Death 

Hakuin Ekaku crafted this artwork, entitled "Death", with ink on paper. In the stark, bold strokes of the character for "death," we find not just an end, but a gateway. Consider the dance of death— the Danse Macabre—a motif from medieval Europe where death, often personified as a skeleton, leads people from all walks of life to their graves. Like Ekaku's brushstroke, it is a potent reminder of mortality. Think of the Grim Reaper, a more contemporary personification of death, whose scythe mirrors the cutting finality of Ekaku's kanji. These symbols, though culturally distinct, share a common thread. They are not just about physical demise, but about the universal human experience of impermanence. This piece touches on our primal fears and our subconscious attempts to come to terms with life's great inevitability. "Death" is a stark Zen Buddhist reminder that cycles of existence and nothing truly disappears, but reappears in different forms.