This is one of the finest paintings from the Dunhuang library cave. It is a masterpiece of Chinese esoteric or tantric Buddhist art, depicting one of the tantric forms of Avalokiteśvara (for another, see cat. no. 126). The central figure is surrounded by buddhas and other bodhisattvas, in both peaceful and, along the bottom of the paining, wrathful modes. In each of Avalokiteśvara’s thousand hands is a single eye. The many eyes and hands of the bodhisattva represent his unlimited ability to perceive the suffering of sentient beings and to reach out and help them. This form of Avalokiteśvara became popular in Khotan, China and Tibet.
Ink and pigments on silk
The British Museum,
1919,0101,0.35 (Ch.xl.008)