Even the ants

[Twitter, 1/12/23] Medieval Buddhist of the Day: Wang Zushi 王祖世, principal patron of a very nice seated bodhisattva of the “pensive prince” type (思維菩薩), dated 551, in the Avery Brundage collection at the AAM in San Francisco:

This Qingzhou-type white marble piece is worth a look for any number of reasons including the rare (partial) survival of painted donor figures on the base. However, Wang Zushi made me smile for a different reason. The brief inscription on this piece is mostly the usual boilerplate about devotion and merit etc., but the last section says 願共法界眾生下及昆蟻一時成佛: “May all living beings in the physical realms, down to the swarming ants, achieve Buddhahood in the same moment.” I’m rendering 昆蟻 as “swarming ants” because the 昆 part, as seen in modern 昆蟲 “insects,” has a root meaning of “descendants,” maybe referring to the way insects multiply. If you’ve ever found an ant in the kitchen, you know there is no such thing as just *one* ant. I’m charmed that Wang Zushi saw fit to mention the ants specifically. Many medieval inscriptions include some universalizing wish (願一切眾生同享斯福 “may all living beings share in this blessing” is common) but this has specific overtones of “yes, even THOSE GUYS.”