Envisioning Paradise Representation of the Buddhist Pure Land in Chinese, Korean & Japanese Art Susana Sosa, Fresno City College NEH Institute - Buddhist East Asia June 2018
Project Overview & Goals Case study of a specific theme in Buddhist art from crosscultural comparison: Pure Land art and architecture 2-3 day module for an introductory survey course on Asian Art General Education course a handful of art majors, some Asian-American Studies majors, primarily students fulfilling an art or cultural studies elective Module will be taught after sessions on Buddhist art in India, China, Korea Discuss the role of texts in relation to image-making
Primary Texts: Sutras Assign short selections of sutras that lay out concepts of the Buddhist Pure Land of the West (Amitabha/Amida Pure Land) Flower Garland Sutra (Avatamsaka Sutra) Sutra on Visualization of the Buddha of Infinite Life Sutra on Amitiyus Buddha Students will read text selections from sutras in class in small groups with a directed reading exercise
Text & Image: the Buddhist Illustrated Sutra Creation and use of illustrated sutras Media & artistic process Iconography Religious function & viewing practices Ancillary objects
Korea: Amitabha (Amita) Sutra, frontispiece, Goryeo era, 1341 (gold pigment on indigo blue paper, 8-3/4 x 3-3/8 each fold) - British Museum
The Ritual Presentation of Sutras Korea: Cover of an illustrated Avatamsaka Sutra, Goryeo, c. 1400 (gold and silver on indigo dyed paper) British Library Japan: Sutra Chest by Mochizuki Hanzan Edo period, 18th c. (colored lacquer, gold, ceramic on wood, 10-3/4 H x 17-3/4 L x 10-1/4 W Metropolitan Museum, NYC
Theme: Depictions of the Western/Amitabha Pure Land Visual images of Amitabha s Pure Land originate in China in 3rd century (Han era) Early examples found at Mogao grottoes, Dunhuang pilgrimage sites Cross-cultural stylistic influences Transportation of imagery: Buddhists took silk paintings and portable objects to Japan and Korea
Tang Dynasty: Western Pure Land Mural, Cave 45, Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, ca. 705 781
Approaches to Understanding Pure Land Images Use for visualization practices Functioned in other ways within the social and political spheres Role of patronage is important to discuss A discussion of viewing practices is another key point in understanding the communal and ritual nature of such images Who is seeing the images, how are they viewing them and when?
Cultural Style: Japanese Henso/Mandala term henso ( transformed appearance) refers to images that are based on the doctrines and key ideas of a sutra a large-scale henso paintings is also called a mandala in Japan (a distinctly different type of image than esoteric mandalas) main subject matter: Amida and bodhisattvas in Pure Land Paradise may depict narrative scenes from sutra of Shakyamuni appearing before Queen Vaidehi to preach about the Pure Land and alleviate her suffering may also include depictions of the Sixteen Contemplations a imagery based on detailed text descriptions used as a means to visualize the Western Pure Land Contemplations include the Nine Degrees of Rebirth
Japanese Taima Mandalas Nanbokuchō period, late 14th c. (hanging scroll, color and gold on silk, 52-1/2 x 48 ) Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Kamakura period, 14th c. (hanging scroll; color, gold & silver paint, gold-leaf strips [kirikane] on silk, 47-3/4 x 43 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Theme: The Descent of the Amitabha Buddha Japanese term raigo refers to depictions of Amitabha/Amida descending to take souls of deceased to the Pure Land common painting format: full-length image of Amitabha with one hand pointed downwards at times attendant Amitabha is accompanied by bodhisattvas images often exhibited at the death bed of the patron, who holds a golden string attached to the painting an aid in transition to the Pure Land China: Amitabha Buddha Descending from His Pure Land, Southern Song, 13th c. (ink & color on silk, 53-1/2 x 23 ) Metropolitan Museum, NYC
China: Bodhisattva Leading the Way, Tang Dynasty, c. 875 (hanging scroll; color on silk, 80.5 x 53.8 cm) from Dunhuang Cave 17 British Museum early Chinese image of the Descent from the Pure Land theme an unidentified Bodhisattva guides the patron (small woman in red) of the painting to the Pure Land (stucture in the upper left) symbolic elements: mandorla, incense burner (held in right hand), lotus flower (held in left hand), temple banner, lotus pedestal Tang style characteristics: use of hieratic scale, elegant draped clothing & jewelry, slight sway in figure s pose, round face, neck roll
Theme: Amhitabha and Bodhisattvas Imagery of Amitabha/Amida accompanied by various bodhisattvas was popular in Japan and Korea In Japan, Amida is often accompanied by Seishi & Kannon (the Pure Land triad) Other images depict the Eight Great Bodhisattvas as attendants or the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas mentioned in the sutras Korea: Amitabha Buddha with the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, Goryeo, c. 1350-90 (ink, colors & gold on silk) Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Pure Land Sculpture & Temples Viewing context shapes the experience and reception of artworks media and scale also affect the worshipper s experience of the sacred images
China: Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha, Northern Qi Dynasty ), 6th c. (limestone with traces of pigment, 62-11/16 c 131-11/16 ) from Southern Xiangtngshan, Cave 2, Hebei province Freer-Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Patronage of art as merit-making Korea: Portable Shrine with Amitabha and Bodhisattvas, Goryeo Period, 14th c. (gilt bronze, 11-13/16 x 13-9/16 x 4-7/16 ) -Harvard University Museums
Contemporary Asian Art & Pure Land How have contemporary artists engaged with the theme/concept of the Buddhist Pure Land? Is their engagement with the concept a critique or an attempt to modernize the concept for present-day viewers? Is there a place for the transcendental in contemporary art? Some artists who engage with Pure Land Imagery: Moriko Mori, Pure Land (1996-98, glass with photo interlayer); Chen Li, Pure Land (1998, bronze sculpture) & Float to Sukhavati (2002, bronze sculpture); Takashi Murakami, Amitabha Buddha Descends, Looking over his Shoulder (2015, acrylic, gold leaf, platinum leaf on canvas mounted on board)
Select Bibliography Hsu, Eileen Hsiang-Ling. The Sengchu Cave and Early Imagery of Sukhāvati, in Artibus Asia, vol. 71, no. 2 (2011), p. 283-323. Hung, Wu. Reborn in Paradise: A Case Study of Duhuang Sutra Painting and its Religious, Ritual and Artistic Context in Orientations, vol. 25, no. 5, 1992, pp. 52-60. Kim, Kumja Paik. Goyreo Dynasty: Korean s Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003 Okazaki, Joji. Pure Land Buddhist Painting. Translated by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis. Kodansha International, 1977. Porcu, Elizabeth. Pure Land Buddhism in Modern Japanese Culture. Brill: 2008. Snodgrass, Adrian. Taima Mandala: a Descriptive Guide. 1992. Ten Grotenhuis, Elizabeth. Japanese Mandalas: Representations of Sacred Geography. University of Hawaii Press, 1999.
Online Sources JAANUS (Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System) (http:// www.aisf.or.jp/%7ejaanus/) Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces (http:// masterpieces.asemus.museum/search/list.nhn) Sutra on the Contemplation of Amitabha (http://www.fodian.net/english/ Contemplation_Sutra.htm) Taima Mandala documentary (https://youtu.be/fl9ivwlxx6y) Pure Land 360- video by Jeffrey Shaw on virtual exhibit at Duhuang (https://vimeo.com/137802466) Buddhist Art and Raigo Triads (http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/dictio/ choukoku/amida.html)