Painting as Devotion and Ritual Embodiment in Jin Lying’s Guanyin, 1803

Written by Chloe Gordon-Chow

Edited by Yonger Xie

INTRODUCTION

In late imperial China, the cult of Guanyin reached its zenith and the presence of the deity was enacted through a wide range of visual forms. Laywomen participated in the cult of Guanyin by reproducing her image as a way to salvation and a form of devotion [1]. During this time, women were excluded from religious spaces for fear of desecrating the sacred and causing ritual impurity. With the ascendancy of Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the strengthening of the lineage ideal, there was increased emphasis on the ritualized family and a heightened focus on female chastity and purity [2]. Public religious space remained privileged for male use while private domestic space became the locus of female religious and ritual life [3]. In addition to chanting sutras, practicing meditation, and observing a vegetarian diet, women also created religious icons as part of their devotional practice. [4].

During the Ming and Qing periods, the bodhisattva Guanyin was the most popular subject for gentry women painters [5]. These images took on a variety of forms, including painting, embroidery, calligraphy, and even bodily portrayal [6]. It is important to examine material practice to observe how learned women used their brushes as “technologies of the self,” [7] externalizing deeply personal, religious, and intimate experiences through the medium of brush and paper. Where gentry women’s worship was largely confined to the home, female practitioners in the cult of Guanyin developed a new mode of worship by reproducing Guanyin’s image. 

In my essay, I examine Jin Liying’s painting of Guanyin completed in 1803, on the day of Guanyin’s Enlightenment (lunar June 19th). Prior to examining this work of art, I provide a brief overview of the bodhisattva Guanyin and detail some of the popular manifestations and iconography associated with the deity. Further, I provide socio-cultural and historical context on the role of women in late imperial China, in order to situate Jin Liying’s artistic practice. Finally, I examine Jin Liying’s Guanyin, as one such example of how the act of painting could forge an intimate relationship between the worshipped and the worshipper. I argue that through the reproduction of the deity’s image, painting served as a form of discipline, commemoration, and self-embodiment for the female artist. Examined within this context, Jin’s painting could function as both a devotional object, ritual practice, and as a projected image of the virtuous self.  

BODHISATTVA GUANYIN

When Buddhism was introduced to China in the first century CE, it arrived in Mahayana Buddhist form and introduced a large pantheon of buddhas and bodhisattvas to China [8]. One of the most popular bodhisattvas was Avalokiteśvara (he who sees sound), whose name was translated and indigenized as Guanyin (he who contemplates sounds) [9]. From the moment Avalokiteśvara was introduced to China, he enjoyed wide and fervent veneration. The most influential literary portrait of Avalokiteśvara was written in the early centuries of the first millennium in the Lotus Sutra. An entire chapter entitled Pumen Jing (sutra on the gate of universal salvation)was devoted to Avalokiteśvara, who was praised by the Buddha for his salvific powers and unlimited compassion [10]. He was framed as a universal saviour, willing to aid anyone who appealed to him, regardless of the nature of his or her distress [11]. 

The identity of Guanyin was most thoroughly indigenised via visual representations [12].  Thus, art was one of the most powerful and effective mediums through which Chinese people came to know and accept Guanyin. Throughout history, iconography associated with Guanyin has varied. Guanyin was credited with the ability to manifest himself in a variety of  shapes (male or female, poor or rich, human or non-human) depending on the miracles he needed to perform. Openness and self-transformation became important hallmarks of the bodhisattva, which were reflected in the variety of manifestations enriching the vast canon of Guanyin imagery [13]. 

Figure 1: Jin Liying, Guanyin.1803. Hanging scroll, color and ink on paper. 116.6 x 44.2 cm. Collection of Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou, China.

