瑪利亞•魯道夫( Maria Rudova )的詮釋是根據產生在同一時間與地點的相關畫作,例如一幅完成於十二世紀,名為「迎接正直人的靈魂生阿彌陀佛的淨土」的畫作,明確地說明了這個主題。(6) 畫面左下角有一名禮拜者合掌向西方三聖祈求,一名被阿彌陀佛祥光所包圍的赤裸小孩,正要踩到觀音與大勢至手上所捧著的蓮花座上。在西夏,水月觀音扮演著「引路菩薩」。
白衣觀音與水月觀音一樣,也成為人們在儀式中崇拜的對象,同時,有善財或重生的布施者伴隨著祂。亨利克•索仁松( Henrik Srenson )描述一幅藏於北京故宮博物院五代時期的畫作(《中華美術全集.繪畫篇》第二冊,頁 115),在這幅畫中,白衣觀音以「如意坐」的姿勢坐在一個華麗的寶座上,一件長袍隱隱地從頭上覆蓋著頭冠。
(6)四幅畫作的焦點,很明顯地都集中在西夏當時很流行的相同主題上。參見 Lost Empire of the Silk Road (《消失的絲路帝國》)第三十九、四十、四十一、四十二號圖( 192-189 )。
【參考書目】
Along the Ancient Silk Routes: Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museum. 1982. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Chang, Cornelius. 1971. "A Study of Paintings of the Water-Moon Kuan-yin". ph.D. diss. Columbia University.
Gillman, Derek. 1983. "A New Image in Chinese Buddhist Sculpture of the Tenth to Thirteenth Century." Transactions of the Oriental ceramic Society. 47:33-44.
Henderson, Gregory and Leon Hurvitz. 1956. "The Buddha of Seiryoji: New Finds and New Theory. "Artibus Asiae. 19, 1.
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Lawton, Thomas. 1973. "Kuan-yin of the Water Moon." In Chinese Figure Painting. 89-90. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Lost Empire of the Silk Road: Buddhist Art from Khara Khato (X-XIII Century). 1993. Edited by Mikhail Piotrovsky Piotrovsky, Electa, Milano, Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation.
Rudove, Maria L. 1993. "The Chinese Style Paintings from Khara Khoto." In Lost Empire of the Silk Road: Buddhist Art from Khara Khoto X-XIII Century, edited by Mikhail Piotrovsky, 89-99. Electa, Milano: Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation.Reis-Habito, Maria Doorothea. 1993. Die Dharani des Groben Erbarmens des Bodhisattva Avalokitesvvara mit tausend H den und Augen: Ubersetzung und Untersuchung ihrer textlichen Grundlage sowei Erforschungihres Kultes in China. Nettetal: Steyler Verlag.
Teiser, Stephen F. 1994. The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism. Honululu: University of Hawaii Press.
山本榮子 1989. "The Formation of the Moon and Water Kuan-yin Image," Bijutsushi. 38, 1 (March): 28-37.