The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Bodhisattva Samantabhadra purifies the path to enlightenment, with Manjushri, folio 348 (verso) from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array)

1000–1100s

Nepal

gum tempera and ink on palm leaf
Average: 4.2 x 52.4 cm (1 5/8 x 20 5/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1955.49.7.b
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Blue-clad monks were said to visit prostitutes, drink liquor, and practice extreme tantric rituals.

Description

The painting in the center shows a righteous bodhisattva tossing aside a blue-skinned heretic, while an impious blue-clad monk sits behind them, the next to be overpowered by the righteous one. In the painting on the left, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri, brandishes his sword, and at the far right, a Buddhist priest (Vajracharya) sets fire to a Hindu sage in a rocky landscape.
  • ?-1955
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1955-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned: cat. no. 752 archive.org
    Mace, Sonya Rhie. “Clearing the Course: Folio 348 of the Nepalese Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Religions 2020, 11(4), 183. Reproduced: Figs. 5-7, 9-10, 13-14 doi.org
  • {{cite web|title=Bodhisattva Samantabhadra purifies the path to enlightenment, with Manjushri, folio 348 (verso) from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array)|url=false|author=|year=1000–1100s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1955.49.7.b