Shaka (Shakyamuni), the Historical Buddha, with Two Attendant Bodhisattvas and Sixteen Arhats

Shaka (Shakyamuni), the Historical Buddha, with Two Attendant Bodhisattvas and Sixteen Arhats

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This scroll depicts the Buddha on a bank of swirling clouds at upper center, preaching to a varied group of figures at Vulture Peak. He is flanked by attendant bodhisattvas: Fugen, at right riding a white elephant, and Monju, at left on a blue lion. Below this heavenly triad are sixteen arhats (rakan), enlightened ascetic followers of the Buddha, who engage in a diversity of activities in a landscape of jagged rocks, caverns, and rushing waterfalls. Joining them are two historical figures, both crucial to the development of Japanese Buddhism: at left in a red robe is Shōtoku Taishi (574–622), an imperial prince and early patron of Buddhism, and at right the monk Kūkai (774–835), founder of the Shingon sect of Esoteric Buddhism.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shaka (Shakyamuni), the Historical Buddha, with Two Attendant Bodhisattvas and Sixteen ArhatsShaka (Shakyamuni), the Historical Buddha, with Two Attendant Bodhisattvas and Sixteen ArhatsShaka (Shakyamuni), the Historical Buddha, with Two Attendant Bodhisattvas and Sixteen ArhatsShaka (Shakyamuni), the Historical Buddha, with Two Attendant Bodhisattvas and Sixteen ArhatsShaka (Shakyamuni), the Historical Buddha, with Two Attendant Bodhisattvas and Sixteen Arhats

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.