Buddhist Eschatology on Silk - A Photojourney

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BUDDHIST ESCHATOLOGY ON SILK

-Dr. V. R. Shenoy and Dr. A. R. Shenoy

INTRODUCTION

The Buddhist attitude towards death is well illustrated by a parable which involves a deliberation between the Buddha and his fellow monks. Thus: -

On one occasion the Buddha asked several of the monks, "How often do you contemplate death?"

One of them replied, "Lord, I contemplate death every day."

"Not good enough," the Buddha said, and asked another monk, who replied,

"Lord, I contemplate death with each mouthful that I eat during the meal."

"Better, but not good enough," said the Buddha, "What about you?"

The third monk said, "Lord, I contemplate death with each inhalation and each exhalation."

Death is a subject of great contemplation; to the vast numbers of dying, logic and rationality many a times do not offer the sugar coated comfort that faith can. The purpose of religion, in essence, is in addition to living a spiritually good life, to help one come to terms with the reality of the inevitability of death and when the time comes, to help one embrace it without fear, with peace and composure. Buddhism has a much evolved eschatology involving various deities which are manifestations of the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva is a being that compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others. In common parlance nirvana is death, but from a spiritual point of view it is the ‘final beatitude that transcends suffering, karma, and samsara’.

The connection between silk and Buddhist eschatology is well known and was the topic of our earlier article published in ‘Silkmark Vogue’. Nevertheless, we would like to remind our readers that the silk yarn was an instrument of eschatological significance in Sino-Buddhism which helped the deceased transcend from the world of the living into the heavens!

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ON MARC AUREL STEIN

The depth of imagination and thought in Buddhist eschatology would not have been known to the world but for the artifacts obtained by Sir Marc Aurel Stein the intrepid British archaeologist and explorer of Hungarian descent.

Stein made four major expeditions to Central Asia—in 1900, 1906-8, 1913–16 and 1930. One of his significant finds during his first journey during 1900-1901 was the Taklamakan Desert oasis of Dandan Oilik where he was able to uncover a number of relics. During his third expedition 1913-16, he excavated at Khara-Khoto. Stein's greatest discovery was made at the Mogao Caves also known as "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas", near Dunhuang in 1907. The arid continental climate of Dunhuang played a great part in the preservation of the treasures inside the caves.

It was there that he discovered the Diamond Sutra (a photo of a page from this manuscript with the British Library appeared in our earlier article on Silk and Buddhism in

Silkmark Vogue), the world's oldest printed text which has a date (corresponding to AD 868). Most of the illustrations presented in this paper are of silk artifacts obtained by Stein from Dunhuang and gifted to the British Museum and the National Museum, New Delhi.

On the basis of a wealth of artifacts mostly gifted by Sir Marc Aurel Stein and catalogued in the British Museum and National Museum, New Delhi the following entities are crucial in Buddhist eschatology.

Entity (Boddhisattvas) Significance Amitabha Amitabha means “infinite light”, hence he is

the Buddha of infinite light, a celestial budhha. Avalokitesvara Avalokitesvara is a bodhisattva who embodies

the compassion of all Buddhas. He is is said to be incarnated in the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and other high lamas.

Bhaishajyaguru Bhaishajyaguru is the manifestation of Buddha as a guru of medicine, healer.

Dharmapala The dharmapala is a wrathful protector of Buddhism, there are eight dharmapalas and all have terrifying appearences meant for frightening the forces of evil. Yama who

Sir Marc Aurel Stein

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represents death is one of the eight Dharmapalas

Ksitigarbha Ksitigarbha is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism, usually depicted as a Buddhist monk in the Orient. The name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb."

Lokapala In Hinduism, lokapāla refers to the Guardians of the Directions associated with the four cardinal directions. However, in Buddhism, lokapāla refers to the Four Heavenly Kings, and to other protector spirits, whereas the Guardians of the Directions are referred to as the 'dikpālas'

Maitreya Maitreya is a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma.

Manjusri Manjusri is a bodhisattva associated with transcendent wisdom, In Esoteric Buddhism he is also taken as a meditational deity.

Samantabhadra Samantabhadra is a Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism.

Shakyamuni It is the name given to the historical Buddha. Vaisravana Vaisravana is the name of the chief of the Four

Heavenly Kings and an important figure in Buddhist mythology (see lokapala).

Vajrapani Vajrapani means 'thunderbolt or diamond in the hand'. Vajrapani is protector and guide of the Buddha, infact, he is the manifestation of all the Buddhas’ power. He is also one of the earliest Dharmapalas and one of the rare Buddhist deities to be worshiped in the original Zen Buddhism of the Shaolin Temple.

Virupaksha Virupaksha is one of the four Guardian Kings, a Buddhist worldly protector and Guardian of the West.

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IMAGES FROM STEIN’S COLLECTIONS

From the images of the collections given in the ensuing pages, it will be evident that silk in Buddhist China and Chinese Central Asia was more than just a tool of transcending to heavens, it was a means of offering votive prayers, a form of transmitting eschatological expression in the form of the images of the various bodhisattvas so that the soul of the deceased could find its way to paradise, even, free itself from the cycle of birth and rebirth. Buddhist eschatological traditions are by no means extinct and continue to be robust in South East Asia, Far East, Ladakh & Arunachal Pradesh in India, and Sri Lanka.

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British Museum Collections

Artifact Description

Avalokiteshvara as Guide of Souls, ink and colours on silk

From Cave 17, Mogao, near Dunhuang, Gansu province, China

Five Dynasties, early 10th century AD

To ease the passage of the soul to paradise

The figure of the Buddha Amitabha in the headdress clearly identifies this figure as Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. He is leading the soul of a female devotee to the halls of paradise, depicted at the top of the painting by three bands each with tiny buildings. Both Avalokiteshvara and his follower are supported on clouds. He holds a censer in his left hand, while in his right hand he holds a long hooked staff from which a banner is suspended. The streamers are adorned with small diamonds of gold and the main panel of the banner simulates writing in red. The aristocratic lady who follows behind is drawn on a smaller scale. She wears a splendid coat with decorative roundels, a common feature of textiles from the late Tang dynasty. This can be seen on the patches of kasaya, Buddhist monastic robes.

Despite the blank cartouche, we know from another titled painting (also in the Stein Collection, British Museum) that this work is of a type known as Yinlu pu, a 'Bodhisattva Guide of Souls'. This was a popular theme from the late Tang until the early Song Dynasty (ninth-tenth century). A work like this was probably offered by a deceased person's family to ease the passage of their soul to paradise.

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Avalokiteshvara as Saviour from Perils, ink and colours on silk


Five Dynasties or Northern Song Dynasty, mid-to late 10th century AD

Belief in help when suffering

Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, is show in his six-armed form seated on a lotus behind an altar. He can be identified by the small figure of the Buddha Amitabha seated in his headdress. His two upper arms hold the sun and the moon, his two lower arms hold a vase and a rosary and his two middle arms are in the vitarka mudra (gesture of teaching).

