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inscription, no longer legible, in Chinese and Tibetan, separates the two processions. On the top
part of the extant painting there is shown Śākyamuni seated, holding the alms-bowl in his left hand
and with his right raised in the *vitarka-mudrā*. 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.
Groups of
Buddha with
Bodhi-
sattvas. 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 Amitābha Buddha standing
between Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāma, a well-known triad of Mahāyāna Buddhism,²⁵ all three
figures in due hieratic pose and of 'Indian' style. Another silk painting of the same stiff dis-
position, and probably showing the same Buddha and Bodhisattvas, is Ch. xx. 003. Of similar type
in arrangement are Ch. 00224, a poorly executed silk painting dated A.D. 939, showing Bhaiṣajya-
guru ²⁵ᵃ between Mañjuśrī 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 Bhaiṣajyabuddha appears between
Avalokiteśvara and Vajragarbha.
Other divine
assemblies. A somewhat enlarged scheme is presented by the relatively well-preserved painting Ch. xxiii.
001. It shows us a Buddha in the centre, probably Śākyamuni, surrounded by symmetrically
disposed Bodhisattvas, and two disciples whom Chinese inscriptions make it possible to identify as
Maudgalyāyana and Śāriputra. In Ch. 0074 we see a Bodhisattva, evidently Avalokiteśvara,
seated behind an altar, while around him are ranged four seated Bodhisattvas whom Tibetan
inscriptions identify with Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī, Sarvanivaraṇaviṣkambhin and Kṣitigarbha.
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
*Sukhāvatī*, 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
Interest of
Paradise
paintings. The group of large and elaborate paintings representing the Paradise of Amitābha, 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
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