Avalokitesvara with a thousand hands, also known as Avalokitesvara with a thousand eyes and a thousand arms, is one of the four great bodhisattvas in Chinese folk beliefs. Avalokitesvara with a thousand hands is the left follower of Amitabha, and it is also called "the Three Saints of the West" with Amitabha and the Great Trend Bodhisattva (the right follower of Amitabha).
According to the Buddhist scriptures, the thousand hands of Guanyin Bodhisattva mean to take care of all beings, and the thousand eyes mean to see the world. After the Tang Dynasty, avalokitesvara with a thousand hands was gradually enshrined as the main statue in many temples in China. The image of avalokitesvara with a thousand hands is often symbolized by forty secondhand hands, and each hand has a look.
Avalokitesvara is the honorific title of Guanyin Bodhisattva. "Thousand" means infinity and perfection, "thousand hands" means infinity of great compassion, and "thousand eyes" means perfection of wisdom. Dalagni Classic says that avalokitesvara with thousands of hands and eyes can benefit all sentient beings, and take all sentient beings as an opportunity to adopt five methods to satisfy all wishes.
Edit this painting: avalokitesvara with a thousand hands
The original artistic form of Avalokitesvara with a Thousand Hands is based on Avalokitesvara with a Thousand Hands and Eyes, which is called Avalokitesvara with a Thousand Hands and Eyes. Although its scriptures and images were brought to China by Indian preachers in the early Tang Dynasty, they took root in China after many twists and turns. Even so. In the temple murals and cave temples in the Tang and Song Dynasties, such themes are still rare. At present, the earliest recorded painting history may have been made by Zuo Quan, a famous Sichuan painter, in the Manjusri Pavilion of the Third Hospital of Chengdu during the Tang Bao calendar year (825-826), but now it has disappeared. Some experts believe that before the discovery of earlier image data, the changes of thousands of hands in Dunhuang grottoes such as 79, 1 13 and 148 in the Tang Dynasty can be considered as the earliest existing images of thousands of hands in China.
Edit this stone carving: avalokitesvara with a thousand hands
There are many well-preserved Guanyin statues in Sichuan Grottoes. The Sleeping Buddha Gully and Thousand Buddha Villages in Anyue, the Luohan Cave in Fushun, the Chonglong Mountain in Zizi, the Thousand Buddha Rock in Jiajiang, the Guanyin Stone Carvings in Dazu Baoding and Beishan are all fine works. Among them, the caves No.9 and No.273 in Dazu Beishan Grottoes and No.8 in Baoding Grottoes are more representative.
There is a cliff stone statue of 1007 in the south rock of Fowan, Baoding Mountain. People call her the only stone statue of Guanyin with a thousand hands in the world, which is a must in the world! In other places, avalokitesvara has only a few, a dozen or dozens of hands, which is just a symbolic sign of more hands. Guanyin in Dazu Shui Sheng Temple has 40 relief hands and more than 100 sculptors. There are hundreds of avalokitesvara in the Buddha's Cave in Anyue, which is rare, but not as many as avalokitesvara in Baoding Mountain. There are six hands in front of the Guanyin statue here, folded together, sealed and caressed. There is also a sitting Buddha with his hands on his head. The other hands are proudly and skillfully distributed on the cliff of 88 square meters on the left, right and up behind like peacocks. These hands are resources, and nothing is the same; There are different kinds of objects in your hands, and each hand has an eye. Thousands of hands mean boundless magic, which can save all beings from danger. A thousand eyes mean infinite wisdom. You can see the whole world and the details of autumn. The glittering Guanyin with thousands of hands and eyes amazed tourists!
Edit this Dazu stone carving: Guanyin with a thousand hands
There is a cliff stone statue of 1007 in the south rock of Fowan, Baoding Mountain. People call her the only stone statue of Guanyin with a thousand hands in the world, which is a must in the world! In other places, avalokitesvara with thousands of hands only has dozens or dozens of hands, which is just a symbolic sign of more hands. Guanyin in Dazu Shui Sheng Temple has 40 relief hands and more than 100 sculptors. There are hundreds of avalokitesvara bodhisattvas in Anyue Buddhist Cave, which is rare to see. However, there are not as many avalokitesvara statues here as avalokitesvara in Baoding Mountain. In front of them, there are six hands, folded together, both touching their knees. There is also a Buddha sitting with his hands. The rest are proudly behind them like peacocks, cleverly distributed on 88 square meters of cliff stone carvings. These hands are different, and none of them are the same. There is an eye in the palm of every hand, which represents boundless magic and can save all beings from danger. Thousands of eyes symbolize infinite wisdom, and you can see the world in general. Seeing the golden hands of Guanyin in autumn, visitors are amazed!
