A scholarly essay by Michelle C. Wang, published in MAVCOR's Conversations journal in 2013, analysing a Tang dynasty painting of the Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara held by the British Museum, tracing the form's textual basis to the Lotus Sutra and the Karandavyuha Sutra, its meaning as a visual metaphor for the bodhisattva's omniscience and boundless capacity to aid suffering beings, and its standing as the Great Compassionate One central to Tang and Song devotional practice. Read here to corroborate the form's meaning and textual basis, not for facts specific to the Philadelphia sculpture.
Facts
Citation
AuthorMichelle C. Wang
PublisherMAVCOR (Material and Visual Cultures of Religion), Yale University
Publication Year2013
URLhttps://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/object-narratives/thousand-armed-and-thousand-eyed-avalokiteshvara
Source Typeacademic article
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Tier one: a peer reviewed scholarly essay by a named specialist in Buddhist art history, published by a university research center devoted to material religion. Connections
Associated With
This source names Avalokiteshvara directly: "the Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara held by the British Museum, tracing the form's textual basis to the Lotus Sutra and the Karandavyuha Sutra, its meaning as a visual metaphor for..."
Source Michelle C. Wang, "Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara" (MAVCOR, 2013)Michelle C. Wang
This source names Avalokiteshvara directly: "the Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara held by the British Museum, tracing the form's textual basis to the Lotus Sutra and the Karandavyuha Sutra, its meaning as a visual metaphor for..."
Source Michelle C. Wang, "Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara" (MAVCOR, 2013)Michelle C. Wang
Claims Backed By This Source (9 claims)
This source backs 9 claims across the atlas. As facts: 7 well-attested. As cited relationships: 2 holds.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 9 claims: 7 well-attested, 2 holds.
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