The Case ofAmoghapasa

Amoghapasa AvalokiteSvara (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva with the Unfailing Rope; Ch. Bukongjuansuo Guanyin ::f2 'j'~W -,]. Fukukenjaku Kannon) is one of the popular eso­ teric forms ofAvalokiteSvara, with widespread worship of this deity in India, the Himalayas, East and Southeast Asia from around the latter part of the eighth century. However, the beginnings of this bodhisattva in East Asia in the seventh and eighth centuries remain unclear, with only a small number of examples dating from this early period. Scholars ofIndian art have been confounded by the lack ofIndian examples predat­ ing those in the east, assuming that there must have been Indian precedents prior to the East Asian images. I And yet, the earliest extant representation of this bodhisattva-an impos­ ing statue ofFukLlkenjaku Kannon in the Sangatsuda J1 ¥ (Hall of the Third month) ofTadaiji *7(~, Nara-indicates the significance attached to the rise of the cult of this bodhisat­ tva (Fig. I). Dating to around 748 and over three meters high, the dry lacquer statue was probably one of the largest bodhisat­ tva statues created in Japan up till that time. It was ensconced in a chapel originally known as the Konshaji ~iliill~, the pri­ vate hermitage of Raben ~ft (689-773), who was a scholar monk of Avataqlsaka Buddhism. Raben was instrumental in the founding ofTadaiji, which became the premiere temple of state Buddhism in mid-eighth century Japan. Under what cir­ cumstances was the cult ofAmoghapasa introduced to Japan? What were the antecedents of the worship of this bodhisattva in China? TIle present paper attempts to reexamine some of these questions, and includes discussion of a few later images to compare with these early representations.