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Perspectives on Gender in Buddhism:

The Feminization of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara

By Lindsey E. DeWitt

University of Washington

In this paper I seek a better understanding of the cultural and visual processes whereby a

Buddhist deity came to be depicted with feminine features and in female form in medieval China and

Japan. In the Buddhist tradition, the character of deities is often personalized, assuming humanlike traits.

This is the result of a locally situated process that is dynamic and ever-changing. A well-illustrated

example of this personalization is the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara (Fig. 1, Chn: Guanyin,

Jpn: Kannon), who appears first in India in male form yet undergoes a gender transformation in East

Asia and gains widespread popularity as a woman. Using Avalokiteśvara as a focal point, I intend for

this endeavor to bring to light the complex relationships between gender, artistic representation, and

context. This feminization, as it were, extends across both geographical and historical space and

although there is a scriptural basis for female deities in the Buddhist canon, I suggest here that the shift

from masculine (Fig. 2) to feminine (Fig. 3) depiction is primarily determined by social context,

localized attitudes towards gender, and the perspective of individual artists.

In order to understand the ways in which this deity assumes a female form, I pursue here several

lines of inquiry into the connections between representation and context and their mutually constituting

relationship. Most importantly this venture explores issues of gender, but necessarily extends to include

religious belief, artist, audience, and sociopolitical and economic factors, a contextualized approach

intended to bridge the superficial divide so often seen between image and context. In this way, I wish to

explore feminization holistically, taking into account the complex and profound nature of its existence,

functions, and symbolism.1 Accordingly, I will first clearly explicate the notion of “gender” and provide

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a brief summary of Buddhist attitudes toward gender and women, then move to a more detailed

discussion of Avalokiteśvara, covering textual and literary sources that contribute to female iconography

and exploring the feminine iconography in artistic representations. Visual evidence from the tenth to the

fourteenth century provides a most effective medium through which we can document the feminization

of this deity, thus I conclude with an analysis of several paintings of the female Avalokiteśvara.

There is no clear or definite relationship between the image of a female deity and its raison

d'être. Moreover, it is impossible to draw a general theory from the fragmented information available

concerning image and audience in this space. On the other hand, I hope to make meaningful remarks

that help us understand, in the least identify, the socially embedded symbolic forces that explain the

female depiction of Buddhist deities by posing the following questions: Does interpretation depend on a

certain conception of gender and of the female? What do belief and social context have to do with

female representation of Buddhist deities? Does visual and other gendering of deities reflect social life?

I now turn to a more specific discussion of gender in the Buddhist context.

GENDER: TWO CONTRASTING PERSPECTIVES OF THE FEMALE

Exploring the ways in which gender gives meaning to the organization and perception of

historical knowledge and theory is an important aim of this paper. Gender is a root metaphor for the

notion of difference in culture and custom, thus I must first explicate more clearly what I mean by it.

Gender is defined here in the words of Joan Wallach Scott as “an element in social relationships based

on perceived differences between sexes and implying four constituent elements: 1) culturally available

symbols 2) normative concepts, 3) institutions such as kinship, economy, and politics, 4) a subjective

identity.”2 Gender is thus a way of signifying relations of power and conceptions of what is “male” and

what is “female” that has especial resonance for female deity representations. I find Scott‟s definition

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particularly applicable because it covers the inherently broad range of factors that contribute to any

given culture‟s notion of gender. What I hope to press on specifically in what follows is how gender,

conceived of thus, influences and is influenced by visual representation.

I suggest we consider the feminization of Buddhist deities as part of an ongoing and ever-

changing dialogue between history, religion, art, and society. Female representations are indispensible

resources for modern scholars because they offer tangible expressions of social views on gender.

Moreover, visual representations are most useful tools to comparatively analyze changes in gender roles

as they are continually modified and recreated throughout history. Paul (1985) supports this notion,

noting that depictions of bodhisattvas with sexual transformations offer us perhaps the most conspicuous

and unequivocal magnification of the tensions between misogynistic and egalitarian ideals.3

In principle, the notion of gender in Buddhism is not fixed but fluctuating, but two general views

arise concerning definitions and perceptions of the female therein. While not intended to be exhaustive,

they do provide useful information that may be applied to the feminization of Buddhist deities.

I.

The first discernable view associates the feminine with wise, maternal, creative, gentle, and

compassionate attributes. Herein, women are linked with affective and emotional characteristics said to

embody the transcendent realm. Robert Bellah writes that “all these figures are conceived of only as

symbols of ultimate reality, relative manifestations of an absolute moving forward, masked, on the

human stage.”4 This inherently maternal character given to the female is manifest in images of the

“Child-giving Guanyin” (Fig. 4) in particular and is in large part based on religious belief, specifically

the belief in ultimate non-duality that is a hallmark of Buddhism. For example, the Therigatha, an early

Buddhist sutra said to be written by nuns, tells of a female disciple named Soma who, upon being told

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that a “‟mere woman” could not gain enlightenment, replies “What harm is it / to be a woman / when the

mind is concentrated / and the insight is clear / If I asked myself / Am I a woman / or a man in this? I

would be speaking in Mara‟s language [language of duality].”5 This statement, in fact this entire notion

of gender, stipulates that feminine qualities and women not only seen in a positive light, but are

important parts of the male‟s release from suffering as well. Again, this harkens to Buddhist philosophy,

because of the soteriological view that all matters of duality are to be overcome.

The integrative view propounded here is fundamentally ambivalent in its treatment of gender,

owing to ideas drawn from Buddhist doctrine. In fact, this position even offers women leverage of their

own. Paul, for example, finds that the feminine becomes associated with the sacred and spiritual states

of perfection, namely, “the celestial Bodhisattva and the Buddha.”6 Because female bodies are thought

to be by nature spiritual and not material, gender transformation is only a provisional matter. In other

words, gender and sexuality are transcended. Bernard Faure (2003) accords with this and notes that

“indeed a bodhisattva can manifest itself in any form he or she wants, but such transformations belong to

a different topic, and they no longer bridge the gap between women and enlightenment.”7 Patricia

Karetzky (2004) similarly claims that “applying a sexual identity to a Buddhist deity is somewhat

misdirected, for such divine beings transcend gender distinctions and sexual passion.”8

This line of reasoning does help to explain the feminine and androgynous imagery (Fig. 5) so

common in depictions of Avalokiteśvara, but still limits the discussion to philosophical principles in

Buddhism. After all, is not the artist a fundamental arbiter of gender in visual representations? What role

do local social and political factors play in influencing both the artist as well as those who commission

representations? The association of gender with the provisional that is subsumed by an ultimate, non-

gendered reality offers a simplistic explanation for the feminization of deities. However, we must be

cognizant of the danger of interpreting these events out of context, by theory alone. Faure, for one,

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warns that to do so would “break all social and cosmological constrains of family, race, and temporal or

spatial conditions.”9 Females and feminine qualities are not universal or essential. Rather, they are

specific to historical and cultural locales that are dynamic and ever-changing. Steven Sangren (1983)

adds that it is “no more natural to attribute qualities like compassion, mercy, and nurturance to female

deities than it is to characterize actual women as submissive and domestic.”10

Although these qualities

seem to have been to some extent naturalized in East Asia, generalizations about a “feminine nature” are

problematic.

