Buddhist iconography in and outside India (Study)
by Purabi Gangopadhyay | 2016 | 47,446 words
This essay represents a a comparative study of Buddhist iconography in and outside India, focusing on regions such as China, Korea, and Japan. The study is divided into four chapters, covering: 1. The emergence of Buddhism in India and its spread to other countries; 2. A historical account of Indian Buddhist iconography and the integration of Brahm...
Fuku-Kensaku Kannon (or Amoghapasha)
The Fuku-Kensaku is another important figure belonging
- 107 to the Kannon-bu. Todai-ji temple. There is an example of this figure in the The figure has six hands and the principal two hands are in namaskara mudra. There is a lasso or Pasa in his left hand. By this lasso or Pasa Amoghapasa holds the devotees (gods and men) and take them to the Bodhi shore or to the shore of salvation. He is the bestower of Bodhi to his devotees. The lasso or Pasa is the main characteristic attribute of Fuku-Kensaku Kannon or Bodhisattva Amoghapaca. But some of the Kensaku Kannon figure can be seen without the lasso. In Indian Buddhism Amoghapasa is placed among the 108 forms of Avalokitesvara who is known as Amoghapasa Lokesvara. In the Sadhana he is described as four-faced and eight-armed and stands on a lotus. He carries in his four right hands a Vajra, a sword, an arrow and a bow, while the left four carry the ghanta, the tridant, noose and arrow. We may thus find a striking similarity between the iconographic concept of Japanese Fuku Kensaku Kannon and Indian Amoghapasa Lokesvara.