Kouros- The figure depicted in the picture above is known by the Greeks as a kouros, which means male youth. Kouroi are believed to have served as grave markers during the Archaic period. I noticed from the different statues that the Greeks purposely created a clear and simple pose for their works of art. Unlike the Guanyin statue, the Kouros seems to be walking, by having his left foot in front of his right. From this I inferred that the Greek artists wanted to display a lifelike vitality in their artwork. The Guanyin of Chinese art is actually very stiff and one can assume they are more stable.

Guanyin– The Chinese Guanyin statue has many contrasting aspects to the Kouros from Greece. Unlike the Kouros, who is fully nude, this Chinese work of art is wearing an immense amount of embroidered clothing and accessories. It is evident that the Chinese put a lot of stress of personal appearance as to show that the way one dressed correlated with their wealth and rank in society. The Guanyin statue seems a lot livelier because of its body shape. This differs from the Kouros, which is shown with a very skinny body shape and not much depth to their body.

Ultimately, both works of art have attributes that represent their individual nation’s believes and culture. They are both similar in that neither of the statues are sitting. My interpretation of this is that the artists of both cultures are very prideful and willing to show off what they believe represents the culture: the Kouros of Athenian Greece and Guanyin of Shanxi Province, China.

– Brian Kong

During the class trip to the Rubin Museum, the artifact or piece of art that stood out the most to me was the statue of the Buddha Vairochana. The aforementioned statue is said to have been the center piece of an arrangement of Vairochana dieties located on a monumental stupa at Densathil, where many other sculptures are found. After examining the sculpture, I noticed that Buddha Vairochana was molded on top of a pedestal. Carved on the bottom at both sides are two lions. I believe these lions represent power, because lions are the king of the jungle, as well as knowledge, since the lions are looking up at him, both of which, Buddha Vairochana posses. Along with the lions, the abundance of jewels that cover Vairochana indicate an immense sense of wealth and in the description of the sculpture it states that he is situated on top of a wheel. The wheel and jewels can be associated with royalty. The first impression and overall message I got when I looked at the sculpture was that Buddha Vairochana was a very powerful, intelligent, and inspiring deity.

– Brian Kong

Brian Kong

“‘Little prince,’ laughed Monkey, ‘you have not yet lost your milk-teeth, your womb-down is not yet dry. How dare you talk so big?” -Monkey p. 49

“‘I’ll stand my ground,’ said Monkey, ‘and you can break as many swords upon me as you like.'” -Monkey p. 50

This occurs when Natha, Vaisravna’s third son comes to arrest Monkey after two others had attempted and failed to do so. These quotes demonstrate the about of hubris and pride that Monkey holds. Monkey fails to realize that humility is extremely important because he is rather young and inexperienced. He feels like he is unstoppable because he’s mastered his training. This foreshadows the difficulties Monkey will soon face as well as how the character of Monkey is developed to become a more humble person.