It was believed that if one called Avalokiteshvara's name when in danger, he would come to your aid. This is illustrated in scenes on either side. On the left from the top a figure pushed off a high cliff is miraculously supported by a cloud. In the middle a man escapes his fetters and at the bottom a man is preserved from the poisonous bites of a scorpion and a snake. On the right a sword is shown breaking into pieces, saving the man about to be executed. Below, two people are shown covering their heads to escape bad weather, and at the bottom a man is seemingly unharmed in the midst of a fire.

In the lower register of the painting donor figures are shown: a lady and a child on the left and two men on the right.

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Avalokiteshvara, a hanging scroll painting

From Korea

Choson dynasty, 14th century AD

Many Buddhist works of art were produced during the Koryo period (918-1392), when Buddhism was established as the royal religion. However, with the fall of the dynasty, the production and quality of Buddhist art declined. The newly-established Choson dynasty embraced Neo-Confucianism as the official ideology, and persecuted Buddhism.

This painting of Avalokiteshvara is thought to have been made in the early Choson period, when Buddhism was no longer supported by the court. It is painted in ink and colours on silk. The background to the figure is plain, and the style is clearly simpler when compared to the elaborately decorated paintings of the Koryo period.

Avalokiteshvara is the bodhisattva of compassion who served to save all beings in this life from suffering. The worship of Avalokiteshvara spread in Korea due to the popularity and importance of two Buddhist scriptures (the Lotus Sutra and the Flower Garland Sutra), which set out in detail Avalokiteshvara's compassionate nature. There is also a legend which tells of an encounter with Avalokiteshvara by the eminent Korean monk Uisang. This must have helped to bring him to prominence on the peninsula.

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Avalokiteshvara, ink and colours on silk


Five Dynasties, dated the 10th year of Tianfu (AD 910)

The central figure of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, has his usual attribute of the Buddha Amitabha in his headdress. He stands against a background of bamboo stems, upon a floating lotus. He holds a willow spray in his raised left hand and a flask on his right.

The two figures that flank the bodhisattva have been depicted in great detail, and it is clear that they were intended as portraits. An inscription on the back of the painting identifies the shaven-headed figure on Avalokiteshvara's right as the Very Reverend nun Yanhui. The small white cartouche above the young man to the left identifies him as the probationary Chamberlain Zhang Youcheng. The inscriptions were written by his elder brother, the author of the main dedicatory inscription in the green cartouche. He makes an offering for the peace of the empire and on behalf of his elder sister and teacher and the souls of his deceased parents.

The inscription within the white cartouche is dated '... the tenth year of Tianfu reign, year gengwu, seventh month and fifteenth day ...', which corresponds to 22 August 910. However, the Tianfu reign officially ended in 904, and the Tang Dynasty was deposed in 906; Dunhuang's remoteness must have meant that there were considerable delays in receiving news of events.

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Bodhisattva as Guide of Souls, ink and colours on a silk banner


Five Dynasties, early 10th century AD

Leading the donor to the Pure Land

The painting is inscribed with the characters yinlu pu or 'Bodhisattva leading the Way'. It is one of several examples from Mogao of a bodhisattva leading the beautifully clad donor figure to the Pure Land, or Paradise, indicated by a Chinese building floating on clouds in the top left corner. The two figures are also supported by a cloud indicating that they are flying. The bodhisattva, shown much larger than the donor, is holding a censer and a banner in his hand. The banner is one of many of the same type found at Mogao, with a triangular headpiece and streamers.

The woman appears to be very wealthy, with gold hairpins in her hair. Actual examples of these were found in Chinese tombs. Her fashionably plump figure suggests that the painting was executed in the ninth or tenth century.

Bodhisattva with a glass beaker, ink and colours on a silk banner


Tang dynasty, 9th century AD

The figure of a bodhisattva is painted on a narrow piece of silk. Due to the limited space available, it was usual to only represent a single figure on banner paintings. Here the figure is shown standing on a lotus flower in three-quarter view from behind, with his head turned sharply and shown in profile. His hair is shown divided at the neck in two large locks, typical of the Dunhuang style. The bodhisattva holds a glass beaker containing a lotus blossom (The lotus is the symbol of Buddhism, as the pure flowers always rise above the mud and murky water they grow in). Glass was a very popular commodity on the Silk Road, and this example resembles

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Persian vessels.

This is one of the very few banner paintings from the Mogao caves to have survived intact. It has a triangular top and side and tail streamers with a board at the bottom to ensure that it was stretched out when hung. Such paintings could be viewed from both front and back, as is suggested by paintings where banners are shown being carried or flown in the wind. The tail streamers are decorated with a plant motif which was popular in ninth-century Chinese art.

Bodhisattva with a glass bowl, ink and colours on a silk banner


Tang dynasty, late 9th century AD

This is one of the most beautifully executed banners from Mogao in the British Museum. The well-balanced figure of the bodhisattva is supported by a lotus flower, depicted in fine detail. The figure's scarves and thick, black hair fall beautifully following the curves of the body. The glass bowl and some of the scarves are shown as transparent with a light wash of paint, all the details behind it visible.

The body is outlined in an even black line, with a light red paint wash used to indicate the inside of the palms and earlobes, folds of the neck and to pick out the eyes.

The glass bowl resembles actual examples from Iran. We know that Sasanian glass was very popular during the Tang dynasty (AD 618-906) in Buddhist temples such as the famous Famensi temple near Xi'an at one end of the Silk Road.

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Bodhisattva with censer, ink and colours on a silk banner



A popular subject for worship

This is the painted area of a banner, which has now lost its triangular top and streamers. The single figure of a bodhisattva was also the most popular subject-matter for the banners or temple flags at Mogao. It is thought that several of these would be hung in the cave temples for various rituals.

Here the bodhisattva holds a censer in his left hand of the type of which actual examples were excavated in places such as the Famensi temple near Xi'an. Donors are also often shown holding similar censers. It is not an attribute of a specific bodhisattva, and neither the headdress decorated with flaming jewels or the empty cartouche give us any further clues to his identity.

Other banners show almost identical bodhisattva figures, clearly indicating that stencils or pounces were used to make such paintings at Dunhuang.

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From Tibet or southern China

18th century AD

The guardian of Buddhism

The fierce and bull-headed Yama stands on his buffalo mount, which tramples on a corpse. He is surrounded by flickering flames against a black background. He holds a noose and skull-crested club, with a string of severed heads hanging from his waist. Yama is the Indian god of death, who in Tibetan Buddhism was conquered by Manjushri and made a protector of the Buddhist dharma ('teachings'). Mahakala is another of the Tibetan protector deities or dharmapalas.

Tibetan cloth-hangings are usually paintings. At festival times huge appliqué textiles of bodhisattvas are draped over hillsides or temple-walls. This unusual example is silk embroidery. The subject-matter is Tibetan, but the technique and manufacture is Chinese, perhaps from a workshop in southern China. Silk has been imported to Tibet and made into religious items since at least the fifteenth century.

A Tibeto-Chinese style of art emerged in the early fifteenth century and again in the eighteenth century. In the latter period large numbers of objects were produced in China in the Tibetan manner, including whole temples, statues, paintings and embroideries such as this one.