Gender qualities, reflected in social reality and visual representations, are socially constructed

and embedded in symbolic matrices of considerably varying meaning. This is to say that image and text

must be supplemented by context. Accordingly, we need to consider the feminization of Buddhist

deities in the broader context of religious acculturation; this allows us to consider visual representation

as well, not belief alone. Art historians have historically focused on the aesthetic, iconographic, and

technical development of images, yet according to Cynthea Bogel (2000), “we need to move beyond

aesthetic discourse to consider the abundant, yet neglected, anthropological data regarding (and regarded

by) the icon.11

For example, in her study on Nyoirin Kannon (Fig. 6) at Kanshinji temple in Japan, Bogel

finds that “the reception and status of works of art are changed by their evaluational history. Creative

works and religious icons alike are singled out and become authoritative, that is, canonical, within a

culture because they fulfill certain criteria of expression or perform certain functions.”12

These functions

of Buddhist deities are intended to offer worshippers “assistance in becoming virtuous, for protection

from catastrophes, and for material benefits.”13

This indicates that ways in which gender is conceived

and subsequently visualized do not originate in a completely abstract field. Rather, they are deeply

influenced by context. A more satisfactory correlation to be drawn, then, is that the domestication and

cultural assimilation of Buddhism and Buddhist conceptions of gender in East Asia parallels the changes

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we see in deity representation. This is particularly relevant in the case of Avalokiteśvara, as I will show

shortly, whose feminization is connected with indigenous text and tale. This first conception of the

female as a compassionate and loving embodiment of the divine illumines important issues in the

feminization of deities, but does not fully explain the gendered nature of visual representation thus I turn

now to the second conception.

II.

The second view of gender within Buddhism describes feminine as mysterious, sensual, and

destructive. Buddhism is replete with negative female imagery – women are temptresses and prostitutes

who arouse desire, an attachment which perpetuates the samsaric cycle of suffering and impedes

enlightenment. Consider, for example, the role of mother: because the end goal of Buddhism is the

extinction of all concepts of self, it is not surprisingly that motherhood can be deemed secular,

embodying attachment. Female renunciants are socially and religiously marginalized in a similar manner

and are typically lumped with prostitutes and other independent women who lacked strong family ties.

Although most texts do relate some measure of inclusiveness, there always remains an inherent

hierarchy of gender under which women come second.

A good literary example of this second conception of women comes from the story of Rupavati,

a popular tale of self-sacrifice.14

Rupavati is a woman who, out of desperation, cuts off her own breasts

to feed the starving woman who was about to eat her own child. Upon doing such a horrific act and

engaging in a subsequent Act of Truth, Rupavati is transformed into a man and then a bodhisattva. We

see in this case that gender actually subsumes bodhisattva hood and male metamorphosis is in fact a

precursor for it. This is to say that despite Rupavati having bodhisattva-level spiritual capabilities, she is

still held back by her female gender. Ohnuma, translator of the tale, concludes from it the following

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analogy: female is to imperfect and human, whereas male is to divine and Buddha-like.15

In accord with

the negative perception of the female, women‟s words and deeds are forever to be doubted until they are

changed to a man‟s, no matter the level of spiritual insight previously attained. As this example shows,

this second conception of gender can lead towards full-blown misogyny.

Salvation, when in fact considered possible, is regarded herein as an anomalous feat that is

achieved by a female with extraordinary insight. An excellent example of this comes from the Lotus

Sutra‟s account of the dragon king‟s daughter. An eight-year old girl wise far beyond her years, she is

described as being free from the mind‟s obstructions and full of compassion. Despite being doubted by

Sariputra, one of the Buddha‟s attendants, because she is a female with “filthy” body not fit to transmit

the Dharma, the girl offers a jewel to the Buddha and in an instant is transformed into a man‟s body,

thus becoming a bodhisattva. Furthermore, the text relates that this is all possible because of the

redeeming power of the Lotus Sutra, what Faure calls “a scripture able to save the worst criminals (and,

by the same token, women).”16

This pervasive sense of what Kato deems “feminized pollution” is,

paradoxically, both countered and bolstered by the Lotus Sutra’s descriptions of central women figures.

It is only the bodhisattva path, wherein women “may indeed commit to a different kind of creativity than

that available to them as a result of their biology,” that allows for transcendence of the exceptionally

pessimistic characterization.17

The dualistic view I describe here conceives of women as polluting and in need of suppression

and control. As such, it helps explain the historically marginalized existence of female figures in

Buddhist history. After all, female characters prove in the words of Faure (2005) to be “rather

ambivalent, straddling the sacred and the profane, playing the role of symbolic shifters, mediators, often

through transgression.”18

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From where did these misogynistic attitudes develop? Likely from the beginnings of the

Buddhist tradition in response to the changing needs and interests of male monastic and institutional

communities. Despite the Buddha‟s purported recognition of their innate spiritual potential, women are

often framed as complications or obstructions on the path toward enlightenment. Therefore, despite an

ostensible elevation of women‟s status in philosophical terms, on the ground it was always relative,

tempered by social customs of the surrounding communities. In fact, the Buddhist tradition can actually

be implicated in perpetuating and even creating more discrimination towards women. Once the goal of

detachment from samsaric existence became conflated with the denigration of women, who embody it

both physically (i.e. sexual objectification) and psychologically (i.e. motherly concerns and emotions).

