The Spiritual Brush of Dokutan Shōkei Born in Putian, China, the monk known as Duzhan Xingying—or Dokutan Shōkei to those familiar with Japanese history—was a figure whose life and art were inextricably linked by the profound currents of Zen Buddhism. As a disciple of Ingen Ryūki, the founder of the Ōbaxu school of Zen in Japan, he occupied a unique position as a bridge between Chinese spiritual traditions and Japanese monastic practi…