3. Bodhisattva

This one is a bit different. Unidentified bodhisattva from the early Tang Dynasty (618-907); gilded bronze with traces of paint decoration.

'What we are doing in taking the bodhisattva vow is magnificent and glorious. We no longer are intent on creating comfort for ourselves; we work with others.  This implies working with our other as well as the other other. Our other is our projections and our sense of privacy and longing to make things comfortable for ourselves. The other other is the phenomenal world outside, which is filled with screaming kids, dirty dishes, confused spiritual practitioners, and assorted sentient beings". 

The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Volume Three.

[NOTE: Those who are visiting Bodhisattva Week for the first time can find some context here].