雪だるま

At a lovely show of Zen paintings at Japan Society today I had a melting experience. It came with this painting by Nakahara Nantenbo (1839-1925) called "Snow Daruma," a play on how the Japanese word for snowman, 

雪だるま yukidaruma, evokes Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Zen. The text: 

A Daruma is made of piled-up snow -

as the days pass, he disappears, but where did he go?

Somehow it didn't seem frivolous to notice my shadow and then pose, since we'd just been through a room of paintings of monks snoozing, laughing, jesting, juggling and spinning a bowl. The text of another (by Hakuin Ekaku): 

Mr. Monk! How unusual! Today you are actually doing zazen... Yeah, so what?

The friend I went with thought this one by Sengai Gibon (1750-1837)

"What a pleasant nap! I dreamt I was the Duke of Zhou!

(a jab at Confucius) looked like a cat stretching.