Ep. 111: A Bodhisattva and A Buddha

More "comparative iconography" at Lingyin Temple

And now back to our regularly scheduled coverage of my long-moribund pilgrimage.

We return to my August 2009 visit to Lingyyin Temple in Hangzhou, and again we compare the styles of statuary (as we did in Episode 109).

The first is a very unattractive, old-fashioned statue of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. She is shown standing on the head of a dragon (not a duck-billed fish); this mode of transport allows her to go far and fast.

On either side of her are two attendants, about whom I wrote in Episode 056. Here's a snippet: