Minneapolis Institute of Art

Chapter 9 of the Lotus Sutra

Japan

Date

early 14th century

Medium

Hanging scroll, silk embroidered on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Lotus Sutra teaches that salvation is attainable for all living beings and states explicitly that women may also become buddhas. This straightforward teaching made it one of the most influential Buddhist scriptures and a particularly popular one, especially among women. Very little is known about the early production of embroidered Buddhist sutras like this one. But as most surviving examples are transcriptions of the Lotus Sutra, it is highly likely that women created them. Creating these extravagant sutras, first transcribed in ink and then embroidered with colored silk and lavishly decorated with gold and silver, was an act of devotion. This work is but one small fragment—19 lines of a single chapter from a sutra consisting of some 28 chapters—of what must have been a set of numerous handscrolls. Japan, Asia

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