尺寸： H. 34.3 cm x W. 19.1 cm x D. 5.7 cm
年代：14世纪
质地：铜鎏金
风格：西藏
来源：旧金山亚洲艺术博物馆
参阅：外部链接
鉴赏：
Eleven-headed bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Western Tibet
Dateapprox. 1300
Bronze with gilding and inlaid copper, silver, turquoise, and semiprecious stones
来源:Credit LineThe Avery Brundage Collection

The bodhisattva of compassion is Avalokiteshvara. Once he realized that no matter how many creatures he had succeeded in helping, more would come to take their places, his empathy is such that his head burst into ten pieces. His spiritual father, the Buddha Amitabha, then came to his rescue. He shaped the bodhisattva’s broken head into ten heads, and then put his own head on top. Now, his spiritual son would have eleven heads to contemplate all ways of helping others, thus creating Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara.

Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara is an important form of the bodhisattva of universal compassion. In this rare and early sculpture from western Tibet, inlaid with copper and silver and embellished with turquoise, Avalokiteshvara has eight arms, the central ones clasping a hidden gem that fulfills all wishes.