Image Study Of Lakshmi

Lakshmi,who is best known for her role as a Buddhist protector,but like many deities,she was not originally part of Buddhism.Her Sanskrit name is lakshmi,which is first appeared in the rig Veda,meaning "good luck",and later in the Atharva Veda was personified,evolved into a goddess who can bring good luck to people.Later appeared in Brahmanism（the predecessor of Hinduism）,and occupy a certain position,representing luck and wealth,highly respected by people,and then she incoming to Buddhism with Vishnu and other Brahmanism gods,as the role of the guardian god.However,the basic functions and symbolic meanings of the Lakshmi have not changed much,and they can still bring auspiciousness and wealth to people.However,the perspective of images has been realized.There are several common combinations of her in Hindu religious art,mainly with Vishnu,The goddess of the earth,and the two elephants.With the introduction of Buddhism into China,the dharma protectors,who influenced by both Han and Tibetan cultures,gradually became completely different from the images of India after being sinicized and Tibetan.Northern Liang’s Tan Wu Chen translated by the “Da Fang Deng Ji Jing ”and “Jin Guang Ming Jing” that has appeared in the figure of the Lakshmi,which is the earliest appeared Lakshmi in the Han’s Buddhism classic;By the time of Tang Dynasty,many eminent monks had translated the relevant classics into Chinese,and the belief of the Lakshmi was prevalent in Han region.Her image also gradually appeared in the grotto fresco,mainly as a subordinate in the Confucian classics painting,belonging to a subordinate position,and her appearance was sometimes a palace lady,sometimes a handmaid.After the Song and Yuan dynasties,the images of Lakshmi in grotto frescoes are relatively rare.What can make up for the gap of the times is Twenty Heavenly Deities in temples.She sometimes appears in the water-land paintings together with many dharma protectors,and has the corresponding ranking according to different order.Lakshmi has high status in the Tibetan Buddhism,its Tibetan name is Dpal-dhan-lha-mo,who is the protector of Lhasa and the head of female protectors.She looks sharp biting,majesty,prohibitive,its image transformation to achieve the process of "deconstruction" and "construction" which different from India and Han region,to break the traditional "femininity" on appearance,turn to the pursuit of spirit and power.In The religious art of India,Lakshmi often appears together with Vishnu or elephants.When she go to the Han region,she gradually evolves into the appearance of "queen" and rarely appears alone.However,when she in the Tibetan region,the Lakshmi becomes the god of war who protect Lhasa and ranks first among the female protectors,which shows its heavy status.The image expression of the same goddess in India、 Han and Tibet is different or even unrelated,which has a great relationship with the local aesthetic habits and customs and culture,from which we can see the huge aesthetic differences among the three places.However,the difference in image expression is not only limited to aesthetic differences,but also the change of status.In India,she mainly appears as the companion of Vishnu,while in Han region,she appears as the attachment of Avalokitesvara or together with other dharma protectors.In Tibetan Buddhism,she can act alone and independent.