Golden Thousand-Armed Radiance

Viewing notes

A viewer's written impression — not a buyer review or first-hand record

This fully gilded seated figure rises before a towering wall of arms. The principal figure, crowned, sits in full lotus on a many-tiered throne, palms joined at the chest while another pair of hands below cradles a round bowl. Behind him, countless arms unfold from his shoulders and back in tier upon tier, forming a high fan-shaped screen of gold, implements at the fingertips — seen from afar, a flame of gold rising, with the figure held at the very centre of the light. Above the crown, small heads are stacked in ascending rows, and a tiny seated Buddha crowns the summit, the splendour climbing tier over tier. The throne's face is carved with a dharma wheel and rolling clouds, and at the base stand two smaller seated figures in pointed-arch niches inlaid with coloured stones — three images shining together. A golden presence for the principal position of a shrine, radiant beneath the lamps.