The Eighteen Sages of the Lotus Society

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This painting depicts a legendary gathering of the White Lotus Society, which was founded by a monk named Huiyan who lived during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420). He and his followers focused their practice on visualizing Buddha Amitābha. But surviving paintings of the White Lotus Society show the assembled members performing a ritual before Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, who appears atop the lion he used as a vehicle. This confusion of the deities originated in the apocryphal text The Hagiographies of the Eighteen Noble Worthies of the Lotus Society, which served as the basis for this painting.

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