When first introduced to China, the bodhisattva was depicted as a richly arrayed Indian Prince – his male sex was indicated by a thin moustache [14]. During the Tang dynasty, Guanyin was depicted with numerous heads and hands, indicative of his omnipresent readiness to aid his devotees [15]. This manifestation of Guanyin was known as Thousand-Headed and Thousand-Handed Guanyin. From the tenth century onward, Guanyin was increasingly depicted in female form and it was in this female manifestation that the bodhisattva gained the greatest popularity [16]. Feminized representations of Guanyin stemmed from miracle stories and pilgrimage traditions; they were tied to specific locations, biographical stories and depicted specific iconographies [17]. These localized legends helped to indigenise Guanyin by providing the bodhisattva with a uniquely Chinese upbringing, characteristics of a human life, and a designated pilgrimage site [18]. Female representations of Guanyin were circulating as early as the Tang and Song dynasties, but the bodhisattva was not firmly feminized until the early Ming dynasty [19]. Guanyin gradually became the Chinese Goddess of Compassion and Mercy and was worshipped in times of peril – for health, wealth, and as a provider of children [20].

Common female iconographic representations of Guanyin include Princess Miao-shan, White-Robed Guanyin, Guanyin of the South Sea, and Fish-Basket Guanyin. These different manifestations were gradually developed throughout time and had their own cult following, attracting different audiences and devotees. The bodhisattva’s most acclaimed power is compassion, a distinctly feminine and material quality in a Chinese context [21]. Thus, Guanyin gradually metamorphosed into a universal mother figure, embodying the characteristics of purity, unity, compassion, and mercy [22]. The Chinese indigenisation of the bodhisattva and her distinctly feminine characteristics  explains the sexual transformation of the deity, linking Guanyin’s inherent religious qualities to her outward physical appearance. She was venerated by men and women alike and worshiped by all classes. Guanyin was praised for her universal compassion and unlimited power: she was precious to all and did not discriminate in her love and aid. 

GENDER, RELIGION, AND MATERIAL PRACTICE IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA 

Jin Liying was born in 1772 during the Qing dynasty.  During this time, gender distinctions were marked and women were subject to Confucian principles of filial piety, chastity, and patrilocality. Domestic space was the central site where women practiced filial piety, participated in the cult of purity, and pursued religious and ritual practices. Confucian moral authorities envisioned a spiritual life for women within their homes and radically rejected their religious participation within the community [23]. This was formalized with repeated proclamations and other official documents issued by late imperial officers to prohibit women from visiting temples [24]. Restricting female religious participation in public functioned trifold: to maintain female chastity, to uphold the gendered segregation of spaces, and to preserve the sanctity of the temples. Female participation in public religious life was seen as treasonous against a woman’s duties towards the family and the home. Female Chinese Buddhist practice was informed by long standing Confucian tradition, which limited female religious participation [25]. Thus, during late imperial China, gentry women’s religious activity was primarily confined to the home, limited to ancestral worship and secluded Buddhist cultivation [26]. 

One way in which women negotiated their social roles and religious beliefs was through material practice and the production of Buddhist images at home. From the Ming dynasty onward, there was a marked increase in female literacy and arts education. Gentry women were encouraged to cultivate art forms, such as painting, music, poetry, and calligraphy [27]. Women also had greater access to printed models and painting manuals created by male artists as a result of a booming publishing culture [28]. During the Ming and Qing periods, women became prominent painters of Buddhist imagery, with Guanyin as the most popular subject matter [29]. Thus, despite the inability to enter temples and to outwardly practice Buddhism, women forged an intimate relationship with Guanyin through the reproduction of her image within their homes. 

JIN LIYING (1772-1807): Guanyin, 1803

Jin Liying was one of the most accomplished female painters at the end of the High Qing era [30]. Jin grew up in a gentry family in Kuaiji and studied both Confucian and Buddhist classical texts. She married at the age of twenty-two and was the second wife to Wang Tan (1760-1817). As an artist, Jin mastered a wide range of subject matter, including different types of religious painting. Her spiritual life was materialized by painting Guanyin. On June 19th, 1803 Jin created the painting of Guanyin (fig.1) to commemorate her completion of the rite of Bodhisattva Vows [31].

