ИСТИНА

Images of bodhisattva Fugen (Puxian) 普賢 riding on an elephant have been known in China since VI c. In Japan, apart from sporadic examples from the VIII-XI c., there have been preserved many examples of sculptural and painted images of bodhisattva Fugen, created specifically in the XII c. One of the late XII c. sculptural images from Japan even preserved in the collection of Russian State Oriental Art Museum. Interestingly, the iconography of XII c. Fugen images from Japan is quiet unified: bodhisattva is represented riding on an elephant, with joined palms and his head slightly tilted down. Scholars have connected this sudden growth of popularity of bodhisattva Fugen with the Worship of Lotus Sutra, which was especially promoted by the Tendai (Tiantai) Buddhist School. In the current paper, I examine more closely a relation between the worship of bodhisattva Fugen and his sacred images. First, to what extent the realm of belief in bodhisattva and the realm of his artistic representations are connected? And second, was this popularity of bodhisattva in late Heian (late XII c.) Japan somehow unique or can it be observed around that time in other regions?