"Open the mind of enlightenment, develop wisdom in all branches of life, and you will bear much fruit," is the essential meaning of the inscription. Daruma is the personification of Zen enlightenment; the teaching Daruma represents naturally spread all over the world, in different branches, and continues to be a great blessing for human kind.
Goto Zuigan was born in Gifu Prefecture. Zuigan became interested in Buddhism in university, and eventually was ordained a Rinzai priest by Shaku Sokatsu of Enkaku-ji in Kamakura. As a young monk, Zuigan accompanied Sokatsu on his trips to the United States to give instruction in Zen to American students. Later, Zuigan served as head abbot of Myoshin-ji and then Daitoku-ji, an unusual accomplishment. He spent his last days in a hermitage near the world-famous Zen rock garden at Ryoan-ji in Kyoto. Zuigan was well-known as a scholaróhe was president of the Rinzai University in Kyoto for a timeóand a highly regarded Zen artist. Zuigan was the Zen teacher of Sen Soshitsu, the grandmaster of the Ura Senke School of tea ceremony, and one of the masters who gave instruction to Ruth Fuller Sasaki, the mother of Zen in the West.