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Embroidered tangka of the dharmapala Yama

Four manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, with Samantabhadra and Manjushri, a painting on silk


Tang dynasty, dated 5th year of Xiantong (AD 864)

The four manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, in the upper register are almost identical, though there is some variation in their haloes and their Indian-style costume. Each figure is identified by an inscription in the cartouche to his right. The second from the left indicates the devotion of the chief donor, a minor official named Tang, to the 'eleven-headed' Avalokiteshvara.

At the next level, Samantabhadra, the special patron of the followers of the Lotus Sutra and Manjushri, the bodhisattva of Wisdom, are riding their respective mounts, the elephant and the lion. Their entourage comprises other bodhisattvas in flowing Chinese-style robes carrying three-tiered canopies and a dark-skinned Indian groom leading the mount.

Cartouches identify the figures at the base of the painting (the single monk and three laymen on the right, and the two nuns and two women on the left) as a family of donors. They flank the inscription which records their dedication of the painting 'First, on behalf of the present emperor; second, on behalf of his envoy ... third, on behalf of his departed parents and all his family .... May they [escape] both earthly disasters and obstacles to salvation. Xiantong 5th year [AD 864].'

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Fukūkensaku Kannon with two Guardian Deities, a hanging scroll painting

Japan

Kamakura period, late 12th century - 13th century AD

The central figure is the three-faced, four-armed bodhisattva Kannon (Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara). In Japanese Buddhism Kannon is shown in may different forms. Here, he is shown as Fukūkensaku ('with the Never-empty Noose'), carrying in one hand the rope with which he captures the hearts and minds of the faithful. He sits on a white lotus on a high rock which together suggest the 'Great Womb Mandala', the central image of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism.

Bottom right stands Bishamon-ten (Vaishravana), Guardian King of the North, sword in hand. Bottom left stands the bodhisattva Shu Kongō (Vajrapani) on an earthen mound grasping a vajra (thunderbolt). These two figures appear to be based on ninth-century clay sculptures in Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara.

The painting has some interesting technical details. The artist has applied white paint through from the back of the silk (urahaku) to represent the skin of the central figure, which he has then shaded rose-colour on the surface and outlined with vermilion. The lotus petals are brightened with lines of silver paint, and in many cases the coloured outlines are drawn first then filled in. The brushwork of the rocks is particularly skilful. The back of the silk is painted with gold to strengthen the colours. The painting is a fine example of an artist of the Kamakura period (1185-1333) adapting the earlier styles of the Nara period (710-94).

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Illustration to the Fumu enzhong jing, ink and colours on silk


Northern Song dynasty, late 10th century AD

The Confucian ideal of filial piety in a Buddhist context

The upper part of the painting is occupied by a Buddha group with the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, in the centre flanked by two monks and principal and lesser bodhisattvas. Two of the four Guardian Kings are shown, one in each of the top corners. The central section of the painting is made up of scenes illustrating the Fumu enzhong jing, an apocryphal sutra that was popular at Dunhuang in this later period. The text in the accompanying cartouches corresponds almost exactly to texts surviving in manuscripts found at Mogao. This also accounts for the mountain setting behind the Buddha group, as the beginning of the sutra is set at Mount Grdhrakuta.

The sutra describes blessings received from one's parents. On the right a boy is shown receiving instructions from his father, and there is a baby in the arms of his mother. The relevant text is that in the cartouche to the left of the scene: 'Father and mother cherish and hold him making gentle sounds; he smiles but cannot yet speak. When he is hungry and needs to eat, were it not for his mother he would not be given suck.' Another scene (to the top on the far left) illustrates how old parents are abandoned after their son marries. Filial piety was one of the most important Confucian virtues, and this painting illustrates that it remained important in Chinese Buddhism.

Donor figures once occupied the lowest register, but are now largely destroyed. Best preserved is the lady on the right whose clothing, hair style and elaborate make-up is typical of tenth-century fashion at Dunhuang.

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Illustration to the Vimalakirtinirdesha Sutra, ink and colours on silk



Representation of a popular sutra

Vimalakirti, the hero of the Vimalakirtinirdesha sutra, is a sage who though has a family and lives in a house in the town of Vaishali, manages to defeat the bodhisattvas in a debate about non-duality. Although written in India, the Vimalakirtinirdesha Sutra became especially popular in China, because filial piety - whereby sons would continue the family line and worship the ancestors - was very important, and thus the requirement of Buddhist monastic life to abandon one's family and ancestors and not produce heirs was seen as particularly difficult. Vimalakirti was an attractive figure, because though a bodhisattva, he continued to live among his family and ordinary people.

He is shown on the left side of this painting in a box-like curtained Chinese bed, indicating that he was sick and expected visitors. The Buddha Shakyamuni, who was preaching nearby, asked his disciples and many of the bodhisattvas each to visit Vimalakirti in turn, but they were reluctant, because they had previously been defeated by his wit.

Vimalakirti is shown here, typically, as a sage waving a fan to emphasise the main points of his argument. His main visitor is Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, who is also shown on the back of a sketch (see Related Objects). Another bodhisattva brings a miraculous bowl of rice that never emptied and was enough for all. On the left are the white disk of the moon and the red disk of the sun either side of a cosmological mountain rising from Vimalakirti's hand, who was able to show the concept of the relativity of space and time by calling up other universes from within his room.

Also visible in the foreground are a Tibetan ruler on the left and a Chinese emperor on the

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right. The presence of the Tibetan ruler suggests a date for the painting to the period of the Tibetan occupation of Dunhuang (AD 781-847).

Kshitigarbha as Lord of the Six Ways, ink and colours on silk


Northern Song Dynasty, dated 4th year of Jianlong (AD 963)

Made for 'the disciple of pure faith Kang Qingnu'

The bodhisattva Kshitigarbha is shown wearing a hood and seated on a lotus behind an altar accompanied by two worshipping bodhisattvas. On the three lines on each side of his halo are depicted 'The Six Ways of Life': gods, animals and hell (top left) and humans, ashuras (mythical four-armed figures) and hungry ghosts (right).

In the lower section of the painting are donor figures, wearing fashionable clothes, the women with typical tenth-century hair styles decorated with hairpins and flowers. According to the inscription, the donor wished to avoid all bad forms of rebirth: 'The maker of this painting was the disciple of pure faith, Kang Qingnu. His body lodges in the House of Fire and he fears to fall in the Five Evil Ways. Fortune and disaster are inconstant; his heart longs to be among the emancipated...'. Kshitigarbha is depicted and invoked here as he had vowed to rescue souls even from the regions of hell, and this offers hope to the donor and his family.

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Kshitigarbha with the Ten Kings of Hell, ink and colours on silk


Tang Dynasty, late 9th - early 10th century AD

This painting shows in detail the Chinese Buddhist concept of the judgement of the soul after death. By the late ninth century AD, the bodhisattva Kshitigarbha had come to be regarded as having powers to rescue souls from undesirable forms of rebirth. The apocryphal Sutra of the Ten Kings describes the ten spheres through which a soul must pass on its way to rebirth. It was believed that each was presided over by a king as shown here.

