釈迦三尊十六羅漢像|Shaka (Shakyamuni), the Historical Buddha, with Two Attendant Bodhisattvas and Sixteen Arhats

Unknown

14th century · Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk · Asian Art

This scroll depicts the Buddha on a bank of swirling clouds at upper center, preaching to a varied group of figures at Vulture Peak. He is flanked by attendant bodhisattvas: Fugen, at right riding a white elephant, and Monju, at left on a blue lion. Below this heavenly triad are sixteen arhats (rakan), enlightened ascetic followers of the Buddha, who engage in a diversity of activities in a landscape of jagged rocks, caverns, and rushing waterfalls. Joining them are two historical figures, both crucial to the development of Japanese Buddhism: at left in a red robe is Shōtoku Taishi (574–622), an imperial prince and early patron of Buddhism, and at right the monk Kūkai (774–835), founder of the Shingon sect of Esoteric Buddhism.

Artist

Unknown

Date

14th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015