There is a beautiful legend about the appearance of avalokitesvara. Legend has it that Avalokitesvara was originally the third princess of the Indian King Miao Zhuang. King Miao Zhuang has three princesses, the grand duke's name is Jin Miao, the second is Miao Yin, and the third is Miaoshan. Miaoshan became a monk at an early age, but her father refused to let her go, and she insisted on leaving. There are 500 big monks living in the temple where she lives. King Miao Zhuang set fire to the temple and all 500 monks were burned to death in it. Her father is evil and has 500 big pustules. It's useless to use any medicine. The doctor said that flesh and blood has only one eye and one hand that can be cured by medicine. Big princess doesn't want to, the second princess loathe to give up. Only Princess Miaoshan, a yogi, heard that it would take one eye and one hand of his own flesh and blood to cure his father's illness, so he dug an eye and cut off a hand to give his father medicine. After my father took the medicine, the abscess disappeared and my body recovered. Miao Shan's great filial piety moved Sakyamuni, and Sakyamuni summoned Princess Miaoshan: "You big dutiful son, if you give up one eye and one hand, I will give you back a thousand eyes and one hand." In this way, Princess Miaoshan became a avalokitesvara bodhisattva with thousands of hands and eyes, and was revered by all the good men and women in Qian Qian. Guanyin, a thousand hands and thousands of eyes in Baoding Mountain, has also become a Buddhist resort with the highest incense and the same reputation as Emei.
How many hands does this avalokitesvara have?
It is said that someone wanted to solve this mystery a long time ago. But after counting, the distribution of hands is too complicated and has never been clear. Therefore, counting hands has become a difficult problem. In the Qing Dynasty, a clever monk took advantage of the opportunity of sticking gold foil to stick a hand to represent a number, and finally solved the mystery: Guanyin in Fowan, Baoding Mountain has 1007 hands and 1007 eyes. Because avalokitesvara is generally shaped like two eyes and two hands, with twenty hands and eyes on each side. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to call it the only true Guanyin statue with thousands of hands and dry eyes in Buddhist art in China.
According to textual research, this story comes from Guan Daosheng, the wife of Zhao in Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, Guanyin with a thousand hands in Baoding Grottoes never originated from this story, but was still created according to Buddhist scriptures.
The statue of Guanyin with a thousand hands in Cave 9 of Fowan Grottoes in Beishan was unearthed in the late Tang Dynasty. The niche is 2.9 meters high, 2.8 meters wide and 0.9 meters deep. On the main wall of the niche, Guanyin wears a corolla, and a Buddha is crowned. There are two beams of light on me, which hit the top of the niche from left to right and flew for two days. Badge wreaths all, dressed in heavenly clothes, with feet on the lotus, sitting on a diamond seat, square, with a height of 1. 1, a width of 1.5 and a thickness of 0.5m.. Use 40 second-hand (multi-disabled) hands to hold a Buddha on the crown, put your hands together on your chest, put your hands under your abdomen a little, put your hands on your knees and seal them quietly, and hold bottles, bells, wheels, mirrors, bows, fangs, shields and other instruments in the other hand. The peach-shaped lamp is supported on the back, and the outer edge is engraved with flame patterns, and many arms are engraved inside to show thousands of hands. Take a look at each palm and show dry eyes. On the right side of Guanyin, an old man was kneeling, bony, with a pocket in his hand, begging for something. Kneeling on the left is a hungry ghost, holding a bowl in both hands and begging.