A painting of this kind would have been commissioned in order to help the donor and his family to gain Kshitigarba's assistance through this long judgement process.

Kshitigarbha is shown seated on a rock in the centre of the painting. He is flanked by the Ten Kings of Hell, each behind a desk with handscrolls on them, and with two attendants. The lower section is filled with donor figures. The most interesting scenes are shown just below Kshitigarbha: the priest Daoming, accompanied by a lion, is represented next to a judgement scene; a man wearing a cangue and led by an ox-headed jailer is confronted with a huge mirror that reflects his sin, the slaying of an ox.

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Kshitigarbha, ink and colours on a silk banner



The bodhisattva shown as a monk

This is one of many examples from Mogao of a painted banner showing a single bodhisattva figure under a canopy. The orange cartouche on the left contains an inscription identifying him as Dizang Pusa, the Chinese name for Kshitigarbha.

While other bodhisattvas are usually shown on the banners from Mogao with long hair and wearing elaborate Indian jewellery, this figure is clean-shaven and wears the kashaya, the robe of Chinese Buddhist monks. Monks were not supposed to have new clothes, so their outfits were usually made up of patchwork squares of supposedly old, but often brand new materials. Kshitigarbha is the only bodhisattva shown as a monk. He stands on a lotus, as is usual for banner paintings of bodhisattvas from Dunhuang, and holds a kundika or ritual water sprinkler.

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Liu Sahe and scenes from the story of the miraculous image of Mount Yugu, ink and colours on silk (fragment)


Tang dynasty, 8th -9th century AD

This is a fragment of a much larger painting (another fragment is in the Musée Guimet, Paris) showing Shakyamuni preaching on the Vulture Peak. It shows the monk Liu Sahe and the construction of the famous Buddha image in several scenes in the background. Liu Sahe lived in the fifth century and predicted that a statue would appear on Mount Yugu and its completeness would signify peace or turmoil in the world. In AD 519 a headless statue appeared, and later the missing head was found.

The story of Liu Sahe was popular in Dunhuang, and was also shown on wall paintings there. The monk is shown next to a partially destroyed image of the Buddha, whose outstretched right hand is clearly visible. In the small scenes behind Liu Sahe you can see a statue of the Buddha being constructed which has its hand in the same position. The left hand holds the Buddha's robe. It has been shown that this posture - which is otherwise rare - is used specifically to show miraculous Buddhist images.

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Lokapala, ink and colours on silk (fragment)



This huge fragment - now mounted as a hanging scroll - was once part of a splendid composition which was at least two metres high. All that remains of the lokapala (guardian figure) is the half-open mouth, the shoulders, upper body and a hand holding an arrow. Sensitive, broken lines are used for the hand, while the beard is shown in very thin controlled lines. This compares to a painting of the bodhisattva Vajrapani also from Mogao (no. 1919,1-1.0.132), though there the lokapala is much less energetic and frightening in appearance.

Details such as the metal buckles on the belt and the floral patterns are meticulously observed and executed. The beautifully preserved colours and fine lines show the excellence of the Mogao workshops, and how familiar the artists were with the achievements of Chinese painting in the Imperial court.

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Mandala of the Kasuga shrine, a hanging scroll painting

Japan

Kamakura-Muromachi period, 14th century AD

The Kasuga shrine was established in AD 709 adjacent to Kōfuku-ji Temple in Nara, as the ancestral shrine of the powerful Fujiwara clan. The linking of shrines and temples was a common occurrence after the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth century and was part of the process of reconciliation between Buddhism and the native Japanese religion, Shintō. During the Heian period (794-1185), in order to lessen tensions between the two religions, the doctrine of honji suijaku ('manifestation from the original state') was developed. This presented the Shintō gods, kami, as incarnations of Buddhist deities who were seen as their benevolent guardians. Mandala were created as visual reinforcements of this doctrine.

Along the top are five Buddhist deities, the honji ('original state') of the five Shintō kami of the Kasuga and Wakamiya shrines that are their suijaku ('manifestation'). The moon symbolizes the chief Kasuga deity. The Buddhist deities are (from right to left): the bodhisattva Monju (Sanskrit: Manjushri) the Buddhas Shaka (Shakyamuni) and Yakushi (Bhaisajyaguru) and the bodhisattvas Jizō (Ksitigarbha) and eleven-headed Kannon (Avalokiteshvara). Below these are the Shintō deities with lesser deities issuing from the temple, represented by the five-storey pagoda. The Kasuga shrine buildings are prominent in the upper part of the painting, with the main red-painted gateway or torii and two pagodas, and another torii and pilgrim paths towards Mount Kasuga and Mount Mikasa.

The scene is depicted from a very high viewpoint in the style of a Yamato-e landscape and the rich coloration is given added lustre by the gold applied to the back of the loosely woven silk ground.

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Painted silk headpiece from a banner


Five Dynasties or Northern Song Dynasty, 10th century AD

This square of silk would have been folded diagonally to form two triangular headpieces which would have been attached to the top of a banner. The almost identical images of the Buddha can then be seen on either side. When found, the headpiece had a purple silk border which had faded into brown. Judging from the diagonal, this would have been attached to a banner about seventy centimetres wide, larger than any of the banners that survive in the Stein Collection in the British Museum.

The silk used for making this headpiece is figured with a phoenix motif. The palette used for colouring the Buddha images is limited and appears to have been sparingly applied. However, a yellow pigment used beneath the flesh tones of the face and torso of each Buddha was strong enough to have seeped through the back.

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Paradise of Amitabha, ink and colours on silk


Tang Dynasty, 9th century AD

Pure Land sutras, which describe the Paradises of various Buddhas, became very popular in Dunhuang during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The most influential was the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha. Pure Land painting also became popular. Although the condition of this painting is not as good as others from Dunhuang, it can be directly compared to wall paintings there. In this painting the Buddha Amitabha, shown larger than the other figures, is seated in front of a Chinese palace setting surrounded by bodhisattvas and in the lower part of the painting, subsidiary Buddha figures.

The scenes on the right show the story of King Bimbishara who was imprisoned by his son Ajatashatru. Here the story starts with Bimbishara's sin: he slayed a sage who was then reborn as a white hare. When Bimbishara was later put in prison by his evil son his wife, Queen Vaidehi attempted to save him, only to be imprisoned herself. In captivity she called on the Buddha for help. On the left are shown the sixteen meditations of Queen Vaidehi, starting with the meditation on the setting sun to find the right direction to the Western Paradise.

From Dunhuang and other parts of China Pure Land painting travelled to Japan, where with modifications it remains popular for Buddhist worship to the present day.

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Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru, ink and colours on silk


Tang Dynasty, 9th century AD

Sutras and rituals connected to Bhaishajyaguru, the Buddha of Healing, were among the most popular in Dunhuang. His Pure Land or Paradise was often depicted on walls of the caves built during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), similar in style to the central part of this painting. The figures are arranged on terraces above water, and a Chinese palace setting is indicated by the courtyard shown from above. Bhaishajyaguru himself is seated in the centre of the composition under a large canopy. Directly in front of him are bodhisattvas playing music and dancing, indicating the pleasures of Paradise, where according to the sutras the most beautiful sounds can be heard and exquisite fragrances can be smelt. The accompanying figures are other bodhisattvas and guardians, as well as subsidiary Buddha groups.

