I am delighted to add a scroll by Japanese Zen monk Sessou Soueki (1776–1859) to my collection. It was written around the 1850s, during his tenure as abbot of Daitokuji Temple. Interestingly, many art dealers dismissed it as a forgery, simply because the quote comes from the Book of Rites instead of popular Chinese Zen texts. They were unaware that the exact phrase was actually recorded by a Chinese Zen monk of the Yuan-Ming era, who had originally referenced the book.

The phrase reads, 'Tiān wú sī fù'—'Heaven overspreads all without partiality.' The Chinese monk had incorporated this teaching of Confucius into his own Zen verse (January 1372) to mourn the victims of the wars during the Yuan-Ming transition: 'Tiān wú sī gài, dì wú sī zài, shān hé dà dì, jìn bèi ēn guāng, cǎo mù kūn chóng, xián zī huà lì'—'Heaven covers all without partiality, and Earth sustains all without partiality. The mountains, rivers, and the vast lands are completely bathed in nature's grace. Every plant, tree, and tiny insect relies on this universal, life-giving power to thrive and transform.'