page_title: Shussan Shaka
section_title: Liang Kai's Shussan Shaka
hierarchical_section_title: Shussan Shaka / In Chinese Painting / Liang Kai's Shussan Shaka
caption_attribution_description: English: Traditionally attributed to Hu Zhifu, Sakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains, Southern Song Dynasty, mid 13th century, hanging scroll, ink on paper, 92 x 31.7 cm, Freer Gallery of Art.
context_page_description: "Shussan Shaka" refers to the Zen Buddhist story of Śākyamuni Buddha returning from six years of asceticism in the mountains, having realized that ascetic practice is not the path to enlightenment. The story of Shussan Shaka is an important motif in Zen painting from both China and Japan.
  According to the story, Śākyamuni, after leaving his palace, retreated into the mountains to seek enlightenment. Accompanied by five other ascetics, he meditated and fasted to a severe extent, his body becoming thin and emaciated. After six years, Sujata, a young girl, gave Śākyamuni a quantity of milk rice, which he ate. Once he made this decision to end his fast, the five people practicing asceticism with him were disappointed and left him. So, a solitary Śākyamuni descended the mountain, left the life of extreme austerity behind him, and traveled instead to Gaya, the city that would become known as the famous site of his enlightenment under the bodhi tree.
  As a painting motif, Shussan Shaka is distinctive in its emphasis on the humanity of the Historical Buddha.
context_section_description: Liang Kai's Śākyamuni Descending the Mountain After Asceticism is one of the oldest extant Shussan Shaka paintings, and the most famous. Produced under the patronage of Emperor Ningzong or Emperor Lizong, it is a classic example of a Shussan Shaka in the Chinese orthodox style. There is no  inscription on this painting other than the artist's signature, which identifies him as "Painter-in-Attendance" at the Imperial Academy.
  Liang Kai was not a Zen monk painter, but after he abandoned his position at the Imperial Academy and turned to a lifestyle of heavy drinking, his portraits came to suggest influences of the Chan painting tradition. Since his Shussan Shaka pre-dates this move, however, it bears the mark of his earlier work: a carefully planned and executed "academic" style. According to the analysis of Hiroshi Kanazawa, Liang Kai's Shakyamuni Descending the Mountain After Asceticism presents the viewer with an as yet unenlightened Śākyamuni.
caption: Traditionally attributed to Hu Zhifu, Śākyamuni Emerging from the Mountains, Southern Song Dynasty, mid 13th century, hanging scroll, ink on paper, 92 x 31.7 cm, Freer Gallery of Art.
exif: {}