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882 PICTORIAL REMAINS FROM THE THOUSAND BUDDHAS [Chap. XXIII

inscription, no longer legible, in Chinese and Tibetan, separates the two processions. On the top part of the extant painting there is shown Sâkyamuni seated, holding the alms-bowl in his left hand

and with his right raised in the vitarka-mudrei. On either side is seated a large Bodhisattva, painted in the hieratic ` Indian ' style and in an Indian pose, while a great assembly composed of aged disciples and lesser Bodhisattvas, the latter of the ` Chinese ' type, surrounds the principal figures. For all details of this noble picture, which by fine composition, colours, and workmanship alike claims a high place in the collection, a reference to the Descriptive List must suffice.

We can now proceed to those simpler representations of divine assemblages which show two or more deities symmetrically grouped around a central figure, and which provide a suitable transition to the elaborate ` Paradise ' paintings. Thus in Ch. 0067 we have Amitâbha Buddha standing between Avalokitesvara and Mahasthâma, a well-known triad of Mahayana Buddhism,25 all three figures in due hieratic pose and of ` Indian ' style. Another silk painting of the same stiff disposition, and probably showing the same Buddha and Bodhisattvas, is Ch. xx. oo3. Of similar type in arrangement are Ch. 00224, a poorly executed silk painting dated A.D. 939, showing Bhaisajyaguru 2.5a between Matijusri and Samantabhadra, the last two in ` Chinese ' style, and Ch. xxi. 002, a badly preserved picture where the flanking Bodhisattvas are probably the same, but not identified by inscriptions.26 In the paper painting Ch. xxi. 0015 Bhaisajyabuddha appears between Avalokitesvara and Vajragarbha.

A somewhat enlarged scheme is presented by the relatively well-preserved painting Ch. xxxiii. .001. It shows us a Buddha in the centre, probably Sâkyamuni, surrounded by symmetrically disposed Bodhisattvas, and two disciples whom Chinese inscriptions make it possible to identify as Maudgalyâyana and Sâ.riputra. In Ch. 0074 we see a Bodhisattva, evidently Avalokitesvara, seated behind an altar, . while around him are ranged four seated Bodhisattvas whom Tibetan inscriptions identify with Samantabhadra and Matijusri, Sarvanivaranaviskambhin and Ksitigarbha. It only remains in this group of paintings to mention the fragment, Ch. 00222, of what was undoubtedly a large Mandala, but which in its surviving parts lacks such typical features of the Sukhâvaa, or ` Western Paradise', pictures as the lake, the celestial music, and dancing, etc. The badly damaged condition of the silk painting, of which only the original width, over four feet, is certain, does not permit the determination of the central Buddha figure. By its side we find ranged in strict symmetry, besides two chief Bodhisattvas within vesicas, a large assembly of divine beings, including twelve minor Bodhisattvas, the Ten Kings, and six shaven monks whom their haloes mark as Arhats. With this large array of celestial figures the fragment, indifferent as its artistic execution is, may serve as a fit prelude to the series of big compositions to be discussed in the following section.

SECTION VIII.—PICTURES OF BUDDHIST HEAVENS

The group of large and elaborate paintings representing the Paradise of Amitâbha, and less frequently other Buddhist Heavens, in various respects forms a specially interesting and important portion of our collection. The questions that they raise for the iconography and history of Buddhist

Groups of Buddha with Bodhisattvas.

Other divine assemblies.

2 Cf. e.g. Grunwedel-Burgess, Buddhist Art, pp. 183, 193 note, 194 note, etc.

For a fr. of a paper painting, showing Avalokitegvara by the side of a Buddha, probably Amitâbha, see Ch. xxviii. oo5.

25a [But see below, Appendix E, II, Mr. Waley's note on Ch. 00224.]

26 This seems the best place for making brief reference also to Ch. xxii. ooi7, a poorly preserved painting on closely woven linen, where a seated central Avalokite§vara is flanked

by two Bodhisattvas that are but little smaller in size, and his Dhyani-buddha above by two more Bodhisattvas. The figures, purely 'Indian ' in style, are all scattered without any attempt at grouping.

Another linen painting, Ch. 00132, of large size but badly effaced, represents a Buddha with attending Bodhisattvas. For a paper painting with a similar group, see Ch. oo16o (PI. xCII).

Interest of Paradise paintings.