Ratnasambhava, Akshobhya, Vairochana with attendants, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi, Top cover, Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)

Sunday, September 14, 1119 (year 239 of the Newar Samvat in the month of Ashvina)

Ratnasambhava, Akshobhya, Vairochana with attendants, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi, Top cover, Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra), Sunday, September 14, 1119 (year 239 of the Newar Samvat in the month of Ashvina). Eastern India, Bihar, Vikramashila Monastery. Paintings: Nepal, Kathmandu. Covers: Gum tempera, colors, and paper on wood; pages: gum tempera and ink on palm leaves; covers overall: 6.5 x 57 x 1.5 cm (2 9/16 x 22 7/16 x 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1938.301.b The inner side of the top cover is fully painted with images of the Five Cosmic Buddhas of Esoteric Buddhism. Each one has a different color, meaningful hand gesture, and is associated with a spatial direction. In the center is the white Vairochana holding his hands in the enlightenment mudra. On either side of the binding holes are the other four Cosmic Buddhas Akshobyha (blue, earth-touching mudra, east) and Amitabha (red, meditation mudra, west), and on the ends are Ratnasambhava (gold, gift-giving mudra, south) and Amoghasiddhi (green, fear-not mudra, north). The top side is covered with ritual materials indicating that this book was once an object of worship. The Five Tathagatas could be the source of visions that would help Buddhist practitioners on the path to enlightenment.