Arhats and Avalokiteśvara

Two classes of sacred beings in Buddhism often found in Ōbaku temples are Arhats (Ch. luohan; Jp. rakan), and the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Ch. Guanyin; Jp. Kannon).

Although arhats were originally associated with Theravada Buddhism, they were thoroughly incorporated into Mahayana Buddhism centuries ago. The Japanese first portrayed these legendary disciples of the Buddha Śākyamuni in the eighth century, in connection with reverence for the popular Lotus Sutra. Paintings and sculptures of arhats in sets of sixteen or five hundred later became common. In the seventeenth century, inspired by the devotion of late Ming Chinese Buddhist lay followers who identified with arhats as heroic individuals, many Japanese came to believe that arhats dwelt anonymously among the living and resembled actual people. The esteemed émigré Ōbaku monks came to be closely associated with arhats, since their temples were populated with images of them, in assemblages of eighteen (newly popular in the Ming dynasty) and five hundred. This widespread presence in Ōbaku temples of painted and sculpted arhats significantly contributed to their enduring popularity in Japan. Manpukuji possesses the most famous sculpted set of eighteen life-sized arhats by the Chinese sculptor Fan Daosheng (Jp. Han Dōsei, 1635-1670). Later sets of Five Hundred Arhats are made of stone and placed outdoors. Perhaps the first of these stone sets was designed by a celebrated Kyoto painter and lay Ōbaku monk, Itō Jakuchū, in the hilly bamboo grove behind the Kyoto Ōbaku temple Sekihōji where he retired and was buried.

Avalokiteśvara is the most popular of the many bodhisattvas that populate the Mahayana Buddhist pantheon and is also prevalent in Ōbaku art, especially in painting. Celebrated as the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokiteśvara appears in Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra in 33 manifestations (some female) designed to respond to the diversity of sentient beings seeking salvation. In Ōbaku Zen, however, Avalokiteśvara is most closely associated with the Heart Sutra, a short text that links the major Buddhist concepts of emptiness and compassion. In this respect, like the arhat, Avalokiteśvara also serves as an exemplary model for Ōbaku followers to emulate. Notable among the many extant paintings of Avalokiteśvara by Ōbaku Zen artists are refined works by the Ōbaku nun and Imperial princess Shōzan Gen’yo, who reportedly painted hundreds of images of the bodhisattva as an act of merit.