Eyes of the Dragon

Zhang Sengyou was famous for painting just one thing—dragons. The abbot of Anle Temple in Nanjing had heard of Zhang’s work and commissioned him to paint four dragons on the temple walls.

Zhang Sengyou was a real artist, famous for his dragon paintings. He lived in the 6th century CE. Sadly none of his paintings have survived.

People came from miles around to see the master at work. Zhang created his dragons with just a few deft brushstrokes. Children wanted to reach out and touch the magnificent beasts, they were so lifelike.

Each dragon was a different colour. On the east wall was an azure dragon, on the west wall a white one, the south wall had a red dragon, and the north a black. Their bodies coiled among clouds, their taloned paws reaching out to grasp pearls.

Zhang painted every day for weeks. Then one day, he wiped his hands and announced that he had finished. The abbot frowned when he saw the four dragons.

“They aren’t finished,” he complained.

The other monks nodded in agreement. The dragons had no eyes.

“They are finished,” Zhang replied. “I have no intention of painting the eyes.”

But the abbot insisted. Reluctantly, Zhang dipped his brush in black paint. As he painted dots to represent the eyes of the azure dragon, there was a flash of lightning, followed by thunder. The monks’ mouths fell open as the painted dragon began to wriggle. Unperturbed, Zhang dotted the eyes of the white dragon. The walls bulged and cracked, wind whipped up leaves and dust. The azure dragon became three-dimensional, pulled away from the wall and flew off into the sky. The white dragon followed. Zhang was about to dot the eyes of the red dragon.

“Stop!” shouted the abbot.

Zhang Sengyou calmly washed out his brush. The monks stared in amazement at the ruined walls. The two eyeless dragons remained flat and motionless.

After that, whenever Zhang finished a dragon painting by dotting its eyes, he took the precaution of painting a small lock on his dragons to make sure that they didn’t fly away. Specialist dragon painters