Paul summarizes this shift in emphasis as a) men seeking renunciation and liberation, to b) women being

distractions, “the antithesis of religion and morality.”19

Considering this view of women, it is not surprising that visual representations of female figures

were considered dangerous and powerful in their own right. In the medieval Buddhist milieu, icons like

bodhisattvas were considered living beings. As Bellah notes, they were thought to “emit spiritual energy

in all directions and to inundate people with their rays.” 20

In this way, icons were “regarded as potent or

even dangerous objects – treasured, to be sure, but required special handling in the context of the

Buddhist temple.”21

Interestingly, this negative view of women also had the potential of being overcome

by female deities and their representations, as in cases where the protection offered by a female deity

could combat and even reject a disparate social reality. This is to say that the difference expressed in

images of female deities could both lower and raise the position of women, from hedonistic attachments

to deities who were worthy of veneration. However, did this reflect a shift in the status of real women in

society?

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Indeed, Weidner finds that “perhaps at no other time or place did women play so central a rose in

shaping a cultural tradition as in Heian Japan.”22

In the Heian period (794-1185), Confucian ideas about

the inferior status of women were well recognized, but women nonetheless not only retained the

protection of their own families but could also inherit property. The idea that there is a relationship

between the representation of female deities and social reality, though, is problematic. It is countered by

what Bellah calls “the tradition of submerged transcendence,” in which female deities are transcendent

because they break through the strictures of the given social order but submerged because they lack the

ability to arouse any real change. 23

Put differently, deity representations express dissatisfaction but do

not provide the basis for constructing anything new. Aesthetic and religious pursuits provide “a means

for handling unbearable tensions that the group itself could not absorb.”24

We should use caution in attributing the feminization of icons to a rise in female appreciation

within medieval societies, which would allow us to circumvent this negative view of the female. The

presence of female deities, through artistic representation, need not translate into a respect of real

women in that culture. Jose Cabezon (1992) even argues that female images, in the hands of men, have

been and are still used effectively to further patriarchal ends.25

This conception of the female and the

first illuminate the complexity of gender issued within Buddhism. Considering both, I now turn to a

more detailed discussion of the gender narrative of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.

THE FEMINIZATION OF A BUDDHIST DEITY: AVALOKITEŚVARA

Considered to be the embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteśvara has for centuries enjoyed

veneration among all levels of society in a wide geographic span. The Indian word “Avalokiteśvara”

carries somewhat ambiguous meaning, yet is often interpreted as something along the lines of “lord who

sees.” As “Guanyin” in China and “Kannon” in Japan, the meaning shifts slightly, becoming “looking at

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the sounds [of living beings]” or “listening to the world‟s sounds.” The popular eleven-headed

representation of the deity (Fig. 9) reflects these statements, depicting the bodhisattva facing multiple

directions to hear, see, and bring salvation to all living beings. Thus, Avalokiteśvara can adopt any

number of appearances and functions. Known as the world protector, Avalokiteśvara, according to

Karetzky, can save humanity from the nine perils of falling into fire or rivers, being shipwreck on an island of

giantesses, executed by sword, attacked by goblins, imprisoned, assaulted by brigands, tempted by lust or

delusion, or desirous of children or great wealth. Moreover, s/he does not rich over poor, insider over

outsider, or men over women.26

In China and Japan, s/he is considered the exemplar of compassion and

wisdom and additionally the “Goddess of Mercy” who is particularly kind to women.27

Guanyin, in China, marks the first lasting and continuous deity cult. Yu explains that as the cult

of Guanyin took root in China, the bodhisattva‟s function and image transformed to accommodate the

Chinese audience.28

Although originally conceived of as a male, Guanyin assumed a female appearance

during Chinese and then Japanese acculturation from the fourth through the tenth centuries under

circumstances which scholars agree are still ill-understood.29

Paul, for one, notes that:

“It is not at all evident how this intriguing transformation shows a varying assessment as to what

feminine attributes are in the various cultures and subcultures in India, Central Asia, or China

(and Japan). One would have to know very nearly the exact time and place and the subculture in

which the cult of Avalokiteśvara originated in order to account for the sexual change as recorded

in both textual and iconographical representation.”30

We cannot easily encapsulate the role or representations of the bodhisattva, owing to the

uniqueness of Chinese and Japanese social classes and religious affiliations; however, several specific

functions attributed to the deity may have led to female conceptions and motivated feminine

representations.

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Drawn likely from the first conception of the female I gave above, Guanyin‟s feminine character

and compassionate nature in China contribute to her reception as a bodhisattva who is capable of

bringing not only spiritual enlightenment but also salvation from worldly difficulties, material benefits,

and even a “good death.” This range of functions helps to explain why the deity was popular and

attractive to men and women of all disparate social classes. However, it was Guanyin‟s nurturing and

protective functions that led to a large population of women devotees in particular. Many women

worshipped the bodhisattva to pray for deliverance of a healthy male child, one of the promises

guaranteed by the Lotus Sutra.

According to Reed (1992), Guanyin aided women who were “in special need because of the

impurities and inferiority of their female forms.”31

This idea, on the other hand, accords more with the

second view of the female I gave above and highlights the paradoxical role Guanyin assumes. Not only

could s/he liberate women from culturally defined roles, s/he also accommodated them to those roles by

alleviating some of their suffering.32

Put differently, Guanyin‟s symbolism, brought forth in imagery,

had the potential to release women from physiological and cultural problems; this depends upon the way

in which she was depicted.33

To understand this better, I now offer a brief survey of the sources for

female iconography.

Iconographical Sources of the Female Guanyin

How an artist chose to depict Guanyin was to some extent dictated by localized (both

chronologically and culturally) conceptions of the bodhisattva and of gender, but there was always room

for innovation. For example, Yu proffers the notion, albeit vague, that “the early feminine forms of

Kuan-yin [sic] might have been created based on someone‟s vision…once a feminine image of Kuan-yin

[sic] became available, more people would naturally come to see the bodhisattva in this way, whether in

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dreams or in their conceptions.”34

The spontaneity of the female vision is subsequently reified, for the

bodhisattva “seen by the eye and thought of by the mind is not male, Kuan-yin [sic] naturally manifests

herself as a female.”35

Faure (1998) lends support to this claim, finding that “in most cases the icon finds

its origin in the desire for vision and/or presence…a subjective vision might easily lead to aesthetic

contemplation.”36

However, these claims leave unclear who exactly manifests these desires: is it the artist‟s own

psychological processes or something from the surrounding culture that informs the imagination? A

more empirical explanation may be drawn from the correlation of female representation with a rise in

feminine imagery and descriptions in texts and tales from India and then China. This includes Mahayana

scriptures that mention Avalokiteśvara, along with indigenous scriptures, legends, and miracle stories in

China.

