Cover for a Buddhist manuscript

This intricately carved and gilded object, along with its similarly painted cousin to the right, is a cover for Buddhist texts. The loose leaves of the manuscript would originally have been stacked between two such covers. While the text it once contained is now lost, inscriptions beneath each figure allow us to identify the Buddhist deities on the manuscript covers. Left to right, the inscriptions identify the figure above whom each one appears, along with each figure’s retinue:

• “A group of the Buddhas of the ten directions has been arrayed for the Great Mother”

• “A group of the eight bodhisattvas has been arrayed for Amitayus”

• “A group of tenth-ground bodhisattvas has been arrayed for Vairochana”

From these inscriptions, it would appear that the text originally protected by this cover was the Perfection of Wisdom, often called the “Mother of all the Buddhas” since all Buddhas were understood to have become enlightened through their comprehension of the Perfection of Wisdom.