There are three statues on the left and right walls of the niche. Inside the upper layer, five buddhas stand in the clouds, that is, ten buddhas. Raytheon carved a sheep's head, the rain master held the Buddha's dust, the wind god held the wind bag, and Dian Mu hung a mirror. The middle layer is Manjusri riding on the back of a green lion, Pu Xian riding on the back of a white elephant, Luo and Kuma Luo Tian riding on the back of a cow. Carve a bodhisattva, two waiters and two king kong statues on the lower floor.
No.273 niche of Fowan in Beishan Grottoes was carved in the Five Dynasties. The niche is 1.sl m high, 1. 1 m wide and 0.73 m deep. The main statue of avalokitesvara in the shrine is basically the same as that in the ninth shrine mentioned above. The difference is that the statues on the left and right walls of this niche are far less abundant than those on the No.9 niche, and only one waiter and one waitress are carved on each side. The waitress stood with something. The waiter is a Persian fairy, with a height of 0.45 meters and a shoulder width of 0. 13 meters. High nose, deep eyes, long beard, slim figure and beautiful appearance. Hold a long stick in your left hand and a bead in your right. On the top wall of another niche, there is a flying sky on the left and right of the flat lotus-shaped treasure cover, which is beautiful.
Compared with the above statues, it is not difficult to see that the ninth niche of Fowan Grottoes in Beishan, regardless of the limitation of space in the niche, focuses on the faithfulness and strictness of Buddhist scriptures, and abides by the rituals stipulated by Buddhist scriptures, basically showing the contents of the Compassion of a Thousand Hands, which can be called the most complete Guanyin Sutra in Sichuan Grottoes. On the premise of strictly observing the basic contents of Buddhist scriptures, the 273rd niche deleted some contents according to the actual situation of the space in the niche. The eighth niche of the Giant Buddha Bay Grottoes in Baoding is different. Fully rendered and displayed the dry eyes of thousands of hands and the various instruments held in their hands, and put the expression of Buddhist scriptures in a secondary position. This reflects that from the middle and late Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, the Avalokitesvara statue in Dazu Grottoes experienced a historical process from Ke Yan's adherence to Buddhist rituals to simplification of Buddhist scriptures.
Edit this disabled dance: Guanyin with a thousand hands
At the Spring Festival Gala in 2005, the program "Avalokitesvara with a Thousand Hands" by China Disabled Art Troupe touched all China.
Guanyin with a thousand hands gives people visual enjoyment and soul shock at CCTV Spring Festival Evening. With an average age of 265,438+0, 265,438+0 deaf-mute actors performed the dance Guanyin with a thousand hands seamlessly and beautifully. Thousand-handed Guanyin has been recognized by many parties.
Avalokitesvara with a Thousand Hands was directed by Zhang Jigang, the only "Star of the Century" winner in China dance circle and the head of the Song and Dance Troupe of the General Political Department, and performed by deaf dancers from the China Disabled People's Art Troupe. After several years' tempering, this dance program has become a reserved program of the special performance of My Dream by China Disabled Art Troupe, which has been performed in more than 40 countries and caused a sensation. On September 28th, 2004, Guanyin with a Thousand Hands, as the main program, performed for 8 minutes in the closing ceremony of Athens Paralympic Games, which amazed the world.
It took a long time for the disabled living in the silent world to interpret Guanyin with a thousand hands almost perfectly. Zhang Jigang introduced that in order to let the actors feel the rhythm of music accurately and shoot at the same time, he used the sign language teacher to convey information to the actors and told them the dance movements and styles in sign language. During the performance, four sign language teachers stood in the four corners of the stage, and their hands became the ears of deaf-mute actors. Sign language conveys the rhythm of music, and deaf-mute actors fiddle with beautiful dances in the "rhythm".
In Avalokitesvara with a Thousand Hands, the first dancer, Tai Lihua, became the soul of the whole dance with her holy and elegant demeanor and graceful dance. Tai Lihua, a native of Hubei, was deaf at the age of 2 and learned to dance at the age of 15. Dance became her inner language. Tai Lihua has won many international dance awards, and once became the only dancer in China to board two world-class art halls, Carnegie Hall in new york and Scala Grand Theatre in Italy, with the dance "The Spirit of Sparrows". Her performance "The Spirit of Sparrows" deeply touched the famous dancer Yang li Ping, and Yang li Ping became her mentor.