Senjia Dashi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2008

Senjia Dashi
Song dynasty (960-1279)
Stone with traces of polychromy

Accession # 43.114

This sculpture is a rare representation of Senjia Dashi (Master of the Sangha, or Assembly of Buddhist priests [act. ca. 660-710] , a monk from the western regions who founded a temple in Sizhou (modern Linhuai, Anhui Province) on the south shore of the Huai River. Popularly known as Sizhou Heshang (the Monk of Sizhou), he was venerated after his death as an incarnation of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Mercy. In Song times he became a cult figure revered for his power to prevent floods.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.