Daruma

Daruma is the Japanese name for Bodhidharma. I was so taken with him while doing the research for the post about the Enso earlier this week that I put I bid in for a Japanese Daruma hanging scroll on eBay. I won it early this morning and have paid so it should be winging its way from Tottori in Japan very soon. There is a detail of it on the left.

The reason he looks so bug-eyed, is that he supposedly, cut off his eyelids while meditating, to keep from falling asleep.

(Naturally, this being a legend, tea bushes sprung from the spot where his eyelids hit the ground and it is said that this is the reason that tea is so important for meditation and why it helps the meditator not to fall asleep.)