『王統明鏡史』における十一面千手観自在：図像の象徴的意味とその背景=The Eleven-Headed and Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara in the rGyal rabs gsal ba’i me long: The Symbolic Significance of Its Iconography, and Its Background
Historical stories about the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet describing King Srong btsan sgam po as an incarnation of Avalokiteśvara are presented in the rGyal rabs gsal ba’i me long （GLR）, written by bSod nams rgyal mtshan （1312-1375 AD）, a hierarch of the Sa kya school.
This paper discusses the symbolic significance of the iconography of the eleven-headed and thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara in the GLR, and its background. It does so by conducting a comparison between the GLR and the Chinese translation of the Sahasrabhuja-sūtra （S）, 千手経 （Taishō no. 1060）, translated by Bhagavad-dharma 伽梵達摩; the Qianbei jing （Q）, 千臂経 （Taishō no. 1057）, translated by Zhitong 智通; the Lao tuoluoni shen jing （L）, 姥陀羅尼身経 （Taishō no. 1058）, another Chinese translation of the same text by Bodhiruci 菩提流志; and the Byang chub sems dpa’ ’phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug lag pa stong dang mig stong dang ldan pa’i cho ga zhib mo （BSS） （D no. 690）, which includes Tibetan translations of the sūtras that correspond to the Chinese translations （S, Q, L） [Tanaka Kimiaki 2022].
This comparison identifies the important influence of the Q, L, BSS on the symbolic significance of the iconography of the eleven-headed and thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara as represented in the GLR.
