The Great Bodhisattvas— A work in progress.
Here below are prints for the first four of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas.
In the coming years, prints will be produced for the second four.
MAṂ
Mañjuśhrī Bodhisattva
Mañjuśhrī is the embodiment of wisdom. He appears in a variety of forms & colors, has many epithets, and is conjured with different mantras & seed syllables.
He is frequently portrayed holding a sword—to cut through dualistic, intellectual entanglements— and a book, to stimulate learning, memorization, and proclamation.
He is primary among the Eight Great Bodhisattvas,
SAḤ
Mahāsthamāprāpta Bodhisattva
Among the earliest to be recognized, Mahāsthamāprāpta is another bodhisattva who appears in many forms— in China, for example, as the female Daishizhi.
For Tibetan traditions he is Vajrapāṇi, usually depicted as wrathful, representing the powerful aspect of Buddha’s wisdom.
From first representations as companion and guardian of the Buddha, through his wide-spread importance as temple protector in Japan, Mahāsthamāprāpta Bodhisattva embodies spiritual strength.
VŪ
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Avalokiteshvara, embodiment of compassion, may be the most widely venerated of all bodhisattvas.
Famed as the principal speaker of the Heart Sutra, Avalokiteshvara’s qualities and powers are extolled by the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra.
Primary among these is the ability to take an infinite variety of forms—from the most exalted to the humblest, human, non-human, female, male, other—to help sentient beings.
Avalokiteshvara is also represented with a wide array of iconography, is called with different mantras, and is invoked with a number of seed syllables.
YŪ
Bodhisattva Maitreya
Said to be the next Buddha, Maitreya presently resides in the Tuṣita heavens.
Dressed in jeweled garments, he is usually portrayed seated on a bench with his feet down, or standing. A number of cultures associate him with a large, round, laughing Buddha. His name derives from the Sanskrit root mitra, for “friend.”
If you would like to acquire one of these prints, please contact me directly.