Beijing Capital Museum's Ancient Buddhist Sculpture Collection

On a recent trip to Beijing, I spent a day visiting the Capital Museum.  

Architects Jean-Marie Duthilleuland and Cui Kai designed the Capital Museum building with a massive roof influenced by ancient Chinese architecture.

A decorative archway from the Ming Dynasty welcomes guests in the large reception hall.

This impressive institution contains over 200,000 ancient calligraphy, painting,  porcelain, bronze,  and jade relics. I, however, chose to spend the day immersed in the Ancient Buddhist Sculpture collection.

I photographed nearly all the sculptures that were on display during June of 2019. I'm sharing most here.

Not much information was presented in English, but I have provided what was available with each image to follow.

Pujadevi
1368-1644





Eastern Pujadevi
1368-1644

Vajrabhairava
1368-1644

Vairocana

1368-1644 

Sakyamuni Buddha and Two Attendant Bodhisattvas
499

Samantabhadra  

 AD 1532

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva 

1368-1644

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva 

1368-1644

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva 

1368-1644

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva 

1368-1644

Bhaisajyaguru Buddha 

1368-1644

Bhaisajyaguru Buddha 

Amitabha Buddha

7th-9th century

Eleven-faced Avelokitesvara

15th century

Vajrasattva Bodhisattva

1271-1368

Sakyamuni Buddha

Maitreya Buddha

7th-9th century

Aksobhya Buddha

1271-1368

Vajrasattva Bodhisattva

1271-1368

Tara 

1278-1368

Amitayua Buddha

1268-1644

Sakyamuni Buddha

1368-1644

Maitreya Buddha
1368-1644




Maitreya Bodhisattva
1368-1644




Manjusri Bodhisattva with Six Arms
1368-1644




Maitreya Bodhisattva
1368-1644




Vajrapani Bodhisattva
1368-1644




Vajrabhairava
1368-1644




Maijusri Bodhisattva
1368-1644




Goddess Sarawati
1368-1644

This Mahasiddha Gugureba is shown holding his faithful dog. Gugureba  (Kukkuripa in Bengali) was a mahasiddha, a practitioner of yoga and tantra, in India. During his travels he compassionately cared for a stray dog. After 12 years of meditation, he was invited into the heavenly realm where he enjoyed feasts and many pleasures, but would think about the loyal dog he left behind. Seeing his dog had grown sad, thin, and hungry, he renounced the comforts of heaven to return to his dog, realizing that there are things greater than temptation. This beautiful statue clearly captures the joy both master and dog felt upon being reunited.

Mahasiddha Gugureba
1368-1644




Tara
1644-1911




Green Tara
1644-1911

Varuna, the Ocean God, is depicted on his mount Makara, a half terrestrial animal in the front and half aquatic animal in the rear part. This Makara has an elephant's trunk and a dragon-like body.

Varuna
1644-1911




Mahabrahman
1644-1911




Green Tara
1644-1911

Vajrabhairava looks fierce, but represents the Mahayana practitioner's goal of enlightenment . In awakening, one adopts the practice of Yamantaka "terminating death".

Vajrabhairava

1644-1911




Eight-armed Goddess of Suyong
1736-1795

Manjusri Boddhisatva is often depicted brandishing the sword of wisdom.

Manjusri Bodhisattva with Four Arms
1403-1424




Vajrapani Bodhisattva
1403-1492




Maitrey Bodhisattva
1403-1424




Aksobhya Buddha
1403-1424




Goddess Usnisavijara
1368-1644




Goddess Marici

I became enamored with the sensitive handling of this Vajradhara. The gentle tilt of the head and elegant positioning of the hands made this statue my immediate choice as inspiration for my first painting once I returned home. A future blog post will feature that painting.

Vajradhara

1368-1644

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