An Early Tibetan Painting of Manjushri
This painting is an early Tibetan depiction of Manjushri as the leader of the Three Lords a popular grouping of the bodhisattvas Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani. The Seven Buddhas of the Past are depicted in the top register along with eight different forms of Manjushri placed throughout the composition.
Manjushri is a popular Buddhist figure commonly represented in art. He first arises from the Mahayana Sutra literature where he is regarded as a bodhisattva, a principal student of the Buddha, specializing in the subject of wisdom.
In the Tantric literature of Northern Buddhism he is seen as a completely enlightened Buddha with a great number of manifestations and appearances spanning all classes of Tantra. He can appear both simple or complex in form. All of these various forms function as Tantric meditational deities. (View more of the various forms of Manjushri as a Tantric deity).