Item: Avalokiteshvara (Bodhisattva & Buddhist Deity) - Bodhisattva

Avalokiteshvara (Tibetan: chen re zi. English: the All Seeing Lord) from a set of nine paintings depicting the Eight Great Bodhisattvas.

The depictions of the eight principal bodhisattvas are non-iconic and created based on the individual narrative stories from the Mahayana Sutra literature along with the imagination and artistic tradition of the artist.

Made famous in the Sutras as a bodhisattva, an aspirant to enlightenment, in the Vajrayana system of Northern Buddhism, in the Tantra texts specifically, he is acknowledged as a fully enlightened Buddha manifesting in a vast array of meditational forms for the benefit of all living beings.

Avalokiteshvara is the patron bodhisattva of Tibet and is included in all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. There are numerous New (Sarma) lineages and varying forms of practice that span all four tantric classifications as well as uncounted old oral traditions (Kama) and Treasure (Terma) traditions from the Nyingmapa School.

"To the Lord unstained by faults, white in colour, the head adorned with the perfect buddha, gazing on beings with eyes of compassion; to Avalokiteshvara I bow." (The great Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo, 557-649).

Jeff Watt 3-2008

Front of Painting
English Translation of Inscription: [No inscriptions]

Reverse of Painting
English Translation of Inscription: [No inscriptions]

Thematic Sets
Painting Style: Palpung Monastery
Painting Style: Palpung - Peaceful & Semi-Peaceful Deities
Buddhist Deity: Avalokiteshvara Masterworks (Painting)
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Gallery 4
Painting Set: Eight Great Bodhisattvas (Palpung)