The character of a Buddhist image is commonly established within a community through a

popular narrative and myth, thus it is fruitful to examine these as possible iconographic sources. Early

scriptural sources, such as the Sutra of the Enlightenment of Measureless Purity and Equality Spoken by

the Buddha, identify Avalokiteśvara either alongside Amitabha (Fig. 10) or in concert with numerous

other bodhisattvas (Fig. 11). It is perhaps because of this tandem arrangement that many texts fail to

offer any specific descriptions. Yu even argues that early images of Avalokiteśvara were identical to

those of other Buddhist figures, such as Maitreya, the future Buddha.37

The Sutra of the Lotus of the

Correct Law, however, describes the deity with masculine pronouns and explicates the functions of the

bodhisattva and the Sutra of Visualization on Amitayus Buddha, offers visualization instructions:

“Within the circle of light emanating from his whole body, appear illuminated the various forms

and marks of all beings that live in the five paths of existence. On top of his head is a heavenly

crown of gems like those fastened on Indra‟s head, in which crown there is a transformed Buddha

standing, twenty-five yojanas high.”38

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Nevertheless, there is still no specific detail that would differentiate Avalokiteśvara from others

figures.

The Lotus Sutra offers the first female descriptions in its explication of the thirty-three

forms the bodhisattva may assume. This includes a nun, a young girl, the wife of a rich man, and

a laywoman believer, among other male character.39

The Lotus further instructs that the

bodhisattva can, in fact, assume any form whatsoever, male and female alike, when necessary.

The Surangama Sutra also identifies this multiplicity of forms but contains an additional

supplement explaining the reasons why Avalokiteśvara might assume one over another. In the

case of a female, it tells, “if there are women who are keen to fulfill their home duties thereby

setting a good example to other families and the whole country, I will appear as a queen, a

princess, or a noble lady to teach them the Dharma so that they reach their goals.”40

This

description reflects the idea of skillful means, which means that the bodhisattva will adopt

whatever form necessary to further soteriology.41

As such, gender is presented in ambivalent

terms, females being neither positively nor negatively conceived. In accord with the first

conception of the female, gender appears is superseded by the teachings of the Buddha.

According to Yu, indigenous and local sutras, legends and miracle tales are more telling sources

of feminized iconography. Reed (1992) as well claims that “folk religion accepted and promulgated

Kuan-yin [sic] devotion with legends about her Chinese manifestations and the magical powers of her

images.”42

Miracle tales are powerful mediums implicated in the feminization, said to contain factual

encounters that ground Guanyin and shape how devotees visualize her. Yu suggests there is a mutually

affective relationship between the purported experience of a miracles and the person reading of its

events. The upshot of this is that the experience of miracles not only led to the creation of icons, but that

the devotees themselves, readers of miracle tales, play a significant role as well. In other words, how a

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person saw Guanyin in a miraculous vision was somewhat predetermined by extant iconography, yes,

but was also full of the potential to create new forms of the bodhisattva.43

The first evidence of feminization in Chinese miracle tales comes from the legend of Miao-shan,

which tells of a Buddhist princess who is murdered by her father and then realizes her true identity as

Guanyin. Miao-shan vows to free tortured souls and develops such great compassion that she cures her

evil father of illness.44

Interestingly and perhaps related to this legend, miracle tales from the tenth

century on depict Guanyin as a woman: a woman in white, a woman carrying a fish basket, or an old

woman. These forms gain such popularity that they eventually override masculine imagery and continue

up until modern times. In addition, tales of Guanyin aiding in child-birth and manifesting in female form

gain circulation, contributing as well to a more feminine understanding of the figure in general.

Moreover, according to Reed, is the fact that women played a strong role in the dissemination of

knowledge about Guanyin in their livelihoods as nuns and educators.45

That the promises held by

Guanyin are offered to women and daughters and disseminated by female figures may have initiated a

rise in female representation; this reflects the first conception of the female.

However persuasive it may be, text and tale are not the only or most complete source of

Guanyin‟s female iconography and striking correlations between the appearances of the bodhisattva and

the forms of the image as I have shown above are, according to Yu, “surprisingly scarce.”46

Identifying

with any precision the sources of iconography is difficult, if not impossible, but we can understand the

plausible processes whereby feminine and female images are created. The sources outlined above likely

provided the initial impetus for representation but it was in the artistic representations themselves that

femininity was elaborated upon and popularized.

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Iconography of the Female Guanyin in East Asia

While the exact dates of Guanyin‟s feminization are contested, research does suggest that

depictions up until the Tang period (618-907) were generally masculine.47

This dating at best provides a

general timeframe but is not entirely accurate. For example, “Homage to Great Compassionate Water-

moon Kuan-yin [sic] Bodhisattva Who Saves [One] From Suffering” (Fig. 12) dates to 968 and depicts

Guanyin in masculine form, with a mustache no less, and is thus evidence of a continuing vacillation

between male and female sexuality.

The Song period (960-1279), roughly paralleling the later Heian period (794-1185) in Japan, also

appear to be an important time in the feminization of Guanyin.48

According to Karetzky, Song painters

and sculptors in China “perfected naturalistic representation of the divine and human realms” and

applied these skills to new images of Guanyin, namely the White-robed and Water-moon Guanyin,

which are distinctly feminine forms.49

Moreover, a new format of representation - woodblock printing –

is widely accessible by Song times. This standardized production of images was also seen in Japan after

the eleventh century, and was utilized in the creation of Guanyin related representations. Easy and cheap

to produce, woodblock prints led to an increase in artistic renderings of all sorts. Multitudes of

illustrated copies of the Guanyin Sutra (Fig. 13) from this time indicate a relationship between the

increase in prints and the increase in female representation.50

Water-moon and White-robed Depictions in East Asia

Two of the most common depictions of Guanyin in China and Kannon in Japan are the Water-

moon (Fig. 14) and White-robed (Fig. 15) forms.51

Both have been worshipped in popular and monastic

ritual since the Song period in China. In fact, Kanazawa argues that these forms of Kannon in Japan are

the most frequently depicted of all images in Zen temples.52

Fortunately, visual evidence documenting

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these two forms has survived in bulk, thus they are useful figures around which we can document the

feminization of the deity.53

Water-moon Guanyin has been a popular subject of literati and Chan painters since the Song and

is regarded as a typical example of the “Chan [Zen] painting” in both China and Japan. The moon and

water are intended to symbolize the empty and illusory nature of worldly phenomena and represent the

teachings of emptiness explicated in the Heart Sutra and duplicate the serenity of meditative states.54

Furthermore, Kanazawa argues that the White-robed Kannon is best understood “not as a depiction of

any specific idea expounded in the sutras, but as a comprehensive expression of the power and

benevolence of the compassionate bodhisattva.”55

As a visual expression that lacks any solid textual

basis, then, it emphasizes the importance of the artist‟s agency. I cover this in more depth shortly.