In the painting, white-robed Guanyin is depicted sitting atop a lion, with her legs folded in the royal ease position and her hands clasped in her lap. Guanyin is wrapped in a simple white robe, barefoot, adorned with a green plaque on her chest, and a small Amitabha Buddha in her hair. Guanyin’s face is directed away from the viewer and her gaze is turned towards a little boy. She is positioned on the right-hand side of the painting, high up in the composition. A boy, Guanyin’s disciple Shancai, is positioned in the bottom left of the frame. Shancai appears to be crawling towards Guanyin. His knees are braced on the ground and his arms are half raised, as if in the process of moving closer and reaching out to the bodhisattva. His face is half turned away from the viewer and he is gazing upwards at Guanyin. A wooden hangar is situated to the left of the child and a white parrot is chained to the post. Shancai, the lion, and the white parrot are all common companions to white-robed Guanyin. They are established as part of her iconography and have a scriptural basis in the Lotus Sutra [32].  

Moral judgement, ritual significance, and symbolic meaning are embedded within  Jin’s painting of Guanyin. The painting serves as a reflective device by which Jin asserts her own virtuous qualities, committed religious identity, and intimate connection with the bodhisattva Guanyin. In the sections that follow, I will analyse the virtuous qualities associated with the baimiao style, discuss painting as a ritual act, and explore the intimate relationship depicted between Guanyin and Shancai in the artwork. My approach is distinctly feminist in nature and is grounded in the understanding that the act of painting can be a commemorative, devotional, and deeply intimate practice.

BRUSHWORK TECHNIQUES AS VIRTUE SIGNALLING

Jin Liying’s skill as an artist is evident in her painting of Guanyin, specifically with regard to her application of ink and pigment. She combines baimiao plain painting and gongbi colour techniques in her rendering of Guanyin, crafting a work that is both highly detailed yet simply rendered and lightly coloured [33]. This should be read not only as an aesthetic choice but also as an assertion of moral qualities on behalf of the artist. 

Jin used the monotonous baimiao style to draw Guanyin’s iconic white robes, applying delicate brushwork to craft the gentle folds in the bodhisattva’s white garment (fig. 2). Jin expertly manipulated the brush to create incredibly thin controlled lines, which conveys a sense of both airiness and dynamism and functions to showcase Jin’s steady hand and precise skill. The use of baimiao for Guanyin’s robes is juxtaposed against the soft orange colour of the lion and Guanyin’s trailing dark black hair (fig. 3). Colour is delicately and carefully applied in gongbi style to embellish Guanyin’s accessories, the beak of the parrot, the wooden hangar, and the little boy’s clothing, jewellery, and hair. Jin expertly applied pigment to create a soft colour palette and warm atmosphere, contributing to the intimacy of the scene. 

The contrast of baimiao and gongbi styles adds to the artistic sophistication of Jin’s Guanyin. It showcases the artist’s impressive technique, innovative aesthetic sensibility, and time intensive practice. Morality and virtuosity can also be read in her brush handling through an examination of the symbolic meaning associated with the style of baimiao. This style of painting is linked to qualities of elegance, reclusion, austerity, and simplicity – all of which might be adopted by gentry women as an effective gender-appropriate artistic expression [34]. Here, the use of the baimiao style alludes to Jin’s own moral qualities of chastity, purity, and restraint. Through depicting feminized Guanyin in baimiao style, Jin asserts a projected image of the virtuous self through her impressive skill set and mastery of style. 

PAINTING AS DEVOTION

As aforementioned, women’s religious practice was confined to the domestic sphere in late imperial China. Jin would have primarily worshipped Guanyin at home by chanting sutras, practicing mediation, observing a vegetarian diet, and by reproducing Guanyin’s image. In this section, I focus on painting as a ritual practice, establishing how Jin Liying invested her material body and labour into this artistic work as a method of religious devotion [35]. 

