Scroll of Mudras

Scroll of Mudras

Scroll of Mudras. Culture: Japan. Dimensions: 11 3/16 x 97 1/2 in. (28.4 x 247.6 cm). Date: 11th-12th century. This handscroll depicts hand gestures known as mudras in Sanskrit, the Indian language in which many early Esoteric Buddhist texts were written. In Japan the gestures are called inso, the Japanese term for a Chinese word that combines the characters for "seal" and "form." In Esoteric Buddhism mudras are physical enactments of ultimate truths revealed through the Buddhas and other deities. Practitioners of Esoteric Buddhism in Japan form mudras during meditation and rituals and use them to interpret the meaning of painted and sculpted Buddhist images. These scrolls were passed down in the Kyoto temple Shoren-in, a Tendai School temple traditionally administrated by imperial princes who had taken religious vows.

Handscroll; ink on paper

Heian period (794-1185)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Model: No - Property: No
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4400 x 2376 px | 29.9 MB

37.3 x 20.1 cm | 14.7 x 7.9 in (300 dpi)