It can get a tad boring and hot so we recommend visiting two other complexes before taking in the Siem Reap nightlife: the Ta Prohm complex with its towering trees that shot to international fame after Angelia Jolie's Lara Croft swung from behind them in 'Tomb Raider'; the other is Angkor Thom's Bayon temple with its 216 gargantuan smiling faces of
Avalokiteshvara.
Visitors will also have the chance to explore a set of 11 new acquisitions, including an
Avalokiteshvara Buddhist sculpture from China, Japanese Samurai armor and rare Ottoman horse armor.
The second tour de force is a thousand-year-old, over life-size fragmentary head of the bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara made in the complex--and of course, extremely fragile --'dry lacquer' technique that allows for particularly refined modelling and detailing (Fig.
A long panel, depicting eight life-size icons of the Bodhisatva
Avalokiteshvara on its western gallery was once the highlight of the Banteay Chhmar temple.
The spectacular wooden statue of
Avalokiteshvara in the Mahayana Pavilion measures 27.28 metres tall.
The most amazing thing is that there was an Indian style scroll painting of the five tantric manifestations of
Avalokiteshvara (don zhags lha lnga), the tutelary deity of Mahapandita Shakyashri.
As far as I can tell, the Dalai Lama claims to be the manifestation of someone called
Avalokiteshvara, who was apparently some sort of a god - though not the angry bearded divinity with which we non-Buddhists are familiar.
Highlights of the exhibition will include a woodblock image of
Avalokiteshvara from the ninth century that was recovered from the desert oasis of Dunhuang.
The main image in one of the Dukhangs is that of
Avalokiteshvara, a Bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas, who is represented with 1,000 arms and 11 heads.
This role is indeed consistent with the Tibetan Buddhist notion that Dalai Lamas are incarnations of the Bodhisattva of Compassion,
Avalokiteshvara.
Avalokiteshvara - a male Bodhisattva; widely associated with various gods and people