Ritual may be understood as a physical performance and was intimately connected with religious and spiritual life [36]. Bodily control was a necessary part of ritual worship.  The body was approached as a measure of value, perfection, order, and ritual. Mastery of the physical body implied control and tranquility of the mind. The physical act of painting Guanyin was conceived as a bodily form of worship, whereby the artist invested time and repetitive labour in recreating the bodhisattva’s image. Jin’s delicate and detailed application of ink showcases her dedicated practice and laborious efforts. Her controlled brushstrokes and meticulous lines imply meditative focus and unwavering concentration. The painting can be read as physical evidence of Jin’s devotion to Guanyin: a manifestation of her veneration in a material form and proof of hours of tireless work. Instead of worshipping the deity from afar, Jin and potentially many other gentry women like her developed a new mode of worshipping the deity, by investing bodily labour in recreating Guanyin’s image at home. The finished product is a reflection of Jin’s devotional practice and labour-intensive worship. 

DRAWING PARALLELS AND FORGING CONNECTIONS

Finally, Jin incorporated personal elements into her painting of Guanyin to forge an intimate connection with the deity in the work. The main visual focus of the painting is an intimate interaction between Guanyin and Shancai. The figures do not acknowledge the viewer but are mutually attentive to each other instead. They share eye contact and are both depicted with smiling facial expressions and open body language. It could be said that the relationship between the deity and the boy appears to be maternal. Guanyin looks down fondly at the boy and her facial expression is kind and compassionate (fig. 4). Her eyebrows are slightly raised, and she appears to be slightly amused. The edges of her lips are upturned, and she is directing a small smile towards the infant. Her head is tilted downward, emphasising her elevated position in the scene. In turn, the young boy is looking up and reaching out towards the bodhisattva. His knees are braced on the ground and his arms are open and outstretched. His facial expression is delighted, his mouth is curved, and his eyes are crinkled as a result of his smile (fig. 5). 

While the boy in the painting can easily be identified as Guanyin’s male disciple, Shancai, he also serves as a representation of Jin Liying’s own stepson, also named Shancai [37]. With this understanding in mind, the painting is a dual representation of Guanyin and Shancai and Jin Liying and her stepson. Learned women externalized their personal experiences through the medium of art, reflecting their own personal voice and a deeper narrative in their works [38]. By depicting an intimate and maternal interaction between Guanyin and Shancai, Jin might have been drawing a parallel between herself and her stepson. In the painting, the woman is smiling down at the boy with warmth and fondness, while the boy looks as though he is about to crawl into the woman’s arms. Thus, Jin might have established a deep connection with Guanyin by drawing significant parallels between the bodhisattva and herself, embedding herself and her stepson in the devotional painting as represented by the maternal interaction between Guanyin and her disciple, Shancai. By drawing comparisons with Guanyin in her own personal life, Jin establishes a personal bond with the deity, and she externalized these similarities in her artwork. 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, Jin Liying’s Guanyin (1803) illuminates how painting served as a reflective device by which laywomen expressed their devotion, religiosity, and established a connection with Guanyin. Through art, women developed unique and meaningful ways to connect with and worship the bodhisattva, despite being unable to practice religion in public. Women negotiated their social roles and religious beliefs in their material practices. In Jin’s painting of Guanyin, moral judgement, ritual significance, and personal narratives are embedded within the work of art. Through the choice of baimiao style brushwork, Jin asserts her refined artistic skills and moral austerity. Through the act of painting Guanyin, Jin forged an intimate relationship with the deity by investing hours of time, effort, and labour into the reproduction of her image. Finally, Jin expressed her closeness with the deity by embedding herself and her stepson into the painting. Overall, painting served as a form of discipline, commemoration, and self-embodiment for the female artist, empowering women to forge an intimate connection with Guanyin through art.  Ultimately Jin’s painting showcases how women overcome religious restrictions to cultivate their own meaningful and intimate ritual practices in art. 

