GUANYIN

The bodhisattva Guanyin has been and is one of the most popular divinities of Buddhism. Its religious and iconographic origin is found in the Indian bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the “lord of compassion”, who throughout the territorial and temporal expansion of Mahayana Buddhism acquired not only different names, but also new iconographies and invocations, without ever losing its original relationship with two of the most important values of Mahayana Buddhism, wisdom and compassion or mercy. If the origin of the iconography of Avalokitesvara refers us to a masculine figure, of princely bearing, adorned with jewels and crowns and acquiring the body postures (asanas) and hands (mudras) characteristic of Buddha and the bodhisattvas, the popular cult will transform it into something more elaborate and magical. Thus his magical forces will be interpreted plastically through the multiplication of arms and faces (F.R.A., inv.Ch.Tib.Pint.,0005), always with a peaceful appearance and accompanied by his attributes among which stand out the flask or bottle of ambrosia, the lotus, the book, etc. This type of representation was immediately assimilated by Tibetan Buddhism and is also frequent in the decoration of Buddhist grottoes along the “Silk Road”. From the end of the Tang dynasty (9th century), but especially during the Song dynasty, a new iconographic transformation of Avalokitesvara began, which even implied a change of gender. The feminization of the bodhisattva was due to the fusion with certain elements coming from popular legends that allowed the assimilation of the bodhisattva with Guanyin, a girl of strong Buddhist convictions, whose cult was widespread in the south of the country. It is no coincidence then that this transformation is more frequent in artistic examples in southern Buddhist art, from where it would move to Korea and Japan. In this piece Guanyin still presents marked masculine features, such as the absence of clothing covering his chest or the presence of a moustache on his face. The loose hair falls in two locks over his shoulders, which in turn are protected by a shawl. Her clothing, still of Indian origin, is limited to a tunic gathered at the waist that covers her up to her feet, being treated plastically with what is known in classical sculpture as the technique of “wet cloths”. From the neck hangs a jewel, with a triple termination covering the chest. Guanyin is indolently seated on a lotus flower, which in turn is placed on a pedestal that simulates the mountains and the waves of the sea. This posture is called “lalitasana”, in which the goddess is depicted with one leg dangling and resting on a lotus, while in the other collection she rests her right arm. With her hands she makes the gesture or mudra of argumentation, “vitarka?mudra”. This type of iconography is related to the so-called “Guanyin in Potakala”, frequent in certain Buddhist caves of southern China, from one of the sacred Buddhist texts, the Gandhavyuha. The rocky pedestal on which Guanyin rests is identified with Potakala, his kingdom, which Guanyin’s followers in China identified with the island of Mount Putuo off the coast of Zhejiang. During the Song dynasty, wood carvings of Guanyin were frequent, picking up the iconography indicated. In some occasions they were also made in bronze, maintaining in both materials a great quality in the carving and the artistic treatment of the figure. An example very similar to the piece of the Rodriguez-Acosta Foundation is in the Asmolean Museum of Oxford, made in gilded bronze. I.C.F. / Extracted from: Isabel CERVERA FERNÁNDEZ: Fundación Rodríguez-Acosta. Asian Art Collection. Granada, 2002. Bibliography: DEYDER Ch.: Les bronzes Chinoises. Fribourg, 1980, p. 190. / HOWARD, A.F.: “Tang and Song Images of Guanyin from Sichuan” in Orientations. Hong Kong. January, 1990: 49-75.