Amitabha on a Peacock, Wuyou Temple, Leshan, Sichuan, China
A case of mistaken identity
Do you use Reddit? It's a wonderful crowdsourcing resource for people exploring particular subjects.
When I posted this picture there, I wrote:
Sources say the 500 Arhats' Hall at Wuyou Temple in Leshan, Sichuan, where I took this photo, enshrines a figure of the Wisdom King Mahamayuri (KÇ’ngquè MÃngwáng, å”雀明王), but she is usually portrayed as a feminine Bodhisattva; this is clearly a male Buddha. Can anyone help me? Thanks!
And then:
If you read Chinese, would you consider researching this figure from Wuyou Temple, Leshan? I can't find a Buddha (apparently Shakyamuni) anywhere seated on a peacock, and the identification as "Mahamayuri" (a Wisdom King who looks like a feminine Bodhisattva) can't be right...
Later, I summarized their responses on my blog:
I once, quite mistakenly, identified this figure as Weituo, who as Skanda can sometimes be seen riding a peacock.
Then again, sources say the 500 Arhats' Hall at Wuyou Temple in Leshan, Sichuan, where I took this photo, enshrines a figure of the Wisdom King Mahamayuri (KÇ’ngquè MÃngwáng, å”雀明王). But I was curious, because she is usually portrayed as a feminine Bodhisattva, and this is clearly a male Buddha.
So when I posted this on Reddit, I asked for help, and some Redditors kindly pointed out the fact that Amitabha can indeed be seen on a peacock vahana (vehicle).
Here's an example; although the identification is not rock-solid, there are many more such figures where the Buddha is identified as Amitabha.
This solves the mystery of who we're looking at here, but the question of whether someone identified this figure as Mahamayuri, or whether there is a legit figure of that "Wisdom King" elsewhere in the hall at Wuyou Temple, remains unanswered.
In many cases, figures are quite easy to identify. But in some, when less-familiar figures are not labeled (or labeled incorrectly!) the challenge can be greater, but the chase is rewarding!
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