HEADING

1.  Yuhang Li, “Gendered Materialization: An Investigation of Women's Artistic and Literary Reproductions of Guanyin in Late Imperial China” (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2013), 1. 

2.  Yiqun Zhou, “The Hearth and the Temple: Mapping Female Religiosity in Late Imperial China, 1550-1900,” Late Imperial China 24, no. 2 (2003): 113.

3.  Vincent Goossaert, “Irrepressible Female Piety: Late Imperial Bans on Women Visiting Temples,” Nan Nü 10, no. 2 (2008): 215.

4.  Yuhang Li, "Introduction," in Becoming Guanyin: Artistic Devotion of Buddhist Women in Late Imperial China. (New York: Columbia University press, 2020), 20.

5. Yuhang Li, "Painting Guanyin with Brush and Ink: Negotiating Confucianism and Buddhism," in Becoming Guanyin: Artistic Devotion of Buddhist Women in Late Imperial China. (New York: Columbia University press, 2020), 62.

6.  Li, “Gendered Materialization,” 17.

7.  Susan Mann, "Learned Women in the Eighteenth Century," in Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State, ed. Christina K. Gilmartin (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994), 41.

8.  Wilt L. Idema, "Introduction," in Personal Salvation and Filial Piety : Two Precious Scroll Narratives of Guanyin and Her Acolytes (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008), 5.

9.  Idema, "Introduction," 3.

10.  Chün-Fang Yü, "Guanyin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteshvara," in Latter Days of the Law : Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850-1850, ed. Patricia Ann Berger, Marsha Smith Weidner, Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, and Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (KS: Spencer Museum of Art, Unviversity of Kansas, 1994), 152.

11.  Idema, “Introduction,”7.

12.  Chün-fang Yü, "Indigenous Iconographies and the Domestication of Kuan-yin," in Kuan-yin : The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 223.

13.  Li, "Gendered Materialization," 4.

14.  Idema, “Introduction,” 7.

15.  Idema, “Introduction,” 6.

16.  Idema, “Introduction,” 7.

17.  Yü, "Feminine Forms of Kuan-Yin in Late Imperial China," 447.

18.  Paul Hedges, “The Identity of Guanyin: Religion, Convention and Subversion,” Culture and Religion 13, no. 1 (2012): 95.

19.  Li, “Gendered Materializations,” 4.

20.  Hedges, “The Identity of Guanyin,” 98.

21.  Yü, "Feminine Forms of Kuan-Yin in Late Imperial China," 414.

22.  Hedges, “The Identity of Guanyin,” 100.

23.  Goossaert, “Irrepressible Female Piety,” 215.

24.  Goossaert, “Irrepressible Female Piety,” 212.

25.  Goossaert, "Irrepressible Female Piety,” 215.

26.  Zhou, "The Hearth and the Temple," 124.

27.  Li, "Gendered Materialization," 26.

28.  Li, "Painting Guanyin," 63.

29. Li, "Painting Guanyin," 62.

30.  Li, "Painting Guanyin," 64.

31.  The bodhisattva vows are a set of moral codes which help Mahayana Buddhist practitioners discipline themselves along their path to becoming a bodhisattva.

32.  Yü, "Feminine Forms of Kuan-Yin in Late Imperial China," 447.

33.  Li, "Painting Guanyin," 64.

34.  Li, “Painting Guanyin,” 67.

35.  Li, “Painting Guanyin,” 62.

36.  Mark Edward Lewis, "Introduction," in The Construction of Space in Early China (New York: State University of New York Press, 2006), 30.

37.  Li, “Painting Guanyin,” 66.

38.  Mann, "Learned Women in the Eighteenth Century," 41.