#shanmiao

[crazyfox-archives]

A scene from the “Illustrated Biographies of the Founders of the Kegon School” (華厳宗祖師絵伝) dating to the Kamakura period (1185-1333) in the collection of Kōzanji Temple (高山寺) up in northwest Kyoto, with text by the temple’s founder Myōe (明恵)

The scene depicts the young lady Shanmiao (善妙 Zenmyō) transforming into a dragon and safely escorting the Korean monk & Kegon founder Uisang (義湘 Gijō) across the sea from Tang China back to the Korean peninsula

Image from a booklet acquired at the temple March 30, 1997

[crazyfox-archives]

A sculpted image of the young lady Shanmiao (善妙 Zenmyō) deified as the guardian of the Kegon school of Buddhism and its monks, dating to 1225 and thought to be the work of the Buddhist artist Tankei (湛慶), once enshrined along with other deities in a local protective shrine near the main hall on the grounds of Kōzanji Temple (高山寺) up in northwest Kyoto

Image from a booklet acquired at the temple March 30, 1997