Zen masters often brush paintings of monks, usually in a group on begging rounds. Nantembo and Deiryu were famed for such zenga, but Gempo liked to brush just one monk on pilgrimage. Gempo himself made many such solitary pilgrimages in his long life, including one to the United States with no English. (He was arrested there once as a beggar because he was unable to explain who he was.)
The second half of this couplet is "Then sit and watch the clouds arise." In other words, "Search widely for the whole truth, and when you find it settle there."
Yamamoto Gempo was perhaps the most outstanding and influential of twentieth-century Zen masters. During his long and eventful life, Gempo brushed many zenga in a simple, pure style.
