Bodhisattvas are Buddhist deities who have forgone entrance into Nirvana until that time when all beings have attained enlightenment. In China, Kuan-yin became the most popular bodhisattva and was widely worshipped as the deity of mercy and compassion.
This magnificent example from north China is constructed of removable wooden sections which still retain traces of original pigment. Several sections of the robes exhibit fine textile patterns executed in gold.
Seated cross-legged in the pose of meditation, the right hand is raised in the vara mudra, the gesture of charity, while the left hand is in the mudra of discourse or argumentation. Carved during the last creative epochs of Chinese Buddhist sculpture, this sumptuously attired image expresses the new humanism of the day while capturing the gentler, benign calm of near enlightenment.
cxd
<P>Bodhisattvas are Buddhist deities who have forgone entrance into Nirvana until that time when all beings have attained enlightenment. In China, Kuan-yin became the most popular bodhisattva and was widely worshipped as the deity of mercy and compassion.</P><P>This magnificent example from north China is constructed of removable wooden sections which still retain traces of original pigment. Several sections of the robes exhibit fine textile patterns executed in gold. </P><P>Seated cross-legged in the pose of meditation, the right hand is raised in the vara mudra, the gesture of charity, while the left hand is in the mudra of discourse or argumentation. Carved during the last creative epochs of Chinese Buddhist sculpture, this sumptuously attired image expresses the new humanism of the day while capturing the gentler, benign calm of near enlightenment. </P><P></P>
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