Art Institute of Chicago

The Eighteen Sages of the Lotus Society

Artist unknown

Date

Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 18th–19th century

Medium

Handscroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

China

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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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