Embroidery of the Lotus Sutra

CHINA; Yuan dynasty

This Lotus Sutra was originally embroidered in seven fascicles; however, only the first is extant. Shown here are the frontispiece and one of the pages embroidered by Li Delian. The frontispiece depicts Sakyamuni Buddha teaching the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak. On the left is a stele with a dragon along each side. There are inscriptions which include a seven-character poem describing Emperor Renzong’s praise of the Lotus Sutra. The poem begins, “The Lotus Sutra has been propagated and is now announced to the monk Daoxuan of Nanshan.” The name of the translator, Kumarajiva, is also embroidered at the end of the work.
The other page features an illustration of Skanda, who is a Dharma protector. He stands in a heroic posture and is wearing armor. A pennant flies around him. His palms are joined and he has a sword resting on his forearms. He is embroidered with multi-color threads. The sutra is composed of 9,122 characters embroidered with deep blue silk thread in regular script on a yellow silk background.