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Wisdom Personified
Over time, different Buddhist schools developed different methods for attaining enlightenment. One approach is taught through a collection of texts called Prajnaparamita (The Perfection of Wisdom). In India, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia, these teachings are also personified as a goddess. Prajnaparamita's eleven heads represent her supreme wisdom, and her twenty-two arms indicate her extraordinary power. The crablike appendages that radiate from her upper arms in this sculpture are unusual. They may be the result of artists grappling with the unfamiliar challenge of sculpting many arms. |