Boddhisattva of Compassion: Guanyin

Guanyin is a bodhisattva, a spiritually advanced being who, according to Buddhist doctrine, has walked far along the path of enlightenment but has not yet fully attained it. Bodhisattvas display karuna (compassion) by delaying their final enlightenment as long as people remain trapped in the world of suffering and ignorance. Guanyin so perfectly embodies karuna that this deity is known as the Bodhisattva of Compassion. On view in HoMA’s Buddhist Gallery is a statue of Guanyin, one of the finest—and earliest— well preserved examples of wooden 11th century Buddhist sculpture from China’s Northern Song dynasty. It is also a rare early example of Guanyin in the position of royal ease.

Guanyin’s benevolence produces a special talent: the ability to assume a variety of forms depending upon the needs of those suffering. For some, Guanyin is Avalokiteshvara, a bodhisattva who emerged from South Asia in the early days of Buddhism. As belief in Avalokiteshvara spread across East Asia, the bodhisattva came to be known by different names: Guanyin in China, Kannon in Japan, and Gwaneum in Korea. Guanyin spread through Southeast Asia as well, assuming the guise of Lokeshvara. Compassion emerges from the pores of this figure’s skin in the form of tiny bodhisattva figures, radiating like beams of light. (See the Radiating Lokeshvara in HoMA’s Buddhist Gallery.) Guanyin may be depicted as either male or female. Such figures are often portrayed relaxing in the “pose of royal ease” (lalitasana). They may also have eleven faces and a thousand arms; and they may even appear as wrathful Mahakala with a halo of flames and jewelry made of skulls.

Guanyin’s ability to appear in diverse forms reveals something important about compassion: it is selfless. True compassion is expressed in a way that best suits the person suffering, not the one providing aid. Guanyin transforms to best help those in crisis. Compassion and art share something in common in this regard. Art is shaped not only by the artist but also by the viewer. Art finds its meaning in being experienced, and this meaning changes with every individual. Similarly, Guanyin is not just created in the moment that their likeness is carved or painted; they are recreated whenever they are seen by someone for the first time.

— Shawn Eichman, Curator of Asian Art

Guanyin
China, Northern Song (960–1126)
Or Tangut Xia (1038–1227) dynasty, first half of the 11th century
Wood with traces of pigment
Purchase, 1927 (2400)