In many Buddhist traditions it is believed that making images of the Buddha is an act of merit for both artist and patron. In China, groups of lay Buddhists often pooled their resources to commission large stone plaques known as steles. A group of donors from Taiping county (in what is now Shanxi province) collaborated to produce this stele. Their names are incised on its bottom and sides, and a register of eight particularly prominent donors appears on the front along with generalized full-length portraits. The inscription also contains the date, 549.

This stele reflects a period when Buddhism had just begun to develop a uniquely Chinese form. The top front register, framed by two dragons, illustrates the debate between the wealthy layman Vimalakirti and the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjushri. Their encounter is described in the text of a sutra important to Chinese Buddhists because it demonstrated how a wealthy townsperson or layperson could participate in a discussion of Buddhist doctrine on equal terms with a bodhisattva—a perfected, enlightened being. It reassured people that it was possible to honor Buddhist spiritual values as well as the family obligations embedded in Confucianism, which was native to China. The stele also includes images of Shakyamuni’s disciples, monks, and important bodhisattvas, and the theme of rebirth in a Buddhist paradise. Four reborn souls emerge from the lotus blossoms on the canopy above the main image.

When the world is beset with difficulties, Vishnu assumes various forms to overcome them and reestablish order. Once, the Earth, personified as a woman, was trapped at the bottom of the sea. Vishnu took the form of a boar to dive beneath the waters, free her, and carry her to the surface.

Here Vishnu is shown with a boar’s head and four-armed human body. The Earth (whose head is broken) is seated at the elbow of Vishnu’s upper-left arm. Vishnu carries in three of his hands his standard symbolic implements: a club, a conch shell, and a war discus. These last two are personified by tiny figures at the lower corners who hold an additional war discus and conch. The waters through which Vishnu has dived are symbolized by four half-human-half-serpent beings who twine near him, and by lotus leaves, flowers, and stems behind him.

On either side of the goddess Prajnaparamita grow lotuses on which rest representations of books of “transcendent wisdom,” which she personifies. These books would have been made up of rectangular palm leaf pages wrapped in fabric for protection. The wrappings can be seen represented here. The goddess’s garments are carved with a flowered pattern. The backslab of this sculpture is inscribed with the “Buddhist creed.” An inscription on the base gives the donor’s name as Kikabhapurva.

Two male demons set out to overcome the warrior goddess Durga. When she saw them, “her face in anger became black as ink. From her knitted brows sprang forth Kali [Chamunda], with her dreadful face. . . . She carried a strange skull-topped staff; she was shrouded in a tiger skin and looked utterly gruesome with her emaciated skin. Her mouth gaped widely, terrifying with its lolling tongue, and filled the directions with roars.”

Here the terrifying twelve-armed goddess brandishes not only a skull-topped staff, but also a trident, bow, skull cup, and other implements of violence. In her two uppermost hands she holds a corpse.

(Quotation from the 1500-year-old Hindu text Devi Mahatmya [The Glories of the Goddess] adapted from Thomas B. Coburn’s translation in Vidya Dehejia, Devi: The Great Goddess, 1999)

In Tibet, paintings of wrathful protective deities on a black background were stored in monasteries in special rooms only the initiated could enter. Such paintings, including the one shown here, contain powerful symbols that can be correctly understood only by those with extensive training.

The wrathful deity in the center, standing on animals with his numerous right feet and on birds with his left, can be identified as Vajrabhairava. The ferocious form of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, Vajrabhairava is seen here as the conqueror of death. Bodhisattvas, compassionate followers of Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha), postponed their own enlightenment to spread his teachings and aid the faithful in reaching enlightenment. An image of Manjushri’s head surmounts Vajrabhairava’s crown.

Yamantaka, the conqueror of death, has many forms, and Vajrabhairava, depicted in the center, is one of them. Yamantaka is also one of the Eight Guardians of the Buddha’s Law. His ferocious aspect is emphasized by his eleven-headed rectangular bull’s face, his threatening horns, and his black body with its thirty-four outstretched hands and sixteen trampling feet. Yama, the god of death, is shown in all the four corners.

Mandalas are cosmic diagrams used as aids to meditation. This particular painting comes from the tradition of the Ngor order of Tibetan Buddhism and is painted in the Nepalese style. It is characterized by crisp painting, the use of spiraling floral patterns to form the background, the haloes of stylized flames around the deities, and the detailed lotus pedestals supporting them.

Ancient Koreans believed birds were the messengers to the spirit world because they can travel over land and water and through the sky. In villages figures of birds can still be seen atop tall wooden poles, recalling their earlier importance. Even today Koreans especially favor ducks, because ducks mate for life. Many duck-shaped vessels have been discovered in tombs in the ancient regions of Gaya and Silla, suggesting their importance in those ancient cultures (42-562).

The prominent opening on the back and tail indicates that this vessel was used to serve wine or to pour purified water at special rituals and ceremonies. Compared to those dated to the fifth and sixth centuries, which have a more naturalistic appearance and have been fired to the hardness of stoneware, earlier examples like this piece were fired only to the hardness of earthenware and were probably not suited for practical purposes. The duck has lost the lowest part of its tubular stand, yet its whimsical expression has endearing and intriguing qualities.

Three demons practice such severe self-denial that they earn a favor from the deity Brahma. They ask “that they could not be slain by any creatures, ever.” Brahma says that there is no complete immortality and tells them to ask for a different favor. They then ask “that we may establish three cities and wander over this world by your grace. Then, after a thousand years, we will come together and these cities will become one, and the blessed lord, Shiva, will destroy these united cities with a single arrow, and that will be our death.”

Shiva is shown at the moment when the three cities unite, shooting the single arrow that will destroy them. In addition to the bow at upper right, in most of his other nine hands he holds a variety of other weapons. His left foot rests on the back of a demon. Behind his other foot can be seen his son the elephant-headed Ganesha. (Quotations adapted from Wendy O’Flaherty’s translations in Hindu Myths,1975)

The Buddhist deity Vajra Tara (Diamond Tara or Thunderbolt Tara) is known as a provider of magical protection. Her devotees were adherents of a branch of Buddhism that made use of mandalas, special diagrams for meditational purposes. This image of Vajra Tara and her attendants is, in fact, a sculptural mandala. The organization of its figures adheres to Buddhist texts that speak of her being seated amid a group of ten goddesses. Here they are arranged along the upper edge of the backslab and at the sides of the lotus pedestal, while a presiding Buddha appears at the sculpture’s apex. The eight arms of Vajra Tara, indicators of her divine nature, carry symbolic implements (such as noose, elephant prod, and lotus) that are also described in Buddhist literature. The dark gray stone and crisp carving link this object with earlier sculpture from eastern India. The late date of this sculpture is suggested by its elaborate working of all available surfaces and the great depth of its carving.

Guhyasamaja means “Secret Union,” and this sculpture of just such a union embodies many symbolic secrets. To begin with, the two figures in sexual embrace represent wisdom and compassion—the two components of the enlightened state—in dynamic balance. Usually, Guhyasamaja’s symbolism also includes the emblems of the Buddhas of all the symbolic directions, but the sculpture has lost them. During the reigns of the Yongle and Xuande emperors, works of this excellence were cast by Chinese court artisans as presents to the high monks of Tibet as well as for the personal use of the royalty.