White-robed and Water-moon paintings show the bodhisattva in a variety of contexts and

postures, with a similarly varied array of items, ranging from a rosary to a sun and moon, nectar, a

basket, a pearl, a mirror, a copy of the Lotus Sutra, a fan, a willow, and a jade seal.56

Certain female/yin

symbols, including the main attributes water and moon, are emphasized most in female Water-moon

figures, while other objects held by the bodhisattva in paintings, such as the willow branch and the water

bottle, appear in both male and female versions.57

The iconography of the White-robed Guanyin likely derives from the Water-moon form and can

thus account for the similarities.58

Moreover, Japanese paintings of White-robed Kannon, in many cases

thought to be based on Chinese illustrations, provide detailed iconographic evidence of feminization.

For instance, Kichizan Mincho of Tofuku-ji depicts a simplistically styled White-robed Kannon (Fig.

16) as a figure that blends into the white background and is only visible by faint trace lines.59

In

undoubtedly the guise of a woman, his Kannon is perched on a soft mound and surrounded by a few

wispy plants.

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Another example comes from Gakuo, a disciple of well-known fifteenth century painter and

sculptor Shubun of Shokoku-ji, who paints Water-moon Kannon (Fig. 3) in a style that, according to

Matsushita (1974), is “distinguishable by its gentle tone, supple brushwork, delicate coloring, and rather

great faithfulness to natural scenery.”60

Here Kannon is shown standing while slightly leaning over,

robes flowing. It is interesting to note that the figure is slender and shows accentuated breast outlines,

hand and arm detail, and bare feet. Femininity is readily apparent.

Zen monk painter Ryozen, also of Tofuku-ji, specialized in colored votive paintings for the

monastery and also offers two ink paintings of Kannon.61

Ryozen‟s White-robed Kannon (Fig. 7) from

the mid-fourteenth century presents the bodhisattva in a casual cross-legged pose on a jagged rock in the

midst of a waterfall setting in rich dress. However, Kannon appears to have a mustache here. One hand

of the androgynous figure, as it were, brushes the chin and is dressed in dark attire, foreboding trees

hanging overhead. Carla Zainie (1978) suggests painting is based on an anonymous 1279 painting from

the Daiju-ji collection (Fig. 17). Zainie analyzes it in the following passage:

“Ryozen seems to have reproduced almost exactly some elements found on the Daiju-ji Kannon,

modified or rejected others, and added significant elements of his own. Ryozen retained the pose

and attire of the Daiju-ji figure, but increased the richness by adding more drapery and jewelry,

and by seating his Kannon on a cushion of an open lotus flower, instead of directly on the rock.

The head, hands, and feet are nearly identical, as are the scarves or ribbons that flutter out on each

side of the figure.”62

Even if this one is based on a Chinese model (Fig. 14), another White-robed Kannon (Fig. 8)

which is contemporaneous with Ryozen‟s Kannon shows a decidedly feminine bodhisattva.

Inconsistencies like this highlight several important issues regarding female deity representation in

China and Japan. First, they indicate an importation of religious iconography to Japan from China.

Second, they bring to light the significant role of the artist who, as I have shown, is at liberty to select

certain elements and exclude others.

DeWitt 18

Hu Ying-lin, seventeenth century Chinese scholar and bibliophile, speculates that owing to the

scriptural teachings about Guanyin‟s manifestations and the fact that the bodhisattva was most

frequently worshipped by women, “somehow most of the manifestations gradually took on feminine

forms.”63

Hu links text and image in this way, and proposes that both factors affect the feminization

process. Although I agree with Hu that there must be a relationship between textual evidence and female

patronage, I find it troubling that he is able to circumvent the need for deeper analysis. Text, image,

audience, and socially constructed attitudes toward gender, both ideal and real, all contribute to the

bodhisattva‟s feminization. Each factor constitutes an important part of a complex, localized process that

remains open to interpretation, even in modern times.

CONCLUSION

The transformation of Avalokiteśvara from masculine to feminine form took at least 500 years, a

slow, ever-changing process resulting from innumerable causes and conditions. In fact, the feminization

is still not decisive in India, China, or Japan and male exceptions are commonplace. The reasons behind

feminization are complex and varied; each particular representation has its own unique history.

Therefore, the evidence I have presented is certainly open for interpretation and conclusions are, in a

sense, ultimately subjective. Several important observations can be made, however, that allow us to

draw overarching links between individual pieces.

Although the introduction of the female into the realm of Buddhist deities may have been

serendipitous – Paul even speculates that “autonomous female deities entered the Buddhist pantheon as

females because of the grammatical accident that they are feminine abstract nouns in the Sanskrit

language” – I find the reasons for their sustenance to be specific and deliberate.64

Religious

acculturation, subjective visions, Buddhist scripture, localized legends and miracle stories, patronage,

DeWitt 19

and religious paintings are all implicated in this process, and while each, taken alone, cannot offer a

satisfactory explanation for the feminization of Buddhist deities, together they change the gender of a

Buddhist deity, which is no small feat.

On the one hand, the functions of the bodhisattva that are identified with females are one obvious

reason behind the feminization. Avalokiteśvara‟s motherly and nurturing attributes in East Asia, for

example, surely played some role in the gender change. Moreover, Kato (1999) reminds us that “women

directed their donations to deities with whom they held a much more personal relationship.”65

The

development of personalistic attitudes towards and relationships with female deities thus appears to be

intimately linked with female patronage, reflecting a process Faure (1998) describes as the icon

overflowing “from the aesthetic and symbolic spheres into the anthropological.”66

On the other hand, the representation of female deities might be better thought of as an

embodiment of the (male) artist‟s individual social, religious, political, economic, and idealistic

circumstances. After all, Avalokiteśvara images are a collection of single images. While we can analyze

them as a whole and draw speculative connections, it is first important to identify and explore their

particularities. Seeming to acknowledge this, Davey notes that “the identification of a work‟s subject

matter does not inevitably lead to a reflective flight from the particularities of a work since, once the

subject matter is identified, it is possible to evaluate and appreciate that work‟s specific and perhaps

unique realization of that subject matter.”67

The Japanese painter Ryozen did depict Kannon in both

masculine (Fig. 7) and feminine (Fig. 8) forms. How can we ever surmise an exact timeline for the

feminization when artists themselves were not always partial to one gender or the other?

