The Statue of Dumb Arhat is most remarkable. He wears a cowl and sits cross-legged in the hall. His body is symmetric. His posture is erect and his robe covers his hands. This statue produces a feeling of infinite thinking and power. His facial expression is most distinctive. His eyes reveal his anger. His integrity and understanding eyes make a deep impression. In fact, most painted sculptures from Shuanglin Temple have vivid eyes. Sculptors from the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to the eyes of the statues, where are anatomically correct. The structures of eyebrows, eyepits and eyeballs on the statues are similar to the structure of the human body. In order to express the vivid eyes, the sculptors used black lazurite or black paint to make the eyeballs, which adds the finishing touch to the statues.
Statue of Zizai Guanyin
The Grand Hall, the Thousand-Buddha Hall and the Bodhisattva Hall are located in the second courtyard. The statues in the Thousand-Buddha Hall are of great significance in this temple. The significance lies in a statue of Zizai Guanyin and a statue of Veda. The Shuanglin Temple includes a large number of statues of guanyin, including Duhai Guanyin and Thousand-Hand Guanyin, which are usually sitting in a posture of “mind in comfort and ease.” The statue of Zizai Guanyin does not follow the traditional standing posture and sits at ease. The statue has its right leg lifted and the right arm on the right knee. It is unique in the history of the Chinese sculpting.
Statue of Veda
The Statue of Veda in an aggressive posture is also a very brilliant example from the Shuanglin Temple. Veda is the Guardian Deity in Buddhism. The statue in Shuanglin Temple has both civil character and military competence. It looks powerful and fierce. The statue has an exaggerated body and vivid facial expression, especially the eyes, which are always looking at you from all sides.
The sculptors used the static statue to display dynamic charm, an important reason why this statue meets with great artistic success. The weight of the statue is on its right foot. Its two legs are standing in front and the upper body distorted to the right from the head to the waist. The distortion greatly exceeds the physical limits of the human body. However, the posture doesn’t “Colorful? sculptures from the Ming and Qing dynasties produce an uncomfortable feeling but gives it great power. It looks like an S-shaped curve, which gives the statue more vitality and a dynamic feeling. The statue also displays a sense of rhythm and continuity of movement.
The most ingenious designs are the eyes and head. The eyes look to the left, while the head and body turns to the right. The statue successfully breaks the stylized restrains.
Characteristics and processing techniques
It’s rather amazing that so many painted sculptures can be found in Shuanglin Temple. Sometimes, there are several hundred statues on one wall. Every statue is perfect, not only in sculptural but also in decoration. They look vivid. They are made of the local red clay, which is good in viscosity and quality and can produce smooth and exquisite statues. Around three quarters of the painted statues are made by suspending sculpture and give a full of stereoscopic feeling. Many statues bend forward at an angle of 10 to 20 degrees, which changes the conventional processing method of the clay sculptures and combines mechanics and the sculptural arts.
All sculptures give profound attention to the eyes. The eyeballs of most statues use black lazurite and are bright and piercing even after a thousand years. More than 2,000 painted sculptures, big or small, in Shuanglin Temple are all different in appearance and shapes.