In the top of the lowest register of the painting are multi-armed esoteric deities such as Manjushri with the Thousand Bowls on the top right. The scenes on the sides are divided by lines, as in a modern-day cartoon, with cartouches containing quotes from the sutra. On the right are scenes of the 'six forms of violent death', for example a hungry soul dragging somebody away as a punishment for hunting. On the left are the twelve vows of Bhaishajyaguru.

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Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru, ink and colours on silk


Tang dynasty, dated AD 836

Synthesis of Chinese and Tibetan painting styles

This large painting is devoted to Bhaishajyaguru, the Buddha of Healing. Dated and inscribed in both Chinese and Tibetan, is an interesting example of how different modes of painting reached a unique synthesis in the multi-cultural climate of Dunhuang. The Tibetans occupied Dunhuang from AD 781 to 848 and some of the earliest paintings in the Tibetan painting style have survived there.

The figures painted in the Tibetan mode have elongated haloes and are much flatter and more decorative than those painted in the more typical style of the Chinese Tang dynasty. Instead of the more common architectural setting, the Paradise is set in a landscape, with the figures arranged in a more formalized way, almost like in a mandala. The two bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Manjushri - recognisable by their mounts, the elephant and the lion - occupy the middle ground. At the bottom of the painting we can also see the esotericform of Manjushri shown with a Thousand Bowls.

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Paradise of Maitreya, ink and colours on silk


Late Tang or early Five Dynasties, late 9th - early 10th century AD

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The subject of this complex painting can be identified from inscriptions from the Mile xiasheng jing ('Sutra of Maitreya's Birth'), as the Paradise of Maitreya, the future Buddha. At present, Maitreya is still a bodhisattva who presides over Tusita Heaven until the time comes for his earthly rebirth and subsequent attainment of Buddhahood.

The central figure of Maitreya sits in a courtyard with two bodhisattvas, two disciple monks representing youth and maturity and two Guardian Kings, Virupaksha with a sword and Vaishravana with the banner. Along either side of the borders are two dharmapalas or Law Guardians, another two Buddhas attended by pairs of bodhisattvas. In front of Maitreya four musicians and a dancer perform and human and celestial beings make floral offerings.

The scenes at the top of the painting - of merrymaking, farming and people at worship - symbolize the peace and prosperity that Maitreya will bring. At the bottom, the ordination rite of head-shaving is being carried out on a couple of noble birth. Next to them, two altar tables laden with lavish gifts stand either side of a canopied throne. This represents the conversions which Maitreya will bring about.

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Paradise of Shakyamuni, with illustrations of episodes from the Baoen Sutra, ink and colours on silk


Tang dynasty, early 9th century AD

In this Pure Land, or Paradise painting, Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, with his hands in the vitarka-mudra (gesture of preaching), sits between two bodhisattvas. A dancer and an orchestra perform before him. Another group sits below them. The Buddha has the sun and the moon on his robes, the cosmological emblems of Mount Shumeru. The scene is probably

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intended to represent Shakyamuni's cosmic aspect as expounded in the Lotus Sutra. Two mythical creatures standing on golden islands, the double-headed jiva-jiva and the kalavinka, flank this second group. A row of donors are shown at the base of the painting.

Along both sides of the painting a sequence of episodes tells the story of Prince Siddhartha from the Baoen-jing, the 'Sutra of Requiting Blessings Received'. This is a jataka about Shakyamuni's previous incarnation. Prince Siddhartha and his parents flee their palace upon hearing the murderous intent of a treacherous minister. When their provisions run out, Siddhartha offers his own flesh to his parents. After his parents have each taken a piece, Siddhartha is left by the roadside. A hungry lion appears, and the prince offers his final piece of flesh to the creature. The lion turns out to be the god Indra, who restores him to strength and wholeness.

This painting is a good example of the ways in which sutras were illustrated at Dunhuang. The elegant flowing lines and uncluttered composition of this painting suggest a date in the early ninth century AD.

Patchwork of silk, probably a kasaya


Tang Dynasty, 8th-9th century AD

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A Buddhist monastic robe

Sir Marc Aurel Stein originally suggested that this large patchwork was an altar-cloth, though it has now been identified as a kasaya, a Buddhist monastic robe. The symmetrical arrangement of patches along a central vertical axis is consistent with the prescribed form for a kasaya. Even though these patches of cloth were originally meant as a sign of humility, a splendid array of silks has been used in this example.

The patchwork comprises seven vertical columns of fabric enclosed by a border of plain silk printed with blue foliated scrolls. Within the border are woven or printed silks with a rosette design. The dominating floral motif embroidered in the centre has largely disintegrated, revealing the silk patches used for strengthening. Only two small white panels of floral embroidery still remain intact.

The magnificence of the materials used and the presence of purple suggest that the wearer must have been a priest of high rank. Hong Bian (active in the mid-ninth century), the head priest who is commemorated in the cave where these textiles were found, had been given the right to wear purple by the emperor. Small pieces of purple silk were also found inside his statue.

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Representations of Famous Buddhist Images, ink and colours on silk (fragments)


Tang dynasty, 7th - 8th century AD

Models for passing on Buddhist iconography

These fragments are from a large painting, several parts of which are now in the National Museum in New Delhi, India. The painting was filled with representations of famous statues of the Buddha and other images. Several studies have been devoted to identifying the sources of the illustrations, and linking the various images to different centres on the Silk Road.

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In this section we can see the halo and aureole of a seated Buddha figure on the left, with a thousand Buddhas appearing within the circles. On the right a Buddha touches the red disk of the sun, perhaps signifying the powers achieved after his Enlightenment. Buddhas touching the sun and moon were occasionally represented on the wall paintings at Mogao, probably indicating links to similar popular and famous images of the Buddha in various ways.

Samantabhadra and Manjushri, ink and colours on silk


Late Tang or early Five Dynasties, late 9th - early 10th century AD

These large paintings were originally paired. Although painted on silk they are very similar to wall paintings of the same period in their style and iconography. It was common practice in the Mogao caves for two wall paintings to be executed facing each other: for example on the two sides of the cave entrance. For this purpose subjects with two groups of figures turning towards each other were shown: the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Manjushri were a popular choice.

Samantabhadra is shown riding on an elephant and Manjushri on a lion. Neither of these animals was then native to China, and the artists clearly had no first-hand experience of them: the white elephant has big, floppy ears and three tusks on each side; the lion is shown with decorative features popular in Chinese art.

The two bodhisattvas are depicted at a larger scale than the attendant figures: other bodhisattvas playing instruments and red-faced guardians with fierce, bulging eyes. The two dark-skinned figures represent the attendants of the animals. In tenth-century paintings they are shown as Central Asians, not as dark-skinned servants, as here.

