Compassion and Protection: Buddhist Deities Notecard Folio

“From great compassion the bodhi mind is born . . .” This passage drawn from the Avatamsaka Sutra conveys the essential connection between compassion and enlightenment, for the bodhi mind is nothing less than the all-embracing consciousness of the Buddha. Korean Buddhists reserve a special place for the Avatamsaka Sutra, the chronicle of a spiritual quest that describes an avatar of the Buddha cultivating “an ocean of compassion.” This being, linked to water and moon, holding a willow branch and a vessel containing water, has a halo, or mandorla, presented in Seol Min’s ink painting as the full moon. While Indian art presents the compassionate Buddha as male, syncretistic impulses in East Asia transformed Avalokiteshvara to a graceful woman.

Buddhism is not without warriors, and the great guardian of the dharma is Skanda, a magnificently attired bodhisattva who keeps watch over places of worship. In Myung Chun’s ink painting, Skanda’s ceremonial armor is richly ornamented with dragon heads, and the motif of the vajra—a symbolic weapon combining the hard sharpness of diamond with the force of lightning—appears in his staff, his helmet, and the pendents over his thighs. How gentle is this warrior’s face, how delicate his hands!