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Lot Essay
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24642.
Hvashang was an eighth century Chinese Buddhist monk who, after teaching on a visit to the Tibetan territory of Dunhuang, was invited by Tibetan King Trisong Detsen to represent the Northern Chinese school of Zen Buddhism in a debate against an Indian adept representing the position of the gradual aaproach to enlightenment. The latter school prevailed and Hvasheng's Chan philosophy of sudden enlightenment was officialy denounced. In his typical presentation, the adept holds a persimon fruit - an offering to the arhats he challened at the Lhasa Council. In Tibetan Buddhist art, he is commonly depicted as an attendant to the sixteen arhats, and so it is possible that the present painting is from a larget set depicting the sixteen arhats.
The inscription may be translated as: “Through unequalled virtuous actions in the world, all the highest realised beings, having sounded aloud the seven harmonious tones are invoked to perform praise of Hvasheng, pay homage to the divine emanation, surrounded by attendants./Through the cloud banks of the inexhaustible sky-treasury, the siddhi of perfect offering and generosity, by the rain clouds of the four attainments that burst forth, may the spiritual lives of sentient beings be great.”
Hvashang was an eighth century Chinese Buddhist monk who, after teaching on a visit to the Tibetan territory of Dunhuang, was invited by Tibetan King Trisong Detsen to represent the Northern Chinese school of Zen Buddhism in a debate against an Indian adept representing the position of the gradual aaproach to enlightenment. The latter school prevailed and Hvasheng's Chan philosophy of sudden enlightenment was officialy denounced. In his typical presentation, the adept holds a persimon fruit - an offering to the arhats he challened at the Lhasa Council. In Tibetan Buddhist art, he is commonly depicted as an attendant to the sixteen arhats, and so it is possible that the present painting is from a larget set depicting the sixteen arhats.
The inscription may be translated as: “Through unequalled virtuous actions in the world, all the highest realised beings, having sounded aloud the seven harmonious tones are invoked to perform praise of Hvasheng, pay homage to the divine emanation, surrounded by attendants./Through the cloud banks of the inexhaustible sky-treasury, the siddhi of perfect offering and generosity, by the rain clouds of the four attainments that burst forth, may the spiritual lives of sentient beings be great.”