Seeing and understanding are, by nature, active endeavors that require the agency of individuals,

groups, and entire cultures. Moreover, the difference expressed in the female form is influenced by both

artist and viewer. In other words, difference is at once expressed and explored. As the image sees and is

DeWitt 20

seen, both parties are influential. According to Yu, “when a Ch‟an monk contemplated a painting of

White-robed Kuan-yin [sic], he would not see her the same way as would a Ming literatus who

desperately desired to have a son.”68

We cannot easily disregard the feminization of deities as being

merely the result of an artist‟s capricious whim.

Understanding this feminization of a Buddhist deity requires a reformulation of Buddhist notions

of gender, for to do so takes into account the true complexities of the issue. Contrasting conceptions of

the female prompt vastly differing conceptions of and explanations for the feminization process. In the

end, I must side with Yu and admit that it is more important and satisfying to particularize this gender

narrative than it is to impose “an artificial neatness that was never there.”69

It seems appropriate to close with Hegel‟s insightful observation that “art is not yet pure thought

and yet no longer purely material existence.”70

The problems associated with making overarching

assumptions about female deity representation highlight how important it is to be aware of the

multivalent interpretations these representations elicit. Artistic representations inherently need

interpretation. Per Domoulin:

The understanding of artistic expression will forever be varied according to the different spiritual

and cultural make-up of people. Consequently, the access to the person, offered by art, remains

uncertain and subject to doubt. This uncertainty relates to the subjective intention of the artist as

well as to the objective work of art, and is a natural accompaniment of the symbolic character of

art. Works of art, particularly Buddhist works of art, are signs that do not copy reality but signify

it.71

I take this to mean that representation always remains somewhat distinct from the subject it

represents. In the case at hand, it means that it is not at all clear that female images of deities provide a

means for real women to either articulate grievances or transcend social strictures that were defined by

gender. In Bellah‟s words, “the boundary between life and art is blurred, and ideally life itself is turned

into art.”72

The ideality of a visual representation, as it were, cannot be defined in terms of how it

imitates and reproduces an idea but rather by the novel idea that it creates. Female deity representations

DeWitt 21

do tend to reflect feminine ideals, but whose ideals are they and are they ever actualized? To answer

these inquiries, we need a better understanding of the intimate relationship between history and

representation, as well as its implications in gender discourse. More research is certainly in order. To

this end, I conclude the endeavor with more inquiries, but do so with the intention of prompting future

studies into the feminization of Buddhist deities.

DeWitt 22

Illustrations

Fig. 1 Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, 910. Dunhuang., China

(British Museum) Fig. 2 Wall painting of Guanyin,

8th

century, Dunhuang China

DeWitt 23

Fig. 4 Songzi Guanyin (Guanyin who

gifts sons to mothers), China, Ming

Dynasty, 16th

-17th

Century China

Fig. 3 Water-moon Kannon,

Gakuo, 15th

century Japan

DeWitt 24

Fig. 5 Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara,

High Tang (705-780), Dunhuang

China

Fig. 6 Nyoirin Kannon, Japan; Kamakura

period (1185-1333), early 14th century

Fig. 7 Kannon, Ryozen, mid 14th

century

Japan

DeWitt 25

Fig. 8 Kannon, Ryozen. 15th

century,

Myoko-ji-Aichi, Japan Fig. 9 Eleven-Headed Guanyin, c. 1101-1127,

Late Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) China

DeWitt 26

Fig. 10 Amida Buddha,

Attended by Kannon and

Seishi, Welcoming Souls to

Paradise 1185-1392,

Kamakura or Muromachi,

Japan

Descent of the Amida Buddha: Raigo, 14th c,

Kamakura Period

Fig. 11 “Descent of the Amida Buddha: Raigo.”

Japan (Cleveland Museum of Art)

DeWitt 27

Fig. 12 Homage to Great Compassionate Water-

moon Kuan-yin Bodhisattva Who Saves [One] From

Suffering, 968, Northern Song dynasty China

Fig. 13 Guanyin Sutra, Dunhuang China

DeWitt 28

Fig. 14 Water and moon Guanyin,

13th-early 14th century, southern Song

Dynasty China

Fig. 15 White-robed Guanyin, Mu Qi, mid-13th

century

China

DeWitt 29

1 Sharf, Robert H and Elizabeth Horton Sharf, eds. Living Images: Japanese Buddhist Icons in Context (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001) 3. This said, “How is it,

then, that modern textbooks on Asian religion in general, and Buddhism in particular, devote so little space to the subject [of images]?” Sharf further claims that “something is

clearly amiss when the single most conspicuous aspect of the Buddhist tradition…is largely overlooked. ”Even more, Sharf claims that this divide emerged because Buddhist

studies, at least in the west, grew out of philology, thus moving imagery to the peripheral.”

2 Faure, Bernard. The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 15.

3 Paul, Diana Y., ed. Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in Mahayana tradition. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 247.

4 Bellah, Robert N. Imagining Japan: The Japanese Tradition and Its Modern Interpretation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 108.

5 Faure, Bernard. Visions of Power: Imagining Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 120.

6 Paul, Women in Buddhism, 248. Celestial bodhisattvas were deified and became the cult of worship, beginning in the 5th century in India, and were thought to be

personifications of the highest Mahayana Buddhist ideals (Kuan-yin is compassion).

7 Faure, Denial of Power, 104.

8 Karetzky, Patricia Eichenbaum. Guanyin (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 21.

9 Faure, Denial of Power, 331.

10 Sangren, P. Steven. “Female Gender in Chinese Religious Symbols: Kuan Yin, Ma Tsu, and the „Eternal Mother‟.” Signs, 9: 1, Women and Religion (, 1983): 4-25, 4.

