This paper presents a summary of the development of the composition and iconographic elements of the Manjusri images at Dunhuang by studying the extant works and their positions. In the Early Tang period,the image of Manjusri appeared together with the Lotus Sutra illustration except in cave 220, suggesting a close relationship between Manjusri and the Lotus Sutra illustration. In the High Tang dynasty, the lion was the most specific character of the Manjusri images just as it was in the Early Tang period. There was also a group of great bodhisattvas with their followers in secular clothes and the slave of Kunlun, which was not stylized then but common in later periods. The appearance of the slave of Kunlun indicates that Buddhism not only based its images on Buddhist scriptures, but also borrowed popular themes from social life. In the Middle Tang period, the paintings with both Manjusri and the Lotus Sutra illustration decreased, and the appearance of Manjusri together with the map of Mount Wutai, or more landscape added in its background, suggests it was associated with the Manjusri worship in Mount Wutai. In the Later Tang period, the Middle Tang images were followed regardless of their position or the composition. In the Five Dynasties and Song periods, the image of a lion driven by the King of Khotan and the slave of Kunlun or Sudhana were added owing to the close relationship between Dunhuang and the Central Plains, as verified by Dunhuang documents.
