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Guanyin [Avalokiteshvara] as the Nine-Lotus Bodhisattva.

Guanyin leans upon an elegant parapet and is backed by a grove of bamboo and a large rock. Lotuses bloom in a pond before the androgynously rendered bodhisattva, suggesting that this is also intended as a representation of the Nine-lotus Guanyin. The youthful visitor at lower left is Sudhana (Japanese: Zenzai dōji), a wealthy boy who, according to the final chapter of the Flower Garland Sutra, visited Guanyin in Potalaka during a long journey to learn the bodhisattva path.

China, 1593 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Categories: Art