Currently not on view
Standing Guanyin,
1534 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)
Honglin 洪林, active 16th century
Chinese
Ming dynasty, 1368–1644
y1958-160
Information
Title
Standing Guanyin
Dates
1534 (stone); late 19th to first half of 20th century (rubbing)
Maker
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink rubbing on paper
Dimensions
image: 85.5 x 34.1 cm. (33 11/16 x 13 7/16 in.)
105.8 x 38.2 cm. (41 5/8 x 15 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of George Rowley
Object Number
y1958-160
Place Made
Asia, China
Inscription
Su Shi 蘇軾 (1036-1101)
東坡居士蘇軾[觀]音賛
眾生墮八難，身世隨喪失。
惟有一念在，能呼觀世音。
火坑與刀山，猛獸諸毒藥。
眾苦萃一身，呼者常不痛。
呼者若自痛，則必不能呼。
若其了不痛，安用呼菩薩。
當用救痛者，不煩觀音力。
眾生以二故，一身受眾苦。
若能真不二，即是觀世音。
八萬四千人，同時俱赴救。
Notes:
1. This Su Shi poem “In Praise of Guanyin” (Guanyin zan 觀音賛) is recorded in various sources with some character discrepancies in the text.
Anonymous (16th century)
大明嘉靖十三年[1534]六月十五日
15th day, 6th month, 13th year of the Jiajing reign of the Great Ming.
Honglin 洪林 (16th century)
監寺洪林
Monastery superintendent Honglin.
Description
The bodhisattva Guanyin is shown standing in holding prayer beads and with a halo around her head. At top is a transcription of the “In Praise of Guanyin” (Guanyin zan 觀音賛) by Su Shi 蘇軾 (1036-1101). A short inscription at left dates the pictorial stone from which this rubbing was taken to 1534. A bottom left is the signature of the Buddhist Honglin 洪林 (16th century), who was a monastery superintendent and probably the agent responsible for the carving of this stone following the original Guanyin Stele at the Shaolin Si 少林禪寺 monastery, Dengfeng 登封, Henan. On the monastery stele, the Su Shi poem is followed by a Jin dynasty inscription by Lu Ming 盧明 in 1192 and that Shou Bian 守辯carved the stele in 1209. The pictorial carving from which the PUAM rubbing was taken differs in details from the stele and omits Lu Ming’s inscription as well as another one at lower right. It is however most likely carved using a rubbing copy of the original stele and even reproduces the crack in the stele at about one quarter way up from the bottom. Moreover, because the stele presently is broken into three pieces, the upper crack must have occurred sometime after the 1534 copy was carved.
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