This is the caption of image number 1Wu Bin (act. ca. late 16th-early 17th c.), Ming dynasty (1368-1644)
Dated 1602, hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 127.5 × 66.2 cm

 

The painting depicts the Samantabhadra (Chinese translation "Puxian", meaning "Universal Worthy") Bodhisattva on a white elephant preaching to his disciples. The bodhisattva sits with both legs crossed, wearing a red scarf on his head, a white robe, and a red kasaya. He holds a short Buddhist staff, lowering his head slightly to the right side and making eye contact with the disciples standing there. The five disciples surrounding him are all portrayed in standing gesture, but in varied types of kasaya and with different apparatus.
The disciple at the lower right side of Samantabhadra wears a dark colored, wide sleeved Buddhist robe covered with a red kasaya. Judging from the Sanskrit text that he holds, he should be consulting the Bodhisattva about the doctrines of the Buddhist sutra. Two others stand behind Smantabhadra. One is in white robe with crossed collars and holding a round alms bowl; the other is in pink with round-collared robe and holding a Buddhist staff. The disciple standing at the right side behind Samantabhadra wears a pink, round-collared robe covered with a red kasaya with his right shoulder exposed. He carries a tripod table in both arms. The disciple standing at the right side in front of the Samantabhadra wears a red, cross-collared robe, lowering his body to arrange flowers on an exquisitely made bronze stand.
  The allusion of Samantabhadra riding a white elephant was originally recorded in the Sutra of the Lotus Blossom of the Subtle Dharma (also known as the Lotus Sutra). The motif has been popular since the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589). But different from the traditional evocation, the elephant one in this painting is submissively lying on the ground, Samantabhadra is portrayed as a male figure instead of a female Bodhisattva, and around Samantabhadra are all his disciples. It reflects the new pattern of religious imagery that emerged in the late Ming dynasty. (Editor:admin)