounted sheet zhao puchu modern ink paper

Master Taixu (1890-1947) was a highly influential Buddhist monk in modern China. Ten days before he passed away, he summoned Zhao Puchu to the Jade Buddha Temple, where he gave him a copy of his book, Humanistic Buddhism, and encouraged him to promote Buddhism. Following Taixu's death, Zhao wrote an elegy in which he referred to this gift, revealing the master's hopes. He also acknowledged that he had begun to understand the master's final instructions, and expressed his determination to continue the Buddhist tradition, writing: 'I came here once again, watching two Udumbara blossoms standing tall'. The poem brims with memories of the deceased and his final wishes. From then on, Zhao Puchu followed Master Taixu's will, promoting humanistic Buddhism to its healthy development. In 1987, Zhao Puchu, aged eighty-one, rewrote the elegy for the first issue of the Buddhist journal Dharma Voice, at the request of its editorial department, to mark the 40^th anniversary of Master Taixu's death.