Cleveland Museum of Art

Meta-Discourse on the Teachings from the Treasury (Abidharmakosha-Bhashya)

Date: 1100s
Medium: handscroll; gold and silver on indigo-dyed paper
Culture: Japan, Heian period (794–1185)
Department: Japanese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

This religious text relates some of the teachings of the great fourth-century Indian Buddhist scholar Vasubhandhu. The text analyzes human consciousness in its relationship to the environment and transformations that occur during meditation. This scroll is the 17th part of a 30-part translation of the text by Xuanzang, an eminent seventh-century Chinese monk. The frontispiece depicts the Buddha Shakyamuni preaching in a paradisical landscape.

View at Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.