11 Bogel, Cynthea. “Canonizing Kannon: The ninth-century Esoteric Buddhist altar at Kanshinji.” The Art Bulletin 84:1 (March 2002), 23.

12 Ibid., 9. Bogel finds that statues and paintings function as an agent in Esoteric ritual, directly and indirectly, on account of the religious belief that images and icons are

necessary ingredients for the discovering of the ultimate Buddhist truth. Thus, “imagery is part of what might be called the Esoteric logic of universal similarity. Imagery thus has a

new function in Esoteric Buddhism, in exoteric contexts, images of deities stood in for the absent Buddha.”

13 Paul, Women in Buddhism, 148.

14 Ohnuma, Reiko. “The Story of Rupavati: A Female Past Birth of the Buddha,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 23:1 (2000), p. 104

15 Ibid., p. 124

16 Faure, “Denial of Power,” 91.

17 Ibid., 104

18 Ibid., 215.

19 Ibid., p. 8

20 Bellah, Imagining Japan, 20.

21 Ibid.

22 Weidner, Marsha ed. Flowering in the Shadows: Women in the History of Chinese and Japanese Painting (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990), 159.

23 Bellah, Imagining Japan, 197. Kato echoes this in stating that, “medieval women suffered under the pressures of conflicting customs and beliefs from which the village‟s formal

social structure offered no refuge. It is understandable, then, that women expressed their religious feelings in economic forms by channeling their offerings toward personally

gratifying activities and objects like the sutra-copying cult” (Kato 130).

24 Ibid., 195.

25 Cabezon, Jose Ignacio. Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), 181.

26 Karetzky, Guanyin 1-2.

27 Paul, Women in Buddhism, 245. “Goddess of mercy” was a nickname coined by the Jesuit missionaries who were much impressed by the similarities between Kuan-yin‟s

iconography and that of the Madonna (Yu, 223). Kannon is identified in SE Asia very much with royalty – different functions warrant different representation (Yu, 3). Since the

Chinese emperor was legitimated by the Mandate of Heaven, which was well established before Kuan-yin was ever imported, there was no relevant link to be drawn, as it had in

SE Asia, between the bodhisattva and royalty, thus she took on other functions.

28 Yu, Kuan-yin, 5.

29 Faure, Visions of Power, 85.

30 Paul, Women in Buddhism, 249-250.

31 Reed, Barbara E. “The Gender Symbolism of Kuan-yin Bodhisattva.” In Jose Ignacio Cabezon, ed. Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender (Albany: State University of New York

Press, 1992), 165.

32 Ibid. 159.

33 This effect is somewhat ironic since the imagery is made by men and depends on texts that do not liberate, but rather repress women.

34 Yu, Kuan-yin 84, 90, 182. Paintings of Kuan-yin from the late imperial period, intended for private devotional viewing, retain no discernable connection to scriptural sources.

These were indigenous creations by Chinese artists who showed unrestrained freedom in their imagery of a Kuan-yin who looked remarkably like a beautiful Chinese lady..

35 Ibid., 194.

36 Faure, Bernard. "The Buddhist Icon and the Modern Gaze" Critical Inquiry, Vol. 24, no. 3 spring 1998), 783.

DeWitt 30

37 Yu, Kuan-yin 34, 37.

38 Ibid., 40.

39 See Leon Hurvitz‟s translation, especially pgs. 303-319.

40 Yu, 47.

41 Skillful means is indicative of an array of strategies that are fundamentally a clever craft that accommodates and reconciles innumerous ideas, practices, and methodologies

within the Buddhist religion. Skillful means extends an invitation of adaptation, offering and even encouraging reconstruction, reinterpretation, and, in some cases, even the

discarding of Buddhist doctrine, philosophy, and praxis. This notion permeates Buddhism and is manifest in all aspects of discourse - philosophical, conceptual, and practical.

42 Reed, The Gender Symbolism, 161. My emphasis.

43 Yu, Kuan-yin 152.

44 Sangren, Female Gender, 7. Other early tales show Guanyin as being either as a monk, a person wearing white, or a person about eight Chinese feet in height, none of which are

feminine.

45 Reed, The Gender Symbolism, 162.

46 Yu, Kuan-yin 179. Miracle stories concerning the bodhisattva also come into play. In China, these tales affirm unfailing deliverance from different kinds of perils (escape from

fire, saved from death, a miraculous cure), but usually involve devotees calling out to the bodhisattva, not ever seeing it.

47 This debate is taken up by Ch‟en, as quoted by Yu, states that “during the Tang dynasty a new element which brought a change in the form of the bodhisattva entered the

picture. This was the introduction in a Tantric sutra in the eighth century of the concept of a female Kuan-yin [Guanyin] in white, and from the tenth century on, the painters began

to paint this figure” (Yu, 248-249). Yu, however, disputes this and argues rather that evidence in regional Chinese art, particularly from Dunhuang, as traced by Yu, shows that

female representations arose in the Song period, a natural outflow from the increasing indigenization of Guanyin that was influenced by localized legends and miracle tales.

48 Interestingly, the orthodox Buddhist clergy in China, despite popular perception and literary and artistic predominance, refused to acknowledge Guanyin as feminine, so even

today Buddhist monasteries display images of a masculine Guanyin from the Tang period (Yu 6). Yu also suggests that not only Guanyin, but bodhisattvas in general have looked

rather feminine since the Tang and, accordingly, the trend could have been influence by contemporary standards of beauty (Yu 248).

49 Karetzky, Guanyin 33.

50 Ibid. 33-34. One thousand can be found in the British Museum alone.

51 Yu, Kuan-yin, 127. Kuan-yin, in female form, also had many other, less known, depictions, such as “Child-giving Kuan-yin” who was presented as a maternal figure holding a

baby boy in her arms.

52 Kanazawa, Hiroshi. Japanese Ink Painting: Early Zen Masterpieces (New York: Kodansha Internationa/USA Ltd. 1979), 69.

53 I hope to better illuminate in future research the reasons why this particular image gained popularity while most other local manifestations either remained local or were gradually forgotten.

54 Ibid., 235.

55 Kanazawa, Japanese Ink Painting, 69. This characterization is in accord with the first conception of the female I gave above.

56 Karetzky, Guanyin, 45.

57 Yu, Kuan-yin 78.

58 Ibid., 184.

59 Matsushita, Ink Painting, 42.

60 Matsushita, Takaaika. Ink Painting. Tokyo: Weatherhill/Shibundo. 1974), 69. Though little is known about the life of Gakuo, Shubun held “an important position in charge of

the business affairs of one of the most powerful gozan monasteries,” thus we may speculate that Gakuo was also a monk.

