Monju on a Lion
- Medium
- Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
- Dimensions
- 24 9/16 × 14 1/4 in. (62.39 × 36.2 cm) (image) 61 7/8 × 19 3/8 in. (157.16 × 49.21 cm) (mount, without roller)
- Genre
- Painting
Tags
Japan
About
The bodhisattva Monju (Sanskrit: Mañjuśri) is depicted here reading a sutra on the back of his vehicle, a blue lion. This painting once served as the right-hand scroll of a triad of Buddhist deities centered on the historical Buddha, Shaka (S: Shakyamuni). Monju and his blue lion would have been balanced on the far left by the bodhisattva Fugen (S: Samantabhadra), who rides a white elephant.
