Prajnaparamita – The "Perfection of Wisdom"
See it in the Museum
India and Nepal
Orientation 4
Display 6
ABS 058
Code: ABS 058
Country: Nepal
Style: Early Malla Period
Date: 1200 - 1300
Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 9.5 x 13.5 x 5.9
Materials: Copper
Prajñaparamita – The Perfection of Wisdom
Seated legs crossed in meditation and richly adorned with the royal ornaments proper to the divine manifestations, the four -armed goddess makes the teaching gesture, grasps the book, and probably held a rosary. A typical example of Nepalese copper production, she is adorned with an elaborate crown with finials, topped by a half vajra. This atypical iconography seems to have originated in Nepal, as it is also found in a painting dated 1379 held in the Musée Guimet.
Prajñaparamita or “Perfection of Wisdom” is the personification of an eponymous literature central in the Mahayana Buddhism. These texts emphasize wisdom or transcendent knowledge that leads to the perception of the true nature of phenomena, in order to realize Enlightenment. In doing so, they deal extensively with emptiness as the ultimate nature of all phenomena.
During their progress towards perfect Buddhahood, the bodhisattvas need to train and realize a series of perfections (paramita). The wisdom perfections is the one that transcends all the others and therefore, Prajnaparamita is considered as “the mother of all Buddhas.”
Seated legs crossed in meditation and richly adorned with the royal ornaments proper to the divine manifestations, the four -armed goddess makes the teaching gesture, grasps the book, and probably held a rosary. A typical example of Nepalese copper production, she is adorned with an elaborate crown with finials, topped by a half vajra. This atypical iconography seems to have originated in Nepal, as it is also found in a painting dated 1379 held in the Musée Guimet.
Prajñaparamita or “Perfection of Wisdom” is the personification of an eponymous literature central in the Mahayana Buddhism. These texts emphasize wisdom or transcendent knowledge that leads to the perception of the true nature of phenomena, in order to realize Enlightenment. In doing so, they deal extensively with emptiness as the ultimate nature of all phenomena.
During their progress towards perfect Buddhahood, the bodhisattvas need to train and realize a series of perfections (paramita). The wisdom perfections is the one that transcends all the others and therefore, Prajnaparamita is considered as “the mother of all Buddhas.”