Beginning
A group of New Mexico artists is currently transforming a Thousand Hand and Eye Bodhisattva statue. The statue was given by a Chinese donor about 23 years ago to a non-profit Buddhist monastery located high in a nearly inaccessible retreat nestled in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
Lost Statue
The ancient statue, which had suffered much abuse and a long period of neglect was restored sometime in the 1970’s or early 1980’s but had deteriorated over the past 20 years after being moved to New Mexico. The monks at the monastery sought assistance with the restoration of the sculpture and for the past three years, this cross-cultural, collaborative venture has employed local artists who have been painstakingly restoring and transforming the statue at project director/lead sculptor Michael Semsch’s studio in Albuquerque. A Chinese sculptor also serves as consultant for the project.
The Charnel
The process has attracted numerous visitors, one of whom, a Buddhist woman, looked at a pile of arms laying on the work table and was reminded of the charnel. She described the now seldom practiced (primarily Tibetan Buddhist) funerary ritual where monks take the body of the deceased to the foot of the mountains and proceed to dismember, peel back the skin, tenderize then finally stand aside and allow the patiently waiting vultures to swoop down and carry off the body’s remains, freeing the essence of the individual and facilitating its re-incarnation.
Process
This became the inspiration behind the Vultures, a group of artists (some volunteering), who have spent countless hours first dismembering the statue, then metaphorically peeling its flesh by scraping off the existing gold leaf, which is to be re-purposed. Next comes the laborious task of removing lacquer and a thick layer of cement covering an assortment of unnecessary metal fasteners from previous restorations. After removing the fasteners, the statue’s original butterfly joints are restored and the aromatic camphor wood is patched with wood salvaged from the interior of its lotus base. Finally each piece is re-carved and re-attached to the Bodhisattva statue. As Vultures we are freeing the essence of the statue and facilitating its newest incarnation.
Guoqing Temple
An inscription on the back of the lotus base led to discovering the name of the Chinese monastery (Guoqing Temple) which restored the sculpture some 45 years ago, but where and when the piece was created remains a mystery. The recent discovery of a hand forged square nail holding one arm indicated that it could be quite old.
Vultures
What is known is that the Bodhisattva statue would have been created at a monastery with the hands of many monks and volunteers from the local community helping and being part of the spiritual journey that accompanies the creation of a Bodhisattva with a Thousand Hands and Eyes. In that spirit the Vultures welcome volunteers to spend a few hours scraping off gold-leaf, or sanding the enticingly fragrant camphor wood and becoming a part of a significant project of renewal. Share the journey.
The Bodhisattva
When I first went to view the statue, the head monk Casey, as he prefers to be called, would not allow me to touch the Bodhisattva. To him there was no distinction between the sculpture and the entity it represents. Casey viewed the piece as the form the Bodhisattva had chosen to take.
What followed were many hours of explanation, instruction, and an introduction into what the Bodhisattva is and how it should be depicted.
Casey conferred with Mr. Chang, a Chinese artist who is Buddhist, the best way to convey to a culturally and religiously different group of artists what our goal should be in this process of restoration. The following list of attributes has guided our efforts.
The Bodhisattva is a teacher, a compassionate entity that helps others, not only in this universe but in many universes, to attain enlightenment. The Bodhisattva can assume any shape and appears in different forms and is represented as being masculine or feminine, as well as often being depicted asexually. The Bodhisattva is not human, but rather an alien being who has no skeletal structure and is accompanied by, rather than wears, clothing which has a life of its own.
Andrew Velie’s research has helped us with the historical and the spiritual symbolism within this sculpture. The Bodhisattva of Compassion, also known as the Avalokisvara, has many different forms. This specific form embodies all the Buddhas, represented by the one thousand arms and eyes, and has eleven heads symbolizing the stages of enlightenment. The top head is the Dhyani Buddha, Amitabha. The Dhyani Buddhas are the five original Buddhas. Each representing abstract aspects of Buddha hood. Amitabha is representing the element of fire and the direction west. His color is Red and is typically riding a peacock vehicle. The tenth head symbolizes the evil form of malignity. Also known as Mara who is the demonic celestial King who tempted Siddhartha with various forms of desire. This one thousand armed Bodhisattva is rich in symbolism and holds more then 40 different relics. Each one is used in rituals and has a history of its own. One of the most prominent aspects of this entity is the Lotus flower upon which He sits. The Lotus is regarded to be especially sacred by all classes of Buddhism and it symbolizes self creation and the blooming of consciousness.
We don’t know how old this sculpture is, or where it was built originally, but there was an inscription on the back of the Lotus in Chinese characters. (See image above.) We were told that these inscriptions translated to “Guoqing Temple”. The Guoqing Temple was originally built in 598 A.D. during the Sui Dynasty. It was the initial site for the creation of the Tiantai school of Mahayana Buddhism. It features 600 rooms, including the Hall of 500 Arhat sculptures. This Bodhisattva was most likely restored at the Guoqing Temple in the 1970’s or early 80’s. The Japanese and Chinese prime ministers at that time launched a massive restoration project to help revive the Buddhist traditions and statues in China. The history of this sculpture is quite mysterious and there is a chance that other sculptures were used to supplement damaged areas. We uncovered extensive water damage and curious gouge marks to much of the statue. There are certain attributes and techniques used that lead us to believe that this Bodhisattva is hundreds of years old, and has gone through numerous incarnations. For example the tapered butterfly joinery, hand forged nails and fasteners that are utilized all over the joints and body.