page_title: Xianzi (monk)
section_title: The Scattered Sages
hierarchical_section_title: Xianzi (monk) / Biography / The Scattered Sages
caption_attribution_description: English: Painted by the Japanese artist Yōgetsu in the early 16th century, this painting of Zhutou, the Pig-head Eater is the right painting in a pair with a painting of Xianzi, the Shrimp Eater.
context_page_description: Xianzi, or Kensu in Japanese, also known as the Shrimp Eater, was a semi-historical Chan/Zen monk, considered to be one of the “scattered sages, ” who were deviant or otherwise unusual figures within the Chan tradition. Infamous for his iconoclastic breaking of the taboo on eating meat set forth in the Vinaya Code of monastic rules, the Shrimp Eater appears in several traditional Zen paintings as both a comedic figure that underscores the Zen tradition of humor, as well as an eccentric, enlightened individual.
context_section_description: Xianzi is one of several traditional Chan/Zen figures known as the “scattered sages,” many of which are depicted with in the same humorous, iconoclastic light. Examples of other Scattered Sages include the laughing monk Budai/Hotei, Tanka 丹霞 the icon burner, the Four Sleepers (Hanshan 寒山, Shide 拾得, Fenggan 豐干, and Fenggan's tiger,) and Zhimeng 智猛.
  Zhimeng in particular bears similarities to Xianzi, because he was a figure famous for eating pig's heads as his favorite treat, much in the same way that Xianzi favored eating shrimp. As a result of their similarities, it was not uncommon for hanging scrolls of Xianzi and Zhimeng to be exhibited together. The artist Josetsu (1405-1496,) for instance, painted the two individually, but their paintings are strikingly similar and are displayed together.
  Some scholars theorize that many of the Scattered Sages actually predate Chan/Zen Buddhism and exist outside of its religious context. They were absorbed into the Chan/Zen pantheon as a means of co-opting traditional Chinese culture, enhancing Chan/Zen's cultural appeal and diverting local customs into a Buddhist framework. However, the evidence for this in the case of Xianzi is limited and no hard conclusions can be drawn.
caption: The Zen Eccentric Zhutou (Zhimeng.) Painted in the early 16th century Muromachi Period Japan by Josetsu.
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