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Course: The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Unit 1

Lesson 3: Devotion
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
82nd & Fifth
Devotion
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Pensive Bodhisattva

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Met curator Soyoung Lee on contemplation in Pensive Bodhisattva from Korea’s Three Kingdoms period, mid-7th century.

Images of the pensive bodhisattva were produced throughout Asia. In Korea, the type emerged as an important Buddhist icon during the sixth and seventh centuries, particularly in the kingdoms of Baekje and Silla. This seated figure is among the best preserved and most spectacular. It is infused with a subtle yet palpable energy that is articulated in details such as the pliant and lifelike fingers and toes. The deity’s braided hair has a dramatic linear pattern. His crown is topped with an orb-and-crescent motif, indicating Central Asian influence.

View this work on metmuseum.org.

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  • leaf orange style avatar for user Jeff Kelman
    Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Jeff Kelman's post “How would this statue hav...”
    How would this statue have been originally placed within a building? Or based on the wear and tear on the statue was it placed outside, perhaps in a garden? Also, would it be on a pedestal to place it at eye level such as it is in this museum or would it be at ground level?
    (7 votes)
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Video transcript

In Buddhism, the bodhisattva is an inherently compassionate being that knows how to achieve enlightenment, but stays here to help us mortals get there. Many people consider the pensive bodhisattva very Korean because of how prevalent it was in the sixth and seventh centuries. The Korean versions are so approachable even if you don’t know them. There’s something about them that’s immediately appealing. And perhaps that’s one of the reasons I identify with the pensive bodhisattva. Many of these small statues were made as as individual devotional pieces. Sometimes to be carried around to be able to spread the faith. This is in some ways the antithesis to, say, the Rococo, Baroque statues from Europe that are all about outward expression. It is a figure that is contemplating and invites me to come and think with it. For me, not being Buddhist, it's more about contemplating the notion of a being or a world that is beyond the one that I'm inhabiting. To really release the worldly concerns, and try to attain a state that I imagine this figure is at. The Bodhisattva is seated, leaning slightly forward. His head is tilted to the right. I feel like he’s thinking and drumming his fingers and toes. It is a very calming and peaceful figure; at the same time, full of energy and dynamic quality. There’s also something about the act of walking around the piece, looking at him or her from different angles. I see the piece from slightly above, where you fully appreciate it in its pensive mode, but then as I change my perspective his face changes in the expression that it bestows on me. What I really try to do is empty my mind when I’m standing in front of him, and I don’t think that’s actually too far from one of its objectives as a religious icon.