The Oases of East Turkistan: Turfan

The second large mural in this hall is flanked by showcases each containing full-length wooden figures of standing buddhas. The painting was undoubtedly made under Chinese influence. It depicts the bodhisattva Manjushri, one of the chief personages in the pantheon of the Mahayana (Great Vehicle), the tendency within Buddhism that enabled it to overcome cultural and ethnic boundaries and become one of the world’s major religions. Manjushri is depicted riding on a lion, surrounded by his “retinue”, against a background of mountains with Buddhist temples built on their slopes. These are actual mountains – the Wutaishan group in the Shanxi Province of China, considered to be the abode of the bodhisattva Manjushri.