Baita Temple: Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokitesvara
Gilt bronze
Baita Temple: Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokitesvara
CHINA, Beijing; Ming dynasty
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva sits in full lotus position on a low platform. A third eye is located in the center of the forehead, and of the eleven heads several are arranged on the crown. Forty-two arms are depicted in detail. In front of the torso, two hands are in anjali (reverence) mudra and two are in dhyana (meditation) mudra, while the rest either form mudras or hold objects. Some of the identified objects include: the sun and moon, a vajra, prayer beads and Dharma instruments. The remaining arms radiate out from the back of the Bodhisattva in a fan-like formation.
The Pratimalaksana Sutra states that the thousand arms represent 8 arms from the Dharma body, 42 arms of the reward body, and 952 arms from the manifestation body. In the Great Compassion Dharani Sutra are the details and meanings of each individual item the Bodhisattva holds.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture A-F, page 114.
Cite this article:
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Lovelock, Yann and Chou, Yuan and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture A-F},
pages = 114,
title = {{Baita Temple: Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokitesvara}},
volume = 10,
year = {2016}}