Feiyin Tongrong's 费隐通容 calligraphy

Feiyin's Calligraphy: "Eyeball of a Blind Donkey" 瞎驴眼 at Manpukuji ©Jiang Wu 2014

Yinyuan's immediate dharma teacher is Feiyin Tongrong. We know him because he was defeated in a famous lawsuit about dharma transmission and his book was burnt as the result. However, little known is that he was also an excellent calligrapher. We can still see samples of his work at Manpukuji. I heard one of the Japanese tourists besides me was marveled at the calligraphy: 

すごい, she said.

Mr. Tanaka Chisei told me that Feiyin's calligraphy was unique because he actually wrote in his left hand. His right hand was chopped by bandits during the turbulent Ming-Qing transition. I never read any references in his biography about this accident. However, Tanaka san pointed to his portrait, in which his right hand is not shown, but hides inside the long sleeve.

Feiyin Tongrong's Portrait at Manpukuji