Painting the Dao

81 ak13.41 Chan beyond the Painting Ink on cloud-dragon paper 72 × 97 cm, Sussex, July 2013 Five artist seals 水松石山房 Shuisongshi shanfang (Water, Pine and Stone Retreat) 攜杖老人 Xiezhang laoren (Old man who carries the staff ) 山外山樵 Shanwai shanqiao (Mountain woodcutter who is not in the mountains) 閒情似野鶴 Xianqing si yehe (Free as a wild crane) 竹虛老人 Zhuxu laoren (Old man as empty inside as bamboo) inscr iption Seventy years in the world Ten thousand miles beneath my sandals Rivers and mountains my companions Beyond the passes and border guards Tasted power and filled my purse Wrote full books with empty words Finally returning to Cold Mountain Body still mortal but mind beyond time Do not seek Chan in the painting Nor in the mind Inscribed by the Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat at the Garden at the Edge of the Universe, Sussex, summer 2013.