This mural mainly talks about the scene where King Xiangqu and his wife became enlightened by Buddhism and became monks, while their son and followers who remained in the world were very sad. It is also said that the person tonsured on the left is the mother of Maitreya Buddha, because the person who tonsured her has a halo on her head. It is relatively simple to distinguish between gods and humans. Those with halos on their heads are gods in the Buddhist world, and those without halos are humans in the human world.
The Buddha is sitting in the middle of the painting, with a Bodhisattva on each side, two Bodhisattvas standing in front of him, and two disciples behind him. There are fairy clouds in the sky, and there are two sacred birds. Now comes the key questions: they are which Buddha, which Bodhisattva, and which disciples? Experts have various bases and opinions. I have chosen the most accepted statement to share with you.
Although the Buddha in the middle looks like Sakyamuni, if you pay attention, Sakyamuni usually sits cross-legged. This sitting method with the feet hanging down naturally made everyone finally confirm that it is Maitreya Buddha. If you look closely, you can see that there is a bun on the top of the Buddha and a third eye between the eyebrows.
The two disciples at the back, the one on the left is called Ananda, and it is said that he is a handsome guy. The one on the right is Mahakasyapa, who was born into a prominent family but was a famous ascetic.
The Bodhisattvas standing on the left and right are particularly difficult to identify. You could have identified them based on their mounts and instruments, but there are none here. Fortunately, the Bodhisattva sitting on the right held a sutra in his hand. Generally, Manjushri Bodhisattva holds a sharp sword in his right hand, which means cutting off thousands of worries, and holds a sutra scroll on the lotus in his left hand, which represents wisdom. Although the Bodhisattva in the mural does not hold a sword and the lotus flower has moved from his hands to his feet, most people still think that this is Manjushri Bodhisattva.
Manjushri and Samantabhadra usually appear together, so most people think that the Bodhisattva sitting on the left is Samantabhadra.
There are two singing birds with human heads and bird bodies flying in the sky, one is flying down, and the other is flying upright, bringing a sense of movement to a static painting. In particular, it not only brings a visual impact, but you can even imagine the auditory feeling of "this sound should only be heard in the sky" emitted by the Melody Bird.
The artists really put a lot of thought into composing the picture. The characters were arranged in an orderly way. Everyone's clothes, hairstyle, expression, and things they were holding were different. In order to facilitate future repairs, a powder copy was left in the temple, because not every temple has the same background color, humidity, and temperature of the walls, so the same color will have different effects on different walls.
On the left side of the mural, some people think that it was Queen Xiangqu who was getting tonsured, but the tonsurer has a halo, which is too high rank for a queen. So some people said that it’s the Maitreya Buddha's mother receiving the tonsure, because according to legend, Maitreya Buddha was born from his mother's right rib or chest, and the person receiving the tonsure have a baby's head on the right side of her clothes. However, careful people also discovered that the dress of Queen Mother of the West painted on the left wall of the museum also has a baby's head in the same place, so this does not mean that the tonsured person is the mother of Maitreya Buddha. Moreover, one of the maids next to her was obviously holding a phoenix flag, and the other was holding a crown, so it should still be Queen Xiangqu.
Let’s talk about the person holding the cassock on the right side of the Bodhisattva. She has the same skin color as the Bodhisattva and wears different clothes than the maid. There are white hairs between his eyebrows. It is not the pattern between the maid’s eyebrows, so she should be a Bodhisattva. But why don’t she have a halo? Let’s call her Jade girl then.
The seven people on the Queen's side are the Queen, the Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva Jade Girl, and four maids. One of the maids is holding a flag, one is holding a crown, and one is holding a cane. The one on the far left should be the maid who combs the Queen's hair, because there are combs all over her head. Except for the two Bodhisattvas who looked peaceful, the other maids had their eyebrows furrowed. This small detail showed their reluctance.
Look to the right. There are nine people on King Xiangqu's side. King Xiangqu himself, a monk who tonsures him, a protector, and four attendants or maids. One was holding a canopy, one was holding a crown, and the other was catching king’s hair. The hair that came down was put in a gold basin holding by an attendant. There is a looming child holding an incense burner, and the little prince. Legend has it that King Xiangqu had a thousand sons, and all of them became monks with King Xiangqu, leaving only one to inherit the throne. The little prince was holding his father's sleeve with one hand and wiping his tears with the other, very reluctant and sad. Except for the Dharma Protector who was a little happy and the monk who was solemn, everyone else was gloomy.
Such a lifelike and huge mural appears before our eyes after experiencing so many ups and downs. It really feels like a world away.