晚唐时期，佛教艺术新见一位手持引魂幡引导亡魂通过中阴，往生西方极乐净土世界的中国本土菩萨——引路菩萨。巴蜀是除敦煌以外引路菩萨造像发展的重要区域，目前发现相关龛像 15 例，分布在资中、内江、安岳、大足和荣昌等地。巴蜀引路菩萨造像的重要元素是引魂幡与往生者，前者的起源可溯至春秋战国时期本土丧葬礼仪活动中具有招魂、导引作用的旌幡，后者当是亡者中阴身的象征。与敦煌引路菩萨绘画以单尊形式呈现不同的是，巴蜀引路菩萨造像常与观音、地藏等像相互组合，表现出具有鲜明时间逻辑的观音现世解救、地藏地狱救赎、引路菩萨引领亡魂往生净土的功能意涵，进而较好地满足了人们对于今生安稳与来世解脱的双重信仰需求。

During the late Tang Dynasty, an indigenous Chinese Bodhisattva known as the Path-Guiding 
Bodhisattva emerged in Buddhist art, holding a soul-summoning banner to lead the deceased through the 
intermediate state (bardo) towards rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Apart from Dunhuang, the Bashu region is an important area for the development of Path-Guiding Bodhisattva statues. Currently, 15 related statues have been discovered, distributed in Zizhong, Neijiang, Anyue, Dazu and Rongchang. The notable elements of the Path-Guiding Bodhisattva statues are the soul-summoning banner and the deceased. The former can be traced back to the banner with the function of guiding and summoning the soul in the local funeral rituals during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The latter is the symbol of the deceased’s intermediate existence (bardo). Unlike the single-figure presentation of the Path-Guiding Bodhisattva in Dunhuang murals, the Path-Guiding Bodhisattvas statues in the Bashu region are often shown in combination with figures such as Avalokitesvara and Ksitigarbha. This configuration shows a clear temporal logic of salvific functions: Avalokitesvara’s salvation in the present world, Ksitigarbha’s redemption in the underworld, and the Path-Guiding Bodhisattva’s leading to the Pure Land, thus satisfying the dual devotional needs of the faithful—seeking both peace in the present life and liberation in the next.