A PAIR OF ZUSHI WITH THE MANDALA OF THE TEN REALMS OF EXISTENCE

Lacquered sandalwood with gilt kinpaku lacquer interior. Copper mountings. The pair of zushi depict a great number of gilt figures set on a green and blue painted rocky background. The figures represent the Pure Land cosmogonist concept of the Mandala of the Ten Realms of Existence (Jikkai mandala) - the six realms of transmigratory existence: gods, humans, demigods, animals, hungry ghosts and hell; and the four realms of enlightened existence: listeners to the Buddhist teachings, self-enlightened beings, bodhisattvas and Buddhas.