The format of the paintings is puzzling, as the tops are rounded as if made for a vaulted cave. However, there are no vaulted caves at Mogao. They were very popular further west, in the Turfan region, at sites such as Bezeklik. Could it be the case that a workshop at Mogao prepared this painting for another site? As yet we have no evidence of such close collaboration, but cultural links are known.

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Samantabhadra, ink and colours on a silk banner


Tang dynasty, late 8th - early 9th century AD

Banner painting of a popular bodhisattva

The triangular top and the streamers of this temple flag or banner are missing. The painted central part is occupied by the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, who is shown seated on a white elephant whose feet are supported by lotuses. In true Dunhuang fashion his thick, black hair is lying on his shoulders. A halo behind his head indicates that he is a holy figure.

Such votive banners were most probably hung in the caves and used in worship. Samantabhadra is commonly paired with Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, and thus this banner may have had a pair depicting Manjushri.

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Scenes from the Life of the Buddha, ink and colours on a silk banner



This painting was executed in a more sketchy style than others of a similar subject from the Mogao caves. The highly finished paintings, where expensive colours and even gold were used, were reserved for the privileged donors who paid the most. Those in a simpler style where fewer colours were used, were probably cheaper and therefore more readily available to less wealthy donors.

It is likely that this and other banners showing scenes from the life of the Buddha were part of a series. At the top of this banner, the Five Companions of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, are shown. They were five ascetics who were impressed by his fasting and joined him, but left as soon as he took food. They protect their heads from the bad weather with their sleeves, while the god of thunder plays his drums in a cloud above them. In the scene below Shakyamuni meditates in a rocky cave. His emaciated body bears witness to the fasting that he has undertaken. Two stags are lying outside his cave.

The lowest scene represents the time when Shakyamuni realized that fasting and following a life of extremities would not lead him to Enlightenment. To the shock of his followers he went to take a bath in the Nairanjana River. A spirit supported on a cloud came to his help.

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Scenes from the Life of the Buddha, ink and colours on silk

From Cave 17, Mogao, near Dunhuang, Gansu province, China, Tang dynasty, 9th century AD

Symbols and stories from a Buddhist context

At the time of the birth of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, it was foretold that he would either become a chakravartin (Universal Emperor) or a Buddha. In Buddhist art Shakyamuni is often shown with the symbols of the chakravartin to indicate that he defeated the World of Suffering. Here they have been combined with scenes from Shakyamuni's life. On top a Chinese officer represents the skilled general; a fashionably clad Chinese lady represents the royal consort; his treasure chest; the Wheel of the Law, and below a Chinese official representing the faithful minister, followed by the royal elephant and horse.

The lower section shows two miracles that accompanied Shakyamuni's birth. Immediately following his birth, cold and warm water appeared to wash him. In Indian art this is shown being assisted by naga (snakes), but here Chinese dragons appear in the clouds. The last scene shows Shakyamuni taking his first footsteps, in each of which a lotus flower blossomed. The attendants are plump and look remarkably similar to representations of women from the Imperial court from the same period. This indicates the close links of this outpost on the Silk Road with central China.

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Scenes from the Life of the Buddha, ink and colours on silk



Symbols and stories from a Buddhist context

At the time of the birth of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, it was foretold that he would either become a chakravartin (Universal Emperor) or a Buddha. In Buddhist art Shakyamuni is often shown with the symbols of the chakravartin to indicate that he defeated the World of Suffering. Here they have been combined with scenes from Shakyamuni's life. On top a Chinese officer represents the skilled general; a fashionably clad Chinese lady represents the royal consort; his treasure chest; the Wheel of the Law, and below a Chinese official representing the faithful minister, followed by the royal elephant and horse.

The lower section shows two miracles that accompanied Shakyamuni's birth. Immediately following his birth, cold and warm water appeared to wash him. In Indian art this is shown being assisted by naga (snakes), but here Chinese dragons appear in the clouds. The last scene shows Shakyamuni taking his first footsteps, in each of which a lotus flower blossomed. The attendants are plump and look remarkably similar to representations of women from the Imperial court from the same period. This indicates the close links of this outpost on the Silk Road with central China.

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Shakyamuni preaching on the Vulture Peak, silk embroidery on hemp cloth



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This is one of the largest known examples of Chinese embroidery. Its layout compares closely with paradise paintings and the wall murals at Mogao. Shakyamuni is shown preaching the Lotus Sūtra at Rājagrha on the Vulture Peak, represented by the rockery. A scattering of flowers and leaves embellishes the background. He is accompanied by two disciples and the bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara and Mahāsthāmapāpta. Hovering over this assembly are two apsarasas who flank a jewelled canopy. At the base, there are two groups of donor figures and a central inscription panel.

The panel was made from three widths of hemp cloth entirely covered with thin closely-woven silk. The outline of the design was first drawn in ink onto the silk. Its main contours were worked with split stitching of brown or dark blue silk. The areas enclosed by the outlines were then filled in using closely packed unplied floss silk. The embroidery is generally well preserved. However, when it was folded for storage in the cave, the two disciples fell along the lines of folding, which explains the heavy damage to them.

Silk altar valance


Tang Dynasty, 8th-9th century AD

Silk valances liek this were originally used on the altars of Buddhist temples, as represented on some of the wall paintings at Dunhuang. This example, which is missing a few streamers at the right end, is the most complete of three that were found in Cave 17. It was made from over 56 fragments of fabric stitched together. It includes 16 varieties of plain or figured silk, 3 different embroideries, as well as printed silk.

The valance is composed of three distinct components:

(a) A broad band with hanging loops at the top comprising pieces of white silk, pink damask, plain blue and red silk.

(b) Triangular tabs with streamers attached behind. Some of the streamers are knotted while others are attached to tassels, rosettes or stuffed silk figures. There are forty-two pieces in this section.

(c) Ten large panels forming a background of plain and figured silks in yellow, cream, white and green.

Like the foliated embroidered silk panel from Cave 17, this might have been another instance where materials were reused. Stein had thought that the little stuffed figures on some of the streamers were previously used as votive offerings by people hoping to have children.

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Tejaprabha Buddha and the Five Planets, ink and colours on silk


Tang dynasty, dated 4th year of Qianning (AD 897)

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The planets in human form

This painting shows a very rare form of the Buddha, named in the inscription as Tejaprabha Buddha, the 'Buddha of Blazing Light'. He is seated in a moving chariot, which is also very unusual, as Buddhas were mostly shown seated in a frontal position.

The sutras evoking the Tejaprabha Buddha all associate him with the planets, stars and constellations. This painting, which is the earliest dated representation of the subject, shows the Buddha surrounded by the five planets. The planets are represented in human form, in many ways similar to the way the planets were shown in western culture from Greek times. Venus is shown as a beautiful woman playing the pipa (Chinese lute), Mars as a red warrior, although here with four arms. Jupiter is an official carrying flowers. Mercury, associated with information, is shown as a scribe with brush and paper, although here as always in Chinese art, as a woman. Saturn is an old Indian man, here leading his attribute, the bull. The other planets wear their animal attributes in their headdresses.

