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- Washing the Elephant (Chinese 扫象图 saoxiang , literally sweeping the elephant; English variants: "sweeping", and "white" or "sacred" elephant) is a subject in Chinese Buddhist painting, showing a group of men washing a white elephant with brushes, under the supervision of the bodhisattva Manjushri and an arhat with a khakkhara (xīzhàng) staff. Manjushri is usually depicted in the costume of a meditation master in Chinese Buddhist monasteries, rather than his usual appearance in iconic paintings. The Buddhist meaning of the subject relates to "sweeping away illusion", in a pun as the Chinese words for "elephant" (象) and "illusion/form/image" (相) are both pronounced as xiang. One painting is inscribed with the explanation “wash off the dust and see the Buddha of thusness”. The white elephant, widely regarded as sacred in Buddhism, may be shown as having six tusks, a form that Buddha himself took in an earlier life recounted in the Jataka tales, and also during the dream of Queen Maya, when according to Buddhist tradition, he was conceived for his last earthly life. (en)
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- Washing the Elephant (Chinese 扫象图 saoxiang , literally sweeping the elephant; English variants: "sweeping", and "white" or "sacred" elephant) is a subject in Chinese Buddhist painting, showing a group of men washing a white elephant with brushes, under the supervision of the bodhisattva Manjushri and an arhat with a khakkhara (xīzhàng) staff. Manjushri is usually depicted in the costume of a meditation master in Chinese Buddhist monasteries, rather than his usual appearance in iconic paintings. (en)
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- Washing the Elephant (en)
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