61 Zainie, Carla M. “Ryozen: From Ebusshi to Ink Painter.” (Artibus Asiae, Vol. 40, No. 2/3, 1978), 97. Ryozen‟s work, according to Zainie, developed from the conservative,

orthodox Buddhist painting style with rich colors, stiff poses, and close adherence to iconographic rules and models, into more progressive ink painting styles, using less or no

color, more relaxed poses and compositions, and freely painted atmospheric backgrounds. Furthermore, this shift of style, Zainie argues, was prevalent throughout China in the

13th century and Japan during the 14th century.

62 Ibid., 101.

63 Yu, Kuan-yin, 194. My emphasis.

64 Paul, Women in Buddhism, 248. My emphasis.

65 Kato, Mieko. “Women‟s Associations and Religious Expression in the Medieval Japanese Village.” In Tonomura, Hitomi, Anne Walthall and Wakita Haruto, eds. Women and

Class in Japanese History. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999), p. 126, 130. Kato sees reason to define the beliefs of medieval women patrons of the Omi Province of Japan

in terms of honji suijaku thought, which correlates with this conception of the female. Honji suijaku thought posits that the one absolute and essential metaphysical principle,

Dharmakaya, is subject to localized and particular representations in the phenomenal realm. However, it is stressed that Dharmakaya overrides any particular representation.

66 Faure, “The Buddhist Icon,” 813.

67 Davey, The Hermeneutics, 8.

68 Yu, 489.

DeWitt 31

69 Yu, Kuan-yin, 489.

70 Davey, Nicholas. “The Hermeneutics of Seeing,” In Ian Heywood and Barry Sandywell, eds., Interpreting Visual Culture: Explorations in the Hermeneutics of the Visual

(London and New York: Routledge, 1999), 3.

71 Domoulin, Heinrich. “The Person in Buddhism: Religious and Artistic Aspects.” (Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 11/2-3 1984), 163-164.

72 Bellah, 195.

List of Illustrations

Figure 1

Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, 910 AD.

The Silk Road. The British Museum.

http://www.thebritishmuseum.net/thesilkroad/(5nwi5q2jov0xytyojtjfcyq3)/objectDetail.aspx?objectID=

6559&publicationUsageID=7 (accessed Dec. 7, 2005).

Figure 2

Wall painting of Guanyin, 8th century.

Dunhuang, China

http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/bud/5imgbodd.htm (accessed Dec. 1, 2005).

Figure 3

Water-moon Kannon, Gakuo, 15th century

Location

Matsushita, Takaaika. Ink Painting (Tokyo: Weatherhill/Shibundo. 1974), p. 69.

Figure 4

Songizi Guanyin (Guanyin who gifts sons to mothers), Ming Dynasty, 16th-17th century

China

http://www.silkroadsgallery.com/Collection/Guanyin3.htm (accessed Dec. 7, 2005).

Figure 5

Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, High Tang (705-780)

South wall, Cave 45, Dunhuang

http://www.textile-art.com/dun/cave45.html (accessed Dec. 1, 2005).

Figure 6

Nyoirin Kannon (Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the form of Chintamanichakra), Japan.

Asia Society: The Collection in Context.

http://www.asiasocietymuseum.org/region_object.asp?RegionID=6&CountryID=14&ChapterID=38&O

bjectID=426 (accessed Dec. 7, 2005).

Figure 7

Kannon, Ryozen, mid-14th century

Zainie, Carla M. “Ryozen: From Ebusshi to Ink Painter.” Artibus Asiae, Vol. 40, No. 2/3 (1978), p. 110.

Figure 8

DeWitt 32

Kannon, Ryozen, 15th century

Myoko-ji-Aichi

Zainie, Carla M. “Ryozen: From Ebusshi to Ink Painter.” Artibus Asiae, Vol. 40, No. 2/3 (1978), p. 117.

Figure 9

Eleven-headed Guanyin, c. 1101-1127, Late Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127)

The Cleveland Museum of Art.

http://www.clevelandart.org/educef/sisterwendy/html/5842804.html (accessed Dec. 7, 2005).

Figure 10

Amida Buddha, Attended by Kannon and Seishi, Welcoming Souls to Paradise, 1185-1392,

Smithsonian, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleobject.cfm?objectid=10779 (accessed Dec. 7, 2005).

Figure 11

Descent of the Amida Buddha: Raigo

Cleveland Museum of Art.

http://www.clemusart.com/explore/work.asp?searchText=kannon+&recNo=8&tab=2&display=

(accessed Dec. 7, 2005).

Figure 12

Homage to Great Compassionate Water-moon Kuan-yin Bodhisattva Who Saves [One] From Suffering,

968, Northern Song dynasty

http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleobject.cfm?objectid= 9882 (accessed Dec. 1, 2005).

Figure 13

Guanyin Sutra

Dunhuang, China

Whitfield, Susan. “Ancient Buddhist Scrolls at the Dunhuang Cave.” The British Library.

http://www.fathom.com/feature/121991/ (accessed Dec. 7, 2005).

Figure 14

Water and moon Guanyin,13th-early 14th century; southern Song Dynasty

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

Kim, Jeong-Eun. “White-robed Guanyin: The Sinicization of Buddhism in China Seen in the Chinese

Transformation of Avalokiteśvara in Gender, Iconography, and Role.” Virginia Commonwealth

University, date unknown. http://www.fsu.edu/~arh/events/athanor/athxix/AthanorXIX_kim.pdf

(accessed Dec. 7, 2005).

Figure 15

White-robed Kannon, Mu Qi, mid-13th century

Kanazawa, Hiroshi. Japanese Ink Painting: Early Zen Masterpieces (New York: Kodansha

Internationa/USA Ltd. 1979), p. 71.

Figure 16

DeWitt 33

White-robed Kannon, Kichizan Mincho late 14th

Matsushita, Takaaika. Ink Painting (Tokyo: Weatherhill/Shibundo. 1974), p. 42.

Figure 17

Kannon, Inscription by Ching-t‟ang Chiao-yuan,

Daiju-ji, Aichi

Zainie, Carla M. “Ryozen: From Ebusshi to Ink Painter.” Artibus Asiae, Vol. 40, No. 2/3 (1978), p. 112.

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