This painting is a good example of the way that various cultural influences shaped the iconography of painting at Dunhuang, as the planets had not been shown in human form before the arrival of Buddhism in China. Chinese sutras gave specific descriptions of the human form of the planets, most probably influenced by Indian scriptures, which in turn may reflect influences deriving from Greece and even Babylon.

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The bodhisattva Jizō, a hanging scroll painting

Japan

Kamakura period, late 13th century AD

With the spread of faith in the Jōdo (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism during the Kamakura period (1185-1333), the bodhisattva Jizō (Sanskrit: Ksitigarbha) was widely worshipped by the general populace as a salutary deity: Jizō would rescue them if they were reborn into one of the many hells vividly described in the doctrines of the sect. He is shown in the guise of a travelling monk with ringed staff and sacred jewel, who intercedes in the Six Realms of Birth to save the faithful and take them to the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amida (Amitabha).

The bodhisattva directs a calm, benevolent gaze down towards the distressed believer, and his delicate fingers gesture with great sensitivity. The halo is outlined in simple cut gold-leaf (kiri-kane).

It is more common for Jizō to be shown coming towards us from a distance on a cloud (raigō-zu). The pose here, therefore, with the large figure standing statically on a pair of lotus-flower pedestals, is unusual. Certain technical and stylistic features suggest a date in the later thirteenth century, which is relatively early for Jizō imagery. These include the generally subdued colouring of the robe and the monk's stole held with a metal ring at the shoulder (kan-kesa), as well as the strong, modulating ink outlines of the drapery.

The ancient silk support is damaged in many places, particularly the area of Jizō's right arm and shoulder.

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The Death of the Buddha, a hanging scroll painting

Japan

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Kamakura period, early 14th century AD

The commemoration of the death of the Buddha and his entry into nirvana is the most spiritually profound event of the Buddhist calendar. It is marked with special ceremonies and readings of sūtras (nehan-e) on the 15th day of the 2nd month. Large paintings are known to have been used as the focus of worship in such ceremonies since at least the Nara period (710-94). They show beasts, lay persons, monks and deities gathering in lamentation around the golden-hued figure of the Buddha as he lies dying on a jewelled dais.

During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), increasingly large numbers were produced. Some, like this example, give evidence of renewed stylistic influence from Song dynasty China.

Despite significant areas of loss from the original silk support, many of the assembled figures and animals are still clearly visible, their expressions of grief movingly rendered. Harder to make out is the group of deities descending from the top right corner, led by Anritsu Sonja (Sanskrit: Aniruddha), one of the Buddha's sixteen disciples, and with the Buddha's mother Queen Maya in the centre, wearing a jewelled crown.

In the centre of the sky a full moon shines down through pairs of sal trees (which joined together and turned white at the moment of the Buddha's nirvana). Behind these flows the Badaiga River (Sanskrit: Ajiravati), the place in central India where the Buddha is said to have died.

The painting relates technically to works by the celebrated Buddhist painter Ryōzen.

From 1998 to 2000 this painting was extensively repaired and restored to its original format as a hanging scroll in the Usami Studio at the Kyoto National Museum, with assistance from agencies of the Japanese Government.

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Court of King Emma (Yama) in Hell

The Six Realms of Birth, 10 hanging scroll paintings

Japan

Edo period, 19th century AD

From a set of 15

The six realms of birth (rokudō), as interpreted by the Tendai sect monk Genshin (Eshin Sōzu, 942-1017) in his seminal Ojō yōshū (The Foundations of Rebirth, 985), are full of horrors that contrast with the bliss of the Buddha Amida's Western Paradise. Until released by enlightenment from the cycle of rebirth, sentient beings must constantly incarnate through these six realms of, respectively, hell, hungry ghosts, warrior demons, beasts, human beings and heavenly beings.

These ten scrolls come from what must have originally been a set of fifteen. They are nineteenth-century copies of a famous set of hell paintings thought to date from the late thirteenth century, originally from Ryōzen-in at Yokawa on Mt. Hiei and now at Shōju Raigō-ji Temple, Shiga.

The subjects of the ten scrolls are:

1. Court of King Emma in Hell

2. Equally Reviving Hell

3. Uniting Hell

4. Realm of Hungry Ghosts

5. Realm of Beasts

6. Realm of Bellicose Demons (Ashura)

7. Realm of Human Beings -- Nine Impure Aspects

8. Realm of Human Beings -- Four Painful Aspects of Old Age, Sickness and Death

9. Realm of Human Beings -- Parting by Death from Wind, Fire and Water

10. Redemption of Sins and Ascension to Paradise through the Efficacy of the Nembutsu

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Thousand-armed, Thousand-eyed Avalokiteshvara, ink and colours on silk

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Tang Dynasty, early 9th century AD

The bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, sits upon a lotus throne. He had eleven heads and a complex web of forty forearms and hands emanating from his body, each holding an attribute or displaying a mudra (gesture). This builds up to a crowning apex with a pair of hands in anjali-mudra (a gesture of reverence). The surrounding halo of hands, each bearing a single eye, symbolizes Avalokiteshvara's ability to instantly perceive and aid all who call upon him. He is surrounded by beings related to his cult, each identified by a cartouche. These include the human representations of Moonlight and Sunlight, the transcendant Buddhas of Ten Directions (top row) and the Four Guardian Kings (bottom row).

This painting is considered a masterpiece of the Esoteric school. Vajrayana or Esoteric Buddhism became popular during the period of Tibetan domination at Dunhuang (AD 781-847). For such a painting to produce the desired effect, it had to be executed precisely in accordance with descriptions in the relevant sutra. Unlike many of the large paintings found at the Mogao caves, there are no donors depicted here. This was probably because ordinary believers were excluded from the rituals, and Esoteric doctrine was transmitted directly from master to initiate.

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Thousand-armed, thousand-eyed Avalokiteshvara, ink and colours on silk


Tang dynasty, 8th - early 9th century AD

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Esoteric icon for worship

The figure of the thousand-armed, thousand-eyed bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who can see and hear all the suffering of the world and help the believer, became very popular during the Tang dynasty (AD 618-906). In this composition the 'thousand hands' form a halo behind the bodhisattva and fill the entire width of the painting. The secondary hands have eyes in their palms, while the primary hands hold various attributes or are shown in mudras (gestures), all corresponding to descriptions in sutras also found at Mogao.

The bodhisattva is supported by a lotus with two donor figures worshipping him. At the top Suryaprabha and Chandraprabha (the bodhisattvas of the sun and the moon) are shown in their respective chariots, but in the wrong order. The white disk indicates the moon, the red disk the sun. However the horses should belong to the sun (originating from the Indian sun god Surya), and the geese to the moon.

The carefully executed details and the clothing of the donor figures indicate a relatively early date for this painting within the material found at Mogao.

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Two standing Avalokiteshvara, ink and colour on silk


Tang dynasty, mid-9th century AD

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Devotional painting at a time of hardship

The painting shows two almost identical figures of Avalokiteshvara, one of the most popular of the bodhisattvas, identifiable by the small figure of the Buddha Amitabha in his headdress. One of the only differences between the two figures are the attributes that they hold: that on the left holds a flower, that on the right a vase and a willow branch. All three were popular attributes of Avalokiteshvara.

