The Sahā Triad or Three Saints of the Saha World (娑婆三聖,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''suōpó sānshèng'') is a devotional motif in East Asian Buddhist art. It represents the chief Buddha and

bodhisattvas In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, ''Enlightenment in Buddhism, bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal n ...

of the

Sahā Sahā or more formally the Sahā world (Sanskrit: ''sahāloka'' or ''sahālokadhātu'') in Mahāyāna Buddhism refers to the mundane world, essentially the sum of existence that is other than nirvana. It is the entirety of conditioned phenomena, ...

World: *

Śākyamuni Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

Buddha *

Avalokiteśvara In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (meaning "the lord who looks down", International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World") and Chenrezig (in Tibetan), is a Bodhisattva#Bhūmis (stages), tenth-level bodhisattva associ ...

bodhisattva, often depicted in the form of

Guanyin Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

* Kṣitigarbha bodhisattva The figures are usually presented such that Buddha is in the middle with Guanyin to the Buddha's left (that is on the viewer's right) and Kṣitigarbha on the Buddha's right.

Summary

The Sahā Triad is a relatively recent development in Buddhist art and is particularly popular in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. Although largely affiliated with the

Tzu Chi Foundation The Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation ( zh, t=佛教慈濟慈善事業基金會, l=Buddhist Compassionate Relief Charitable Foundation) is a Taiwanese international humanitarian and nongovernmental organization. Its work includes medical ai ...

, it has spread among the broader circle of Chinese Buddhism. Chapter 12 of the Kṣitigarbha Sūtra provides an episode in which all these of these figures are present:

References

{{Mahayana-stub Buddha statues Buddhist iconography