With a rustling swish, the broad curtain on the west wall was slowly drawn aside. Chen Caozhi announced in a clear voice, "Everyone, please admire the Eightfold Heavenly Dragon Image here first, then view Chang Kang's portrait of Vimalakirti Bodhisattva. This is what they call casting out a brick to draw forth jade."
"Casting out a brick to draw forth jade?" Gu Kaizhi laughed heartily. "What a novel expression! Zizhong, you're too modest. You're throwing a brick to hit me!"
Suppressing a smile, Xie Daoyun looked up. On the west wall, two zhang high and five zhang wide, the magnificent depiction of the eight classes of beings blazed with splendid colors and varied forms:
Śakra of the devas wore a towering jeweled crown and dangling necklaces. Vajra in hand, he looked martial and majestic;
The representative of the Nāgas, however, was an exceedingly adorable little girl with a youthful face. Coral horns grew from her head like a pair of neatly arranged buns. Her hair hung down, her brows were lowered, and clouds formed beneath her feet. This child was the daughter of the dragon king Bhāgīratha, the Dragon Girl who was the first among the Nāgas to attain Buddhahood;
The Asura King had one body and two heads. The head on the left was pitch-black and ugly, while the one on the right was fair and bewitchingly beautiful. The contrast delivered a powerful visual impact;
Yakshas were also guardians of the Buddhist faith, devouring both ghosts and humans. To express this dual nature, Chen Caozhi had painted the Yaksha with two faces: one handsome and imposing, the other incomparably savage, with a bloody maw like a basin. His body was tall and agile, and he held a serpent spear, vigorous and fleet;
Gandharvas partook of no mortal food, nourishing