The inscription in the centre of the painting tranlates in part: '…the disciple of pure faith, Yiwen, on his own behalf, having fallen [into the hands of the Tibetans], hopes that he return to his birthplace.' The portable paintings found at the Mogao caves were mostly commissioned to benefit the donor or the donor's deceased parents and relatives. It was believed that the act of commissioning a painting would bring good karma. Therefore this example was commissioned to ensure a peaceful life during the period of war with the Tibetans, who finally had to give up Dunhuang in AD 948.

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Vaishravana riding across the waters, a painting on silk


Five Dynasties, mid-10th century AD

This is one of the best depictions of Vaishravana, Guardian King of the North, from Cave 17 at Mogao. Vaishravana is the most frequently represented of the four devarajas, the Guardian Kings of the points of the compass, probably because of

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Dunhuang's geographical location.

Vaishravana upholds the Law and defends believers from evil, and is depicted here patrolling his domain with heavenly troops. He holds a golden halberd in his right hand; to his left, there is a purple cloud supporting a stupa. His procession is preceded by his sister, Shri Devi, Goddess of Material Blessings, holding a golden dish of flowers. On his right, the rishi Vasu is portrayed as a white-haired man. The green-robed figure who holds a flaming pearl and the gentleman wearing a four-pronged crown are probably Vaishravana's sons. Five yaksha warriors bring up the rear. The Garuda in flight represents those dark forces against which Vaishravana offered protection.

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Vajrapani, ink and colours on a silk banner

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A typical banner painting

Vajrapani is a Buddhist guardian figure, characteristically shown with a thunderbolt, or vajra to protect Buddha's law.

This banner painting is one of the very few from the Mogao caves to survive intact. It has a triangular top and side and tail streamers. A board at the bottom ensured that the painting was stretched out when hung. Such paintings could be viewed from both front and back, as suggested by depictions of banners.

In contrast to the painting of the Bodhisattva holding a glass bowl which was executed in very thin, even lines, this painting was executed in calligraphic lines of changing width, well suited to representing the energetic figure, who is barely contained within the narrow frame of the painting. This effect is further emphasised by the addition of the network of red lines, showing the guardian figure's strong muscles.

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Vajrapani, ink and colours on a silk banner


Tang dynasty, early 9th century AD

In the Tibetan style

Although the format of this banner is largely similar to others found at Mogao, it is very different in style. The figure represented is the bodhisattva Vajrapani, identifiable by the small vajra or thunderbolt in his right hand.

The figure is shown in frontally and static, in sharp contrast to the dynamic representations of Vajrapani on banners from Mogao painted in the Chinese style. The body is painted green, with only the palms shown in pink. The features of the face, especially the large white, almond-shaped eyes with black centres, are strikingly different from the standard Dunhuang style. Furthermore the figure's dhoti (garment) is also very different in appearance: dyed with many colours and decorated with floral and geometric patterns, uncharacteristic of art from Dunhuang.

These features have led to this and several other paintings in the Stein Collection being identified as a Tibetan-style group and thus important examples of early Tibetan art. Dunhuang was occupied by the Tibetans between AD 781 and 847. This painting has a small-scale Tibetan inscription on the right. The silk weave, the hem and the size of the banners in this group are also different from the Chinese-style banners

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Vajrapani, ink and colours on silk



Chinese calligraphic painting style in Dunhuang

This painting is an excellent example of the calligraphic painting style that dominated the art of Dunhuang during the Tang dynasty (AD 618-906). The figure of the bodhisattva, grasping a thunderbolt, or vajra in his left hand, bursts into the narrow picture frame, his speed indicated by the cloud rising above his head. His clenched fist, bulging muscles and exaggerated facial features make clear his fearsome nature as a guardian of the Buddha's law.

The black brushstrokes vary in thickness and end in sudden hooks, and the long, thick hair that falls over the shoulders is contrasted with the thin lines of the beard. The figure's clothing and scarves also fly in all directions.

This style for potraying guardians originated in Central China and had a far-reaching influence, also appearing in Japan

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Virupaksha, Guardian of the West, ink and colours on a silk banner


Five Dynasties, 10th century AD

Uygur influence in Dunhuang

Although the bottom streamers are now kept separately, this banner is preserved in very good condition, with its triangular headpiece still attached. The Guardian Kings trampling on demons and supported by clouds were a popular subject among the paintings found at Mogao. Here we see Virupaksha, Guardian King of the West, whose attribute is the sword.

Despite the popularity of the subject, the colouring and execution differ from the standard Chinese style used in the ninth century. The figure appears to be very flat, and is barely contained in the narrow dimensions of the banner. His arms and legs appear uncomfortably twisted and flattened out. His armour is densely shaded and decorated, and he is wearing very decorative shoes instead of the more usual sandals. These features link this painting to Uygur art, for example to the wall paintings from Bezeklik in the Turfan area. The Uygurs were the most important neighbours of Dunhuang in the tenth century, controlling the Silk Road both east and west. Dunhuang's Chinese governors had marriage links with the Ganzhou branch of the Uygurs, who could, and did, block westward trade with central China at will

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Given below in tabular format is the Aurel Stein collection of Buddhist silk artifacts from Dunhuang in the possession of the National Museum, New Delhi.

Artifact Description 1000 buddhas (detail) with devotees

Dunhuang. 9th-10th c. AD. Embroidered silk

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Avalokitesvara Dunhuang. 8th-9th c. AD. Painting on silk.

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Avalokitesvara (detail) Dunhuang. 9th c. AD. Painting on silk.

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Avalokitesvara (detail) Dunhuang. 9th c. AD. Painting on silk.

Donor images From a banner painting of Amitabha in Vitarkamudra Dunhuang. 9th-10th c. AD. Painting on silk.

And

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From a banner painting of the Buddha in Vatarkamudra Dunhuang. 949 AD. Painting on silk.

The Paradise of Bhaisajyaguru (detail) Dunhuang. 10th c. AD. Painting on silk.

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REFERENCES

1) The New Encyclopædia Britannica. 15th Edition. (1977). Vol. IX, p. 547

2) Wang, Helen (ed.); Perkins, John (ed.) (2008). Handbook to the Collections

of Sir Aurel Stein in the UK. British Museum. pp. 42–44. ISBN 978 086159

9776.

3) M. Aurel Stein, Serindia: detailed report of e, 5 vols. (Oxford, 1921)

4) A. Waley, A catalogue of paintings recov (London, 1931)

5) R. Whitfield, Art of Central Asia: The Ste-1, vol. 2 (Tokyo, Kodansha

International Ltd., 1982-85)

6) R. Whitfield and A. Farrer, Caves of the thousand Buddhas: (London, The

British Museum Press, 1990)

7) J. Portal, Korea - art and archaeology (London, The British Museum Press,

2000)

8) W. Zwalf (ed.), Buddhism: art and faith (London, The British Museum

Press, 1985)

9) P. Banerjee, Central Asian art - new revelations (Noida (U.P.), Abha

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Buddhist Eschatology on Silk - A Photojourney

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