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- Uploaded:
- Nov 26, 2009
- Original:
- 1600 × 1074
- Original date:
- Jun 30, 2009
From the museum:
Standing Bodhisattva
China
Jin dynasty, 12th-13th century
Wood with traces of polychrome
This sculpture, with its squarish face, elaborate volute of hair, thickset upper torso, and columnar lower body, is characteristic of Jin dynasty temple statues. It probably belonged to a group of images of deities placed on an altar in a Buddhist temple in either Shanxi or Hebei Province, where the non-Chinese Jurchen rulers of the Jin dynasty (1115-1234) had a strong power base.
Originally, the sculpture was painted - the face and hands with flesh tones, the clothing and scarves with bright colors. It would have been exhibited from a height to enhance the effect of the bodhisattvas's downcast eyes greeting the upward gaze of a viewer. The solemn, introspective face exemplifies the detached mental state associated with enlightenment. A bodhisattva is a being who has achieved this state and decides to remain in the world to help others attain personal salvation and enlightenment.
Wikipedia Article
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Sanskrit: बोधिसत्त्व bodhisattva; Pali: बोधिसत्त bodhisatta) is either an enlightened (bodhi) existence (sattva) or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one (satva) for enlightenment (bodhi)." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and especially in tantric works, this is more commonly reserved for the term jñānasattva ("awareness-being"; Tib. ཡེ་ཤེས་སེམས་དཔའ་་, Wyl. ye shes sems dpa’). Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
The bodhisattva is a popular subject in Buddhist art. Usage of the term bodhisattva has evolved over time. In early Indian Buddhism, for example, the term bodhisattva was used generally to refer specifically to the Buddha Shakyamuni in his former lives. The Jatakas, which are the stories of his lives, depict the various attempts of the bodhisattva to embrace qualities like self-sacrifice and morality.
Albums
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