Chinese Figure Depicting Bodhidharma Damo, the Founder of Zen Buddhism

Beads the size of plums, a staff swung high and a scowl that means business.

This figure depicting Bodhidharma, or Damo, the founder of Zen Buddhism, comes from China and is contemporary, carved in boxwood. Bodhidharma is traditionally said to have brought Chan, or Zen, Buddhism to China, and he is usually shown as a fierce, bearded figure with heavy brows. Here he crouches on a rocky base, one arm raised with a long staff over his shoulder and a bundle hanging from its end. A heavy string of round beads circles his neck. The robe folds are cut deep, and the warm wood shows fine tool work. It is 5.5 inches high and 5 wide.

Years of meditation did nothing to slow him down.