Gwan-eum Bodhisattva

Goryeo · 2F · Donated Collection · Donated Collection 2

A 'mirror image' (gyeongsang) is a sacred Buddhist figure incised in lines on the reflective surface of a mirror. On one side of this piece are finely engraved the White-Robed Avalokiteshvara and the Heart Sutra, and on the other the Cundi Avalokiteshvara. Although the scriptures do not actually use the name 'Avalokiteshvara' for Cundi, the figure embodies the idea of the 'mother of seven hundred million Buddhas' and the mother of all Buddhas of the three ages, and so is thought to have been venerated as an Avalokiteshvara symbolizing motherhood. Such mirror images are believed to have originated in the Esoteric Buddhist meditative practice (gwansang) of using the imagination to become one with the divine.

See it in person at the National Museum of Korea — 2F · Donated Collection · Donated Collection 2

Source: based on